As always, MissionPalooza was a great success. We attended six work sites, Wayside Waifs, Nourish KC, Operation Breakthrough, Habitat for Humanity Restore, Synergy, and Unleashed Pet Rescue.

We had a group of about 30 youth and adults who were split between the six worksites to volunteer at for 3 days. When everyone registered for this event they were able to choose which worksite they would most prefer to volunteer at and almost everyone got one of their top two choices.

The group that attended Wayside Waifs was also the same group that volunteered at Unleashed Pet Rescue. The group that went to these two worksites baked homemade dog treats, walked the animals at the shelter, and did some laundry and housekeeping chores around the shelter. Despite how tedious some of these tasks may be, the youth could not have been happier to complete them. Every day, I was greeted with a big, happy smile from all of these youth who had spent their afternoon cleaning up after animals.

The Habitat for Humanity Restore work site required a lot of hard and physical work from everybody in the group. This group spent the majority of their day outside in the sweltering heat and when they weren’t outside, they were inside digging through piles of locks. Habitat for Humanity Restore is probably one of the toughest work sites, because at times it can seem like you are only completing busy work and not making an impact on the community. The youth and adults did a great job at toughing out the hard times and realizing that no matter how little the job, it still can make a huge impact on someone and their life.

Synergy is a shelter for women and men who have led tough lives struggling with domestic abuse, addiction, and many other things. At this worksite, the youth and adults helped to clean up some old apartments that the men and women staying at Synergy would eventually live in as a way to get back onto their feet. The youth from this work site came back telling me about cockroaches crawling out of mirrors, cleaning out expired food in the fridge and getting bleach on their shirts all with big smiles on their faces.

Operation Breakthrough is a day care type facility for low income families. These families can send their children to Operation Breakthrough throughout the summer, on holiday breaks, and any other days that school is closed so that the parents can still work and don’t have to worry about finding childcare. The group that attended this work site were split up into different classrooms, and got to play with the children throughout the day, and also had to complete some cleaning chores.

At the close we heard from three people about their time at MissionPalooza. We heard about their desire to go out and love the world as God taught us to, we heard about the times throughout the week when God’s love was so obviously present, and we heard about the love that these youth have for each other, God, and everyone around them. MissionPalooza left everyone feeling empowered, loved and motivated. I can’t think of another group of people who would be able to go out and complete several days’ worth of volunteer work in just one day. It was a huge success, and everyone is ready to go out and be the Lord’s hands and feet in the world.

Taylor Mansfield is an intern with the diocesan youth ministry.