Service learning is a big part of most youth programs, and the youth groups at St. Marcus Catholic Church in Clear Lake work hard to follow that mission, recently completing two community service projects.
Last October the Youth Ministry group, made up of fifth through twelfth graders, was looking for a project they could work on throughout the year. They came across Sole Hope, an organization dedicated to providing shoes and jobs to people in Uganda.
Jiggers are a parasite that is a huge problem in the country, burrowing into feet and often crippling people infected with them. Sole Hope works to provide shoes to prevent the problem.
Using denim donated from parishioners and templates provided by Sole Hope, the youth spent their weekly time together for the next four months cutting out shoe uppers for size five shoes. The group also collected supplies for first aid kits to send along with the shoe pieces.
Sunday night the group finished the project, pinning each shoe kit together, assembling first aid kits, and boxing everything up to be mailed to Uganda. Once it arrives, a shoemaker will assemble the shoes, which are given out at medical clinics around the country. St. Marcus donated $10 per kit to pay for the cost of making the shoes.
In total, the group made 60 kits containing 10 uppers each. The kits will provide 300 pairs of shoes that will be used to keep peoples’ feet healthy.
St. Marcus’ Faith Formation students, consisting of preschoolers through ninth grade, recently completed their own community service project.
Partially funded by parishioner donations, the group created approximately 30 fleece tie blankets that will be brought to Catholic Charities in St. Cloud and then given to needy people in the surrounding area.
Before beginning the project, a representative from the mission spoke with the group about service to the community and how they were helping others.
Peggy Berger, youth ministry advisor, said the kids enjoyed working together so much they asked when they could start another project.
