Summertime and the Livin’ is Easy. Not!

Summer is an exciting time at St. Alban’s. As the rhythm of school and Sunday school winds down, things certainly don’t quiet down around here. Our youth have been busy with final exams and SATs, proms and graduations, and here at St. Alban’s we’ve been hosting car washes and the always exciting “end-of-year-Youth-Group-event.” This year we took the Youth Group to Six Flags America in Landover, Maryland. It was a fearless group that made the trek across the Wilson Bridge into Maryland; enduring nearly 100 degree temperatures to ride the Batwing (a roller coaster which suspends you underneath, face down, so that you seem to be flying through the air like Superman), and of course, “Superman: Ride of Steel” with it’s 20-story-tall first hill, reaching speeds of 75 miles per hour. Need I say more?

Of course, the highlight of the summer for the Youth Group is the 2nd Annual Youth Group Mission Trip to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, where we will once again help with Hurricane Katrina relief work. As of May, 2008, over 6,000 volunteers have passed through Mission on the Bay to help with relief work. St.Alban’s has done its part to help ensure that the rebuilding efforts along the Gulf Coast continue. Even three years later, the effects of the wind and 30 foot storm surge that swept most of the town of Bay St. Louis (and the rest of coastal Mississippi and Louisiana) into the Gulf of Mexico are quite evident. According to an Associated Press article I recently read, there are still over 22,000 FEMA trailers in use housing over 60,000 people. Not only are the trailers small and cramped. Medical experts have been warning for quite some time that some material used to build the trailers emits potentially toxic formaldehyde.* It is imperative that the Gulf Coast rebuild.

Mission on the Bay, where your parish Youth Group will be spending a week this July, is a small part in the great effort to bring home displaced citizens of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Mission on the Bay is a work camp under the auspices of  Lutheran Episcopal Services in Mississippi, providing one of the few Gulf Coast mission opportunities that accommodates youth under 16 years of age.

One of the many goals of Mission on the Bay is to help homeowners who have been taken advantage of by dishonest contractors. As in many recovery situations following a major disaster, there may be an element out to take advantage of people. Mission on the Bay often sends teams to do work such as painting, installing siding or dry wall, tiling or even landscaping when a contractor leaves without finishing the project.

We are excited to be spending a week helping others and fulfilling our Gospel directive to help others. The work will be rewarding and exhausting.

We cannot thank you enough for the financial and spiritual support you have given our Gulf Coast Mission Team. Please keep our Mission Team, the youth of St. Alban’s, and the adults who will be accompanying them in your thoughts and prayers this July 19-27 as we embark on our summer journey of mission and outreach — helping to provide safe homes for so many who lost so much.

* http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i0obdVKtwUqMG6gEUqc6mnjat9hAD90U9A900.