Video.

We usually make a video of our trip.

You can see it here: http://youtu.be/oFhZAOTvNt0

Thanks again for all your support.

Home.

We are on the train home. The kids are talking, playing games, doing homework, and sleeping.

This has been a wonderful four days. I wish you could have seen how well your young people did here in Camden. Their courage and openness, their honesty and compassion, their love and compassion - all of these things flowed out of them so fully and easily. 

I am very proud of them.

One note to friends and family - be gentle to them as they come home. A trip like this one can be a very profound experience, and it is not always easy to talk about. Give your kids time to share. They might need a few days, and will probably be pretty quiet on the car ride home. That is ok... They will tell you when they are ready.

Thank you again for your trust and support over these days. 

God bless.

More pics from day three!

Day three.

Another wonderful and very busy day! We spent the morning working on three separate projects – one group planted trees with the New Jersey tree foundation, another group helped build the play ground floor at the school playground, and the third group went and led the music at an ecumenical prayer service. Then in the afternoon we went back to painting, shoveling and trimming, and working outdoors.

Our students continued their incredibly enthusiastic work, jumping in with abandon to any project they were asked to do. Today was a day of hard work – digging, cutting trees, planting trees, raking, lifting heavy foam mats, etc. Our students earned their dinners!

One thing I have not mentioned is how we reflect each evening. Our students spend about 10 minutes writing in journals about what they have experienced today. Then we go around and each person shares their thoughts, questions, reflections from the day. It is a wonderful way to unpack the experience that they are having, and it is a very holy time of day. It is the time when our kids open their hearts and share how hard it is to come to a very poor place like him and to see such beautiful and wonderful people, and not always know how to help. But we are here to have our hearts opened, and to invite God into our hearts. And the people of Camden somehow have the key that opens us up.

One last thing... We have spent the past two evenings in the backyard around the fire pit... And having some intense Camden basketball games!

Cooking dinner!

Day two.

It has been a really fun and really busy day! A few of us went running this morning over the Ben Franklin Bridge to Philadelphia and back. It was cold, and uphill both ways, but we made it.

After breakfast and morning prayer, we walked to the Catholic Cathedral of Camden where we split up into three groups for our morning volunteer service. One group did the sandwich ministry and handed out the coats that students have collected this fall to bring to Camden. They served homeless men and women who lined up for food and clothing for over two hours.

A second group went to New Visions, a homeless shelter where people can spend the daytime. The homeless often spend their days being pushed from one public place to another, never really able to rest. This place gives them a warm place have a meal, look for a job, take a shower, and to feel safe.

Our group sat and talked with them with the morning, listen to their stories, and learning about what their lives are like.

The third group was ready for manual labor! We raked leaves, cleaned up trash, and then the heavy work – moving huge blocks of granite that have fallen from the old convent building. The boys even built a granite stand for a large cross that was placed in the cathedral lot – a reminder of God's presence even in a very broken place.

After lunch we went back to holy name school and played with the kids at recess.  After recess, we came back to the house to talk with Rick, a young man who shared his story of drug addiction. He was a powerful speaker, and helped us to understand a little of the plague of drugs that cause such pain in Camden. 

Later we were broken into family of five students, and we went to shop for our dinners in the local corner stores. Each family had one dollar per person, and that was all they had to buy their dinner. It is an interesting and very eye-opening practice to try to shop on such limited funds, which is what most people in Camden have to eat for each meal.

After shopping we went back to Holy Name for after school care, and now the kids are cooking their "family meals". This evening we will have Mass together in the house chapel, and another time to reflect.

We are all weary from working so hard, but it has been a very wonderful day.

Day one.

We arrived safely, and after brief orientation were

put immediately to work. Father Mike McCue, the director of DSW, told us a little bit about Camden and what we would be doing over the next three days.

Most of our group went over to paint the home of a Camden resident who is close to the volunteers at DSW. Apparently their painting was aided by their wonderful singing. The owner of the home was so grateful she bought pizza for everyone for dinner. 

The rest of the group went to the Holy Name school playground to clean and prep the playground for painting. Afterward we went to the afterschool program to play with the kids. The students there were so excited to see our kids, and you would've been proud to see our young people reaching out to these kids in Camden.

After dinner we had an evening of reflection and discussion. We closed our time today with prayer in the chapel, and after a few minutes of hanging out and talking in the common room, everyone went to bed. The kids are pretty wiped out from the long day, and we have a lot still ahead of us.

Please know you were all in our prayers, and we thank you for supporting us in our work here.

30th Street Station!

We made it to Philly, and we are waiting for our ride to shuttle us over to DeSales Service Works in Camden.

We are on our way!

Everyone was on time this morning... I was really impressed. Now we are on the train, and a bunch of kids just went to the dining car for some Amtrak breakfast.

We should arrive about 12:15 in Philadelphia, and be in Camden by 1.

We will update more this evening!

Keep us in your prayers - we are praying for you!