Area churches plan mission trip

Youth and adult volunteers will head out this summer - not to the shore or a vacation resort - they are part of Group Mission Trips, providing cost free repairs to the elderly, impoverished veterans and the disabled.

Twenty teens from St. Francis de Sales, Our Lady of Fatima and St. Monica Churches will paint, construct and improve their destination: Dexter, Maine.

Dexter was once a successful area on the Sebasticook River, booming with mills, factories and manufacturing plants. Since local manufacturing dwindled, many people moved out of the town, leaving the elderly population in dire need of assistance. Dexter is a perfect location for a Workcamp and a week of meaningful service and transformation. The team will work in Dexter from July 10 through July 16.

Group Mission Trips has been in existence since 1990 and has organized domestic and international Jesus-centered mission trip experiences. Each year nation-wide, over 15,000 participants rack up volunteer hours by serving people in need.

The local group out of St. Francis de Sales is under the guidance of Patrick Kimball, Mission Team Coordinator, who is enthusiastically leading the youth volunteers to serve Dexter residents and also serve by leading parts of worship programs, Scripture readings and hands-on experiences.

The team’s April meeting began with introductions and learning each others’ names by playing a memory game called I’m going on a picnic. Their June meeting will be a Tool and Safety instruction.

“On a past mission trip, we had a female freshman who never held a hammer. She was being teased by some football players. By the end of the trip, she was an expert hammerer, showing up all the football players,” Kimball laughed.

Team youth volunteers are energized and anticipating a fun, inspirational and constructive trip this July.