Newtown Students Head North For Church Service

By Jeff White

Fifty-three Newtown students set off last weekend for Claremont, New Hampshire, on a week-long ecumenical service trip organized by Newtown Congregational Church, but not before taking the time to worship with and welcome a visiting service group headed for the same destination.

Each year, Newtown Congregational Church amasses students from various churches around the area for the service trip, which went to West Virginia last summer. This year, the group included 33 students from Newtown Congregational, 15 students from St Rose of Lima parish, two students from Brookfield Valley Presbyterian, one student from Easton Baptist, one student from Christ the King Lutheran, and one student from St Paul’s Lutheran in New Jersey. These students were joined by 12 chaperones.

Last year in West Virginia, the Newtown Congregational service group worked closely with a similar service group from Virginia; so closely in fact that many of the students extended an invitation to the Virginia group to make a stop in Newtown on their way to New Hampshire this year.

Over 70 students from Virginia pulled into town Saturday night and joined their Newtown cohorts at various worship ceremonies around town Saturday night and Sunday. At St Rose, the 5 pm Mass Saturday night featured four full pews of student volunteers, as they received a benediction from Rev Robert Weiss. The service was followed by a joint barbecue at Treadwell Park.

Newtown Congregational held a service for both the Newtown and Virginia groups shortly before each set off north.

The Newtown Congregational group will spend the next week in small groups doing all kinds of home improvement repairs for Claremont households who cannot afford to hire professional contractors, and who often cannot perform the tasks themselves.

Students will repair or replace roofs, repair or build decks, and paint the insides of houses, among other tasks.

A Claremont school has opened its doors to the service group. They will bed down on the floor of the gymnasium, while an onsite cook prepares their meals. Because it is a Christian group, a day’s work will be supplemented with ample time for prayer and reflection.

Last summer, Newtown High School played host to a similar service group, Kingdom Builders. One hundred ninety church youth volunteers from across the country spent a week living in town and performing similar service projects for elderly and disadvantaged residents throughout Newtown and neighboring communities.

Michele MacRae served on Newtown Congregation’s Advisory Board, which organized this year’s trip to New Hampshire. Mrs MacRae is familiar with the trip, as both of her daughters went to West Virginia last summer and joined this year’s group. For her, the week provides a chance for students to bond with each other under the banner of Christianity, without being concerned about differentiating between Catholic, Lutheran, or Protestant.

“It’s a totally Christian program,” she says. “It’s kind of nice to see all of these kids sitting and praying together and not being self conscious.”

The cost of the trip was $335 for each student, which mostly went to transportation and building supplies for the week.

From experience, Mrs MacRae knows that it is a week well spent for these students. Most students return with a sharp consciousness of just how fortunate they are to live where they live and have what they have. Mrs MacRae said that both of her daughters returned from last year’s West Virginia trip “impressed” about how grateful and proud the people were for what they had.

What Newtown Congregational service group members stand to take away from New Hampshire this year will no doubt mirror the experience they shared last year down south.

“They learned that you don’t have to be paid to give of yourself,” says Mrs MacRae. “You don’t have to be offered a check. I think it is something that they will carry for the rest of their lives. I hope they do.”