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This is the announcement that was made at Mass the weekend before Thanksgiving:
Hello, my name is David. I’m speaking to you today on behalf of the team of adults and teens that lead our High school youth ministry we call SPY. I may be the head of SPY, but SPY will not be successful without those adults and teens. Thank you, Fr, Adrian, for allowing us to speak to our parish family today.Every year one of big events the SPY teens look forward to is DCYC, the Diocesan Catholic Youth Conference. This DCYC is the 60th anniversary and the staff at the diocesan office tell me they’re working hard to make it extra special. But, you ask, what is DCYC?
You could say it’s a gathering of a couple thousand teens where they learn more about their Catholic faith. But it is so so much more. It’s a weekend full of experiences. From just being with 2500+ teens experiencing the community of faith, seeing first hand their faith community is bigger than SPY; bigger than St. Patrick parish; to hearing dynamic keynote speakers, to singing and moving to powerful praise and worship music. Attending 2 masses. Having a chance to receive the sacrament of Reconciliation. And ending a full and busy Saturday with Eucharistic Adoration. It’s a busy, fun, faith-filled, exhausting and many times a life changing weekend.
I could talk on and on about what DCYC is and what it means to me. But this is an event for the teens. So I’ll let the teens tell you something about what DCYC means to them.
The reason I’m here today is to ask for your support. The word “support” was chosen carefully, inspired by a blog posting by a wonderful teen in early October. It is entitled “Loved, Cherished, Defended In Battle: Support.” In it the teen draws upon the scripture passage in Exodus about the Israelite battle with the Amalek people where Moses has to keep his hands raised to God for the Israelite army to do well in the battle. But when he grows weary, his hands come down and the Amalek army becomes successful. But Moses wasn’t alone. He had his support team, he had Aaron and Hur. They held his hands up so the Israelites could vanquish the Amaleks, and they did. She goes on to draw the analogy that we are not alone in our struggles to be faithful followers of Jesus, to win our battle with the evil one. We have a support system in each other, in our faily family. We can help each other keep our hands and our eyes raised up to heaven. Help each other be strong and build up God’s kingdom. Today I’m asking you to be a part of the support team for SPY, help us to lead these teens closer to Christ.
How? We’re having a fundraiser to help reduce the cost to each teen to attend DCYC. As you might imagine two nights in a hotel, the cost of the conference and making sure the teens are fed is not an inexpensive endeavor. I don’t believe the trip should be completely free for the teens. I think they have to make a commitment to go, to put some of their money into the trip. But, if we raise enough money, we can keep that commitment low so more teens can attend.
What kind of fundraiser, you ask? We call it our “Wall of Support”. The idea is pretty simple. We have placed some envelops on the wall back by the SPY closet. On each envelope is a dollar amount. The idea is for you to choose an envelope. The amounts go from $1 to $100. This means you can choose an amount that is right for you and your family. I hope there are some parishioners that will choose the envelops with the higher dollar amounts. And I know for some, the lower dollar amounts will be what works for their families. And that’s part of the beauty - there’s something for everyone.
But there is a catch - there’s just one envelope per amount! If you want to donate $10, but the $10 envelope has been filled, you’ll have to make a decision. Do you give a bit more and go for the $11 envelope? Or a bit less and get the $9 envelope? Maybe choose the envelope based on the artwork, the color or the pattern of the envelope. Another catch is that some of the envelopes have already been filled thanks to the support we received from the previous Mass.
If the envelope that matches the amount you want to donate has been filled already, don’t despair. It is OK to put extra into an envelope with a lesser amount on it. Trust me, a youth minister will never turn down an extra dollar or two. There’s always something else we can get for the teens.
In each envelope there is a “thank you” letter. After you choose an envelope, take out the thank you letter, put in your donation, turn the envelope around and pin it back on the wall. The letter expresses our thanks for your support. It also contains some words from several of our teens on what DCYC has meant to them. I can tell you how great DCYC is. But since we’re asking you to help and support the teens I thought it would be great to hear from them, too. Also in the letter is the link to the blog post I mentioned earlier. I encourage you to read it.
On our Wall of Support you’ll find some pictures of the teens at DCYC and other events. And, The a printout (or two) of the Support blog posting. Please stop by and browse and chat.
We in SPY are ever grateful for the support we have received and continue to receive from you, our parish family. We can never say “Thank you” enough. I thank you in advance for your generous support in this fundraising endeavor. Even if you are unable to support us financially, please support us with your prayers. Thank you.