More than 100 St. Joan of Arc youth, adults participate in Service Week
With volunteers laughing, chatting and helping each other, Service Week at St. Joan of Arc Parish, Yorktown, was an uplifting ministry in June.
Side-by-side, youth and adults worked at 10 homes of fellow parishioners. They became the hands and feet of Christ as they did yard work, landscaped and made minor repairs too difficult for the residents, e.g., repaired decking, installed railings and power washed a house.
“I was amazed how much fun they were having as they worked,” said Cynthia Loiacono, a recipient of the volunteer work.
“It was like a big family,” she said. “It was just a marvelous day.”
About 100 SJA volunteers served in various roles, some in more than one. In addition to the work teams, there was the kitchen crew Munch Bunch, a tech group, music ministry and “prayer warriors” who prayed for the volunteers and the success of Service Week.
Father Mike Joly said the event was “a week-long retreat with several dimensions: worship, sacramental, service, fellowship and human.”
Parishioner Carol Romeo said “it was wonderful” for the parish to have “this homegrown” mission to serve the SJA community. Despite previous COVID restrictions, “we are still pushing forward and doing God’s work, and I think that is awesome.”
Service Week began with 24 hours of Eucharistic Adoration in the worship space June 21.
Anna Billings, worker, said, “Doing this work is Jesus, and you are either Jesus or you are not. Either you act like Jesus, or you don’t. Either you are going to give, or you’re not going to give. It’s as simple as that.”
Nan Mack, one of the workers, viewed volunteering as “a joy and an opportunity” because the parishioners “have done so much for us.”
Some parishioners were reluctant or ashamed to ask for help, but Father Joly said their silence “blocks Christ.”
“It’s important to allow the strength of Christ in parishioners, youth and adult, to reach out to those in need.” Father Joly said.
He said the residents were “overjoyed at the loving folks that were there” and pleased with their work.
Anne Cipriano called the workers “garden angels” who “flocked” to help her.
Her adult daughter Lisa Cipriano said it was “more meaningful” to her mother that fellow parishioners helped her than it would have been had it been done “by a stranger.”
Kelly Bustamante, who can no longer do yard work due to arthritis, was moved and appreciative that people who didn’t know her personally performed tasks.
Jennifer Strash Sanders, SJA coordinator of faith formation (lead for SJA Service Week), said she hoped parishioners on the receiving end felt loved, supported and like valued members of the parish family.
She added that volunteers had “a major feeling of accomplishment,” understood they were part of a “grander vision,” and realized that sharing their talents to help others is “a beautiful and wonderful thing.”
Michael Corbett wanted that message to sink in with three of his children working with him: Jacob, 13, and Rachel, 12, worked at the homes. Hannah, 9, helped with the Munch Bunch.
“It’s important to instill in them the values of serving others,” Corbett said. “That’s exactly what Jesus taught us, to serve one another. This is an opportunity in a very real, hands-on way to let them be the hands and feet of Jesus.”
Each day started at 9 a.m. with Mass. Monday through Thursday, the workers had a quick breakfast at an espresso bar set up in the commons and then dashed to the worksites. They went home about 3 p.m. to freshen up and then returned to the church in the evening for dinner and a program – two of which were a talent show and Praise and Worship, which offered adoration, music and prayer. Friday was “a day of pure enjoyment and thanksgiving” at a barbecue and pool party in a neighboring community.
“The point of the evening programs was to enjoy the video of the day’s work and to bond, to laugh, to meet, to share, to eat, to have fun, to rejoice,” Father Joly said. For fellowship, the workers ate lunch together at the worksites with lunches packed by the Munch Bunch.
There were impromptu moments of fellowship like when the youth had a contest to see who could stand on their head the longest or when the volunteers struck up a game of bocce (similar to lawn bowling) after weeding a course at one person’s home.
Many volunteers found community building to be just as important as the service work. They reconnected with old friends and forged new friendships as they laughed, talked and worked together. Individuals became more than a face across the aisle at church or a person in the doughnut line.
Sometimes the people being served entered the conversations, often reminiscing about days of yore. Donna Prantl, one of the volunteer workers, said it was a blessing to get to know fellow volunteers and persons being served.
Strash said a sense of community is essential for “a thriving Church.”
“If you just have people that come and sit in the pew and then go home, it’s not a very giving Church,” she said. “It’s not what we are called to do. We are called to be part of our community and to serve our community.”