Group+D

=Group D=

Please keep in mind that only one person can edit this page at a time. It is recommended that each of you choose a colour of font and use the same one throughout.

As you work on your social action project (committed to 12 hours of dedicated time to giving service to others) plus responding in a Wiki format with your group of three, you will answer the following question: In light of your understanding of ministry, what does it mean to minister to others through your project? You will share your thoughts and observations and actions of setting up to kinds of things you did to what you observed or saw to the final pieces of your project. At the end of your project (Dec. 2 or what you have completed thus far), your group will come up with a group response to what is ministry based on your social action journey.

Let's start answering this question    tonight.

//What does it mean to you to minister to others? What is ministry?//

Hello ... it's 4Tara here. I am beginning to type in my experiences regarding my social justice ministry. On September 12th I contacted the head of our local food bank and asked if I could volunteer with them on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 1-3 pm. She was glad to hear about help coming in and welcomed me. On September 25th I had my first session and met the other volunteers. Most of them are retired people who are active Catholics and offer their time and compassion to the less fortunate. After hearing my instructions I had my shelves to work with and I quickly figured out what foods to give out. For two hours we packed grocery bags of canned goods such as stews, pastas, vegetables, coffee, cereals, crackers, KD, peanut butter, cookies, noodles, jello and assorted toilettries. It was an unbelievable eye opener to me. I had no idea of the need in our small town. One moment caught me by surprise when a former classmate of mine came forward to collect his groceries. I think I last saw him in grade school. He did not recognize me and therefore I did not acknowledge him in a personal manner for fear of causing him embarassment. I went home sort of bummed out, thinking 'how did this happen to him?' I was quite subdued when my kids came home from school that day and I watched them eat the cookies I had made for them and get other food and drink out of the fridge. I watched them as they were quite unaware of how fortunate they were to do that. Count our blessings, shall we?

Day 2 4Tara. I met the Tuesday team on September 30th. They were happy to some new blood helping out again. I quickly sorted grocery bags and was put in the same section of the food bank as the first time. My volunteer partner was a older man who has spent his life teaching inner-city kids and helping the misfortunate. I discovered he has little patience with some of the clients due to the ways they spend their welfare cheques and their laziness which contributes to their state in life. It was explained to me that the welfare cheques come at the end of the month, which was why we only had fifteen clients come that day. We just sat around and discussed the Catholic Church for the remainder of the time. It was peaceful.

Day3 4Tara. (Oct 2) I was given a new assignment which involved interviewing the candidates, checking identification and was shown how the filing system works along with other record keeping methods. There were some clients in for food that day as well however it was an unusual day for different requests. One young man needed a voucher to fill a prescription for his health problem. Another client needed $1000 for her Hydro bill or they were going to disconnect her. Another client needed money for eyeglasses because she couldn't afford them. A man with a broken arm came in and needed bus money for a trip to Toronto. He had to be in court the next day or face 30 days in jail due to breach of probation. He was desperate. Unfortunately we could not help him. The food bank committee explained to people how low in funds they are and all requests for vouchers were denied. That was a tough two hours because people were denied what they needed... What can we do? The food bank has sent out many notices to the community requesting food and money donations. We shall hope that people will help.

Day4 4Tara (Oct 7) was a day where I learned what **__needy__** was. At three o'clock we closed the doors after being open for two hours. We were cleaning up and at 3:05 when there was a banging at the door. Some of the team groaned and then decided that I could go and see who it was and what they wanted. I opened the door to a young woman who was upset that she missed the food bank. I asked her if she needed anything and she told me that she had not eaten since Friday. (That was four days ago.) She came in and we filled two grocery bags for her. She then requested some tampons. We told her that we did not carry tampons and I found some sanitary napkins for her instead. She wanted a voucher for Shoppers Drug mart to buy some. This request was again denied. She threw the napkins on the table and went into the hallway. As I was escorting her to the door I asked her why she refused them. She told me that she wanted tampons again and napkins won't do her any good because she didn't "own any underwear"... I did not know what to do. I suggested that she use her pants to hold them in place. Her frustration was mounting as she said her pants are too low to do any good. She asked me in a loud manner if I knew what toxic shock syndrome was because she was still wearing yesterdays' tampon because she had nothing else. I can't remember the last time I felt so bewildered. I suggested that she remove it to avoid illness. By this point she was crying and said to me,"It's not that you can't help me, it's that you won't help me." She walked away angrily. .........It took me awhile to decompress from that session. May God our heavenly Father comfort the needy.

Day 5 4Tara This weekend is Thanksgiving. We had a steady stream of people the entire two hours that the food bank was open. Many of the clients had several children to feed. The well stocked shelves were quite depleted by the end. I have noticed that the clients are very polite. They are often heard saying 'yes please' and 'thank you'. ... During one of my routine questions to the clients I asked a lady if she needed any toothpaste to which she responded, "No thank you. I don't have any teeth." I was not impressed with my observation skills and felt very bad if I caused her any grief. ... Please God, remember the misfortunate when they enter your kingdom. Hello Group D: It is Natalie here. I am hoping that I am writing in the right section! Happy Thanksgiving to all. It is with that spirit in mind the spirit of Thanksgiving I will tell you about my social justice project so far and what ministry means to me so far. So far, I have been using my grade 12 religion class to help encourage ministry. We had a principal come in to our school this week from Jamaica. This principal has to overcome a lot in order to keep his school going. He needs 5,000 in order to just keep the school going. My students were very moved by his presentation and wanted to do something to help. I thought what an excellent way to encourage ministry in the senior students. This first item that we will be working on this upcoming week is a bake sale. Each student is responsible for bringing in 25 treats. I of course will be supplying treats as well. I will work with the students on their lunches to sell the baked goods this week. The students would like to send this money to the principal that we met in order to help. So with the baking, the organizing and selling of this baked goods we hope to raise 100 dollars. Also, I have organized to take my students to the Collier Street United Church and once there we will make lunch for many of the less fortunate in our Barrie community. We are going to each pay 10 dollars, buy the groceries, make the lunch and serve it. We are going on october 21 and this promises to be a great day for my grade 12s to see social justice in action. The students are responsible for a lot of the work, work I could not do on my own to accomplish this. I have done this before with students and i does give the students an empowering feeling. This is a very appropriate activity for our thanksgiving spirit! I will add more once I have completed this day. To me, Ministry is trying to be the role model in the room that is standing up for peace, justice, love and many more of our gospel values. Ministry to me is being the listening ear, loving partner, supportive co worker. Ministry is knowing that I am doing God's work, which is greater than myself. I can put myself on hold in order to be that supportive, listening person. Day6 4Tara. (Oct 14) That sounds very good Natalie. Kids are very globally minded these days aren't they? I look forward to reading about your experiences with the people you serve. (I don't know if I am typing in the correct spot because I just entered my Day 6 entry and it disappeared.) My entries are monitored by the president of this local food bank, just so you know. This is my final entry. Yesterday was a slow day at the food bank. We defrosted a fridge and freezer while we waited for clients. We had a beligerent man come in who has been banned from other charitable organizations here in town. It was difficult to deal with him. A local school organized a food drive and about 1500 food items came in when we finished for the day. It was wonderful to see the shelves full again. I have decided to continue this action and stay on with this. It has been a real eye opener for me. "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me." resonates with me so much. Ministry is about helping others and service to others and I have seen real need. It is only right that because I have so many blessings in my life that I share more of my time and energy. Why? Because, simply, I can....Over and out Group D ...talk to you later.

Hey Gang,( Natalie) So my bake sale went well. I baked a few dozen cookies and I had all my students bake as much as they could as well. The students were very keen about this and I guess it surprised me because I forget that when given the chance it is human nature to want to be good and to do good works. The students made posters for their bake sale and we posted them around the school hoping to generate some publicity. Also we put together announcements about poverty and what we can do to help for the week that led up to the bake sale. The day of the sale I had several students who sat at the table and sold goodies on both of our lunches. The kids gave up their lunch to sit, I of course was with them as well and gave up my lunches to help with this as well. At the end of the day we had sold 52 dollars worth of goodies. The kids were very excited that they were making a difference. I had the money put into cheque form and sent it to Students Crossing Borders, and it will be used for the school in Jamaica who is having financial difficulties.

Also, I took the same class to the Collier Street United Church on Oct 21 to make lunch for the less fortunate. Our school chaplain helped by picking up the food for us while I took students to the church on the bus. Once at the church I put the students to work. They all had jobs to do. Once they were told they generally ran with the ideas. I did not have to tell to many of them to keep busy because they knew that they were serving others and they felt proud. We made a meat sauce and noodles. They boiled 12 bags of pasta, 10 containers of meat, 8 bags of lettuce and lots of veggies to go on top. The students were nervous as the people started to come in. I used that time to pray just as we started to get busy. We had over 100 people come to us that day for lunch. Included in that was 1 child and two young pregnant girls about my age. It really is something to see what many of these people are doing in order to survive everyday. Many are living on the streets and lack hope in their life. One of my students knew one of our clients and that was really something for him and it made him sit up and take notice to what could happen in life. The students were very responsible about serving the needs of the people. They talked with them, and ate with them. It was a positive experience for all. They also did a very good job tidying up also. Again I was very proud of their actions. I gave them ideas and they took them and did not let up. I was proud to be there teacher. The students are excited that we have accomplished more than they had expected and they are now encouraged to do more. I am planning our next activity, and happy I have a group who are willing to help me.

Hi Group,

I finally decided to log on to this wiki space thing.....I occasionally procrastinate, and wait until the very last minute to do things. Not that I thought this part of the course was difficult, I just waited to share. Obviously throughout the entire Religion III course, we have discussed Ministry and what that means to us as individuals. So over the past few weeks in our classroom discussions and completing our own ministry projects, I have had the chance to explore this question a little further. I personally believe that to minister, means to always serve others and can take on many diferent forms. I also believe that being a minister in your day-to-day life has to be something that is ongoing and not just an assignment or project that you are completing for a specific period of time. This is often some people's perspective as we set guidelines for our students on the number of ministry hours that they must complete in high school. To minister means to apply your own special skills and talents to difficult situations, to model for others the actions of Christ, to give to those that are in need or are less fortunate. As ministers, we are called to go out and send God's message, we are the messengers, and our commitment to our call to service is the message.

Hi gals,

It is me again...Sara!! Now that I have logged on once, it is easy to type some more. I want to share with you the various ways in which I am called minister in my life and give you a description of some of the ways that I share my skills and talents with others. When we were approached with an assignment to go out and find a way to commit 12 hours of service to others, I didn't feel as though I need to go out of my way to find a project to complete this assignment. I thought about how great it would be to volunteer some extra time with the local food bank, or even "out of the cold" but then I was also unsure of the time commitment. I know that 12 hours over a period of over 12 weeks is nothing, but I also know that I commit several hours a week to the service projects that I am already commited to. First of all, I have been a member of St. Mary's Children's liturgy commitee for over a year now. There are approximately 10 people (2/week) who rotate on a schedule to do liturgy of the word for the children (JK-Grade 2) at the 10 am mass every Sunday morning. I usually only teach children's liturgy once a month, but I often have to prepare by reading the Gospel and the reading beforehand. I like to prepare simple prayers and fun activities like songs and crafts for the children to do. I have an advantage because as a teacher I am able to access all the resources at my school to create a simplified version of what the adults are doing in te mass. I most reccently celebrate the liturgy of the Wrod with the children on November 23rd. The theme was the Feast of Christ the King and it is the last Sunday of the liturgical calendar before Advent begins. The readings were very simple and straightforward which often makes them easier to translate into terms for younger children. Sometimes it is challenging to try and explain some of the readings which are wordy and often difficult for the children to understand, (they always have numerous questions around the vocabulary and meaning of certain things). I really enjoy working with children at this young age, and it is so wonderful to see them at mass each week with their families. Childrens liturgy is something that I plan to continue to do into the New Year, and for a few more years. It is one way that I can minister to young inspiring minds from my own local Church community.

In addition to children's liturgy, I also commit several hours every week to coaching both the Intermediate girls basketball and volleyball teams at my school. Coahing is by far one of the best aspects of being a teacher. This is another way that I am called to minister because I am able to provide guidance and foster positive relationships, teach the importance of team-work and good sportsmanship and fair play and dedication. I am also able to provide students with the opportunity to use their bodies, one of God's greatest gifts to improve their athletic ability, personal physical fitness, and to guide them to set goals for themselves. Not all students are able to participate in sports outside of school based on the high cost or the level of commitment that is needed. Students who have the opportunity to play organized sports are often the same ones who play sports at school, but there are often a few who have never been given their chance to shine, whether it be in academics or at home. Coaching can really prove to be a positive way to minister as Catholic educators. Although it takes up several hours of after school time, as well as lunch hours and sometimes weekends, it can prove to be very rewarding for both the team members and the coaches. In addition to coaching, I also enjoy refereeing and supervising lunch-hour inter-murals (at the junior division) which gives even more students the opportunity to play and have fun with many other students from their school. It is the ones who have difficulty building peer relationships in the school yard and those who don't have the opportunity to do sports outside of school that really benefit from this time.

And one last entry. Of course everything that I have written about has been on my mind for the past few weeks. I just needed to input my entries into the wiki page. I have one more thing to briefly mention about my call to minister. I am currently in the process of becominga big Sister with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Barrie. This is a major commitment that I have wanted to take on for a few years now. I have volunteered with BBBS in the past with after school programs, and in-school mentoring programs, but have now made the step to becoming a Big Sister. I have completed the application process which was quite lengthy. I needed to provide, several references, medical history and a police check. The next step was my interview which took place in October 2008. The initial interview is 3 hour screening process where the volunteer is asked a number of personal, fiancial, family and employment questions. I am now waiting on the return of my police check (which somehow takes 4-6 weeks). Once I have submitted that to BBBS then I will go through the second round of screening where they will come to my house and inspect my living conditions and I am sure ask a few more questions. I am oping that in January I will have a little sister to meet and get to know, and I am really looking forward to this experience. Once I am matched with a little sister, we will make plans to meet once per week for about 3 hours. I know that I can provide this young person with a safe, fun filled experience, and provide them with guidance and a positive environment. Giving back to organizations in the community is just another way that I can minister. __Hello Ladies! (Natalie) Ministry Is:In order for us to define what Ministry is__ to us I will start by saying that it sounds like we all have similar ideas about what our roles are to others in this world. It sounds as though we believe in being the best possible role models we can be by coaching, teaching, helping in food banks, serving lunch to those who are less fortunate! It appears that the best way we can minister is to actually show what ministry is. Ministry is helping those around us, inspiring more positive bevahiours that are Christ like. Ministry is encouraging those who desperately need it. Ministry is loving those who are unlovable. Ministry is also putting ourselves out there as Catholics, telling others what we believe to be true. Other thoughts here ladies??...Ministry is living the Gospel. Jesus was sent by His Father to tell us of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus was the first to minister. He gave us Holy Maxims in which to live and love. It is through these maxims that we 'minister' to those in our lives. This is something that we grow to know and understand and eventually live out. It is through ministry that we fall into relationship with not only each other and those that we help but most importantly with God.