Do you wanna Revolution? WooWoo!!! Welcome to Camp Connect, where we Live 2 Serve, Serve 2 Love, Love 2 Live. After several years of planning, fundraising, and traveling all over the country to participate in different social service camps, St. Jerome Church in Fancy Farm, KY decided to try something closer to home. A core group of adults began planning early in the year to host the 1st session of Camp Connect, a work camp that allows youth entering the 7th through 12th grades to provide community service to the elderly, disadvantaged, or disabled community. The idea was that if we can host a camp right here in our own community the cost could be kept lower and more young people would be able to participate. We invited youth from the Fancy Farm and Paducah deaneries to participate. We were thrilled with the response for the first year. We had 25 middle school and high school students participate. We were able to log 735 hours of community service to the Fancy Farm, Dublin, Mayfield, and Paducah communities. The youth provided many types of service to Habitat for Humanity, Martha’s Vineyard, Needline, Fern Terrace nursing facility, Peanuts Daycare, Villa Madonna, and several elderly members of the Fancy Farm and Dublin communities. They worked hard all day in the hot heat but had plenty of play time after. Each day we started with a hearty breakfast prepared by our wonderful cook team. Each evening we had a wonderful meal prepared by this group, followed by a program that focused on the Trinity with lots of music, activities, and discussion. I am humbled by the hard work, dedication, love and enthusiasm that everyone involved put into this 3 day event. We will begin planning for next year in a few weeks with hopes to expand and grow. Come join us next year!!!
