November 21, 2009

‘Alive In You’ campers paint Pahokee

Catholic teens invade Pahokee with hammers and paintbrushes for weeklong mission camp.

LINDA REEVES | FLORIDA CATHOLIC PALM BEACH BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 07.17.08

PAHOKEE | Nearly 350 young people from the Diocese of Palm Beach and beyond spent a week this summer refurbishing nearly 50 homes and other structures in one of the diocese’s poorest communities.

“I am here to help out the people,” said John Mauldin, 18, a 2008 graduate of John Carroll High School and member of St. Anastasia Parish in Fort Pierce, who will attend the University of Miami this fall. “I enjoy helping and doing things for people. My twin brother, Eddie, is here, too. There are about 10 of us from St. Anastasia and there are 50 or 60 from Vero Beach. What better way to spend summer vacation?”

The Mauldin brothers were in Pahokee, a community in the middle of sugarcane stalks near Lake Okeechobee, to take part in an “Alive in You” conference and service camp June 24-29.

“It is wonderful,” said Father John Mericantante, pastor of Pahokee’s St. Mary Parish, who said that Alive in You, a Catholic organization based in Casselberry in the Diocese of Orlando, set its aims on the western communities of the Diocese of Palm Beach and the struggling families who live there.

Alive in You participants painted, performed home repairs, landscaped and built small projects for residents. Trailers, hurricane-damaged homes and parish structures were given makeovers under the careful guidance of adult chaperones and Alive in You leaders, who also drilled participants in safety procedures.

“It is like we won the lottery,” said Father Mericantante with a big smile. “When (Alive in You) told me they wanted to come, I was not aware that it would be so grand.”

Participating in the June Alive in You conference were teams from the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola, Palm Beach Gardens; St. Helen and Holy Cross, Vero Beach; St. Patrick, Palm Beach Gardens; St. Mary, Pahokee; and St. Anastasia, Fort Pierce. There were a few individuals from the Diocese of Venice and a large contingent from the Diocese of Orlando. Teens and their adult leaders came from as far away as Tennessee and Minnesota.

“The mission of Alive in You is igniting the fire of Christ in the hearts of today’s Catholic youths,” said Heather Weir, president of Alive in You and a mother of three young children.

Her husband, Jim Weir, assists with the organization, which offers four programs every year.

“This is our third summer,” he said. A former parishioner of St. Rita in Wellington, he is now a resident of the Orlando Diocese, where he is a youth minister at St. Augustine Parish in Casselberry. “We have about 1,000 kids this summer at the different locations. I used to live in Wellington so I wanted to do something here.”

“Our main goals are to help people in need and to inspire young people to serve others,” Heather Weir said.

Forty-nine sites in Pahokee were selected with Father Mericantante’s help.

“We have about 80 people with our youth group, Youth on a Mission,” said Erin Murray, 17, a parishioner of Holy Cross who graduated from Vero Beach High School this year.

Youth on a Mission gathers teens in service projects from parishes in the northern end of the Diocese of Palm Beach and is based out of St. Helen Parish.

St. Helen leader Richard Schlitt worked closely with Alive in You leaders and Father Mericantante to organize the Pahokee mission trip and obtained 2 tons of paint donated by Palm Beach County for the work.

“We have kids from John Carroll High School, Holy Cross and St. Helen,” said Murray. “I like helping others. I don’t mind spending some of my vacation to help others.”

Alive in You camps run in five-day sessions. After Pahokee, other groups will meet in New Orleans, Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Appleton, Wis.

The teens work during the day and travel to a base camp at night.

Wellington Christian School was home for the Pahokee missionaries, who enjoyed music, motivational speakers, games and fellowship in the evenings. Daily Mass is part of events and the sacrament of reconciliation is offered. Father Mericantante ministered and was spiritual leader for the group.

“We have a really good group of kids,” said Brogan Fairchild, a teacher on the Alive in You staff from Louisiana. “It takes a special kid to come and serve and give up a week.”

Accommodations were simple: The teens and their chaperones slept on sleeping bags and air cushions set up on the floor.

“We eat, shower and do everything at the school,” said Dee Aitken, youth minister of the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola, who accompanied 10 youngsters and worked side by side with them. “This camp is great. I like that they teach social justice and then you go out and practice it during the day.”

The Leap of Faith Band, based out of the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola, is traveling with the Alive in You members this summer. The group is known for lively performances at John Carroll High School in Fort Pierce, Cardinal Newman in West Palm and All Saints School in Jupiter.

“It’s a lot of traveling,” said band member Mark Aitken. “Basically, we ask for enough money to cover our costs of traveling and performing, and if that cannot be covered, we show up anyway.”

Organizers reached out to families of great need in Pahokee.

Eight-year-old Maria Cervantes is excited that she will no longer have to share a bedroom with her two siblings. Her new quarters have pastel-pink walls, thanks to the Alive in You carpenters and painters. Her family home was damaged during the 2004 hurricane season, and a portion of the home was still closed off at the beginning of the week.

“I will have my own room and my sisters will have their own rooms,” said the youngster as she anxiously waited with her sisters Leslie, 11, and Camilla, 8 months, and her mother, Leovigilda Cervantes, as crews worked on the family house.

Teen painters gave the outside of the house a coat of coral paint. More experienced carpenters renovated, painted and cleaned interior areas.

The Cervantes family are parishioners of St. Mary Parish, and Maria’s father, Serafin, works in the vegetable fields as a picker.

“I am very happy,” said Leovigilda Cervantes, struggling with her English. “We are very blessed to have this help.”

Natalie Sexton, 19, a Holy Cross parishioner, covered from head to toe with paint, was one of the more experienced of the Alive in You participants. “I have been doing mission trips for the past six years,” she explained. “I do it because I think it is the best way to show love. Our days are constantly filled with being busy. We are always thinking about ourselves and what we have to do next. The time I spend doing mission work is when I get to think about others and the best way to show love.”

For more information about Alive in You, call 407-574-7396 or visit www.aliveinyou.com.

 

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