|
By Rachel Swick Press And Journal Staff Members of local Lutheran churches are heading to Mississippi and Louisiana as part of a mission trip and to attend the annual youth gathering in New Orleans. During the first part of the trip, the residents will work with Habitat for Humanity in Ocean Springs, Miss., to help people there still recovering from hurricanes. From there, the group will travel to New Orleans for the annual Evangelical Lutheran Church in America youth gathering. The theme of this year’s gathering is giving back, so everyone in attendance – nearly 40,000 people – will be volunteering in the community. “It’s an amazing thing,” said the Rev. Hal Fox of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Steelton. “You can just imagine, 36,000 teenagers. They will own the town. The whole idea of the gathering is to give back and help out.” The Rev. J. Richard Eckert of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Middletown agreed. Area churches have had groups go to Mississippi before to serve the people there. But this trip will be special for the young adults because they will also be able to experience the sheer power of the youth gathering, he said. “The three themes this year are service, Bible study and a focus on the interactive center,” said Eckert. “We are taking three busses from this area – the Lower Susquehanna Synod of the ELCA. We’ve been fundraising for three years to allow for the trip.” Eckert has been a pastor in Middletown for 17 years and this will be his sixth youth gathering. This year is different because the teenagers and chaperones will really focus on service. “We go because we feel it is very important for the youth to have an idea of the size and strength of the church outside this congregation,” said Eckert. “We really want to focus on mission work, both here and in other areas of the world. “When the kids are able to work for someone else, they return with such an uplifted feeling, knowing they were able to help someone else live a little better,” he said. “Trips like this can be life-altering for youth.” Lutheran Hands The mission trip part of the voyage is coordinated through Lutheran Hands, a partnership organization created by two 2003 Middletown Area High School graduates – Michael Brommer and Jesse Woodrow. They are taking 150 local teenagers and chaperones down south on three charter busses. The group leaves from Susquehanna High School Saturday and will return Sunday, July 26. “The purpose of the trip is to bolster our faith,” said Pastor Fox. “Trips like this lift you up. During the youth gathering, there will be massive service projects all over the city. We will be helping residents of New Orleans further reclaim their homes and be working with daycare centers and other groups around the city.” Six members of the Steelton church will be going, along with 12 members of the Middletown church. Michael Brommer, of Lutheran Hands, said this is his group’s second trip of this size. “The first half of that week we will be doing manual construction work, such as remodeling existing houses, demolition work, fixing dry wall, etc. to fix up houses that are still not right from Hurricane Katrina,” he said. “We will be staying at Camp Victor, a ministry there, that was started by Lutheran Disaster Relief right after the hurricane. Now, the camp is a sustainable volunteer center where they get volunteers to work with Habitat for Humanity.” Brommer and Woodrow have been best friends since middle school. Right after Hurricane Katrina, the two traveled down to help with the clean-up efforts. During fall of 2007, they worked to plan their first large trip from Central Pennsylvania to the hurricane-ravaged areas. The trip was a success and the two realized how big an idea they had stumbled upon. In talking with ELCA officials, they decided to found Lutheran Hands, which works to pair volunteers with service organizations across the world. “Really the sky is the limit,” said Brommer. “We have big ideas for the future. It all started out of a very small idea and then we decided to expand upon what we already knew and what we already enjoyed doing – serving others.” Churches responded almost immediately. Brommer and Woodrow are busy in their home congregations and the information about Lutheran Hands spread quickly through word of mouth and later via the Internet. “No one realized it was going to be as big as it was,” said Brommer. “Now we hold meetings at events for those interested in volunteering and the results have been amazing.” The trip next week will be the group’s second large volunteer trip and they hope to continue organizing service projects and doing what they love in the future. The following residents of Middletown will be attending the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America youth gathering in New Orleans: Pastor J. Richard Eckert, Michael Brommer, Alex Fuller, Dylan Grim, Cherie Stiffler, Rachael Stiffler, Mary Horitz, Jordan Cleckner, Kendra Darrah, Kristi Darrah, Marisa Bowers and Amy Heckman. For more information about Lutheran Hands or to donate to service projects, visit www.lutheranhands.org. Contact Rachel Swick at 944-4628 or
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
. This article has been reprinted with permission from the Press and Journal. |
In the News
