Volunteering With Heart

WAYNE  Home is where the heart is. So when the youth ministry of Annunciation Parish here was deciding where to serve for its summer mission with Catholic Heart Workcamp (CHWC) — the youth group decided to follow its heart and serve closer to home.

During the last week of July, 31 teen volunteers and adult chaperones did a week of service with CHWC, an organization that provides service opportunities and spiritual renewal to teens and young adults throughout the United States. During the day, these teens volunteer throughout the area, which included the city of Paterson. They stayed only 30 minutes away from home at the former Queen of Peace High School in North Arlington where during the evening they enjoyed the sharing of their Catholic faith through song, presentations and social time.

For the past four summers, Annunciation teens have volunteered on these mission trips previously traveling to Pennsylvania and Connecticut. This year, they realized decided to serve the poor in their own Diocese to experience an eye-opening encounter.

Elise Rossbach, youth minister at Annunciation, told The Beacon, “We decided to stay local this year because there’s a tremendous benefit to serving within your own community in our Diocese. They truly are our neighbors, our brothers and sisters in need. We need to take care of them. It’s a beautiful but bittersweet reminder that you don’t need to go far from home to take care of those in need.”

At Annunciation, the Catholic Heart Workcamp mission trips have left a lasting impact on the teens with many of this year’s volunteers returning.

Karl Reidel, a college sophomore in his fourth year volunteering, spent the week building homes for families in Paterson with Habitat for Humanity.

“For us at Annunciation, CHWC is something we love to do together. We have a real high-energy youth group and we understand the overall importance to reach out to others,” said Reidel.

Working alongside Reidel was Gess Mongelli, who will be entering her first year of college in a few weeks. This was her second time volunteering with Catholic Heart Workcamp. “It was humbling to see how very different two towns that border each other are,” said Mongelli. “The next time I drive through Paterson it will mean something different now that we helped build these homes.”

Reidel and Mongelli installed pavers outside the new home and learned about Habitat for Humanity and the future homeowners. They learned that the new homeowners get a background check to ensure the home goes to the best candidate. The new homeowners also have to assist in the building and also make a down payment.

“It felt really good to do something for others and see the results when you are done. I enjoy this type of work,” Mongelli said. “I remember watching my grandpa build stuff and I think that’s where I get it from.”

Also helping out in Paterson was high school sophomore Josie VanPuttenVink. She served at the Diocesan Catholic Charities Father English Center painting its exterior staircase and repainting its parking lot lines.

“This experience was eye opening. I never did this type of trip before and I learned a lot. Volunteering with Catholic Heart Workcamp has made me more grateful for what I have,” said VanPuttenVink.

The Wayne teen was in a group with teens from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and made many new friends. “At first I was a little nervous because I didn’t know anyone in my group,” she said. “We were all strangers and then we really got close with each other as we worked together.”

VanPuttenVink enjoyed everything about the experience especially the evening program CHWC leads when all the campers return from their work sites. “It was amazing. My favorite part was at night. We were singing, dancing and coming together sharing what we did that day,” she said.

Carlos Roldan, director of the People’s Choice Food Pantry at Father English Center, was happy to welcome the teens. “These teens are great and they are the teens any mom and dad would be proud to have. They are polite, educated and they work hard,” he said.

At the food pantry, the volunteers painted the shelves even while clients were picking up food for their families. They also harvested vegetables from the Father English garden.

“We are so thankful to all those who volunteer at Father English because the need is great and there’s still so much to do,” said Roldan.

Next year, there are already plans in place for Annunciation to volunteer with CHWC. “This is a beautiful opportunity, which allows teens to serve God. It’s tremendously rewarding for everyone,” Rossbach said “The teens are inspired to do more and they come back home and they are not done. They want to help.”

“I definitely hope to join my youth group again next year and volunteer with Catholic Heart Workcamp.” said VanPuttenVink. “I keep talking about the experience and I want to be apart of it again.”