This week, the fantastic folks at Camp GRAVES (which stands for Goals, Relief, Aim, Virtue, Empower, Success!) have coordinated all of our serving projects! It is thanks to them that we aren’t just twiddling our thumbs down here! Their mission is providing disaster relief, temporary interim housing for victims of disaster or displacement due to no fault of their own and breaking negative cycles that hinder success through educational opportunities, supportive resources, job, and life skills classes to empower individuals to obtain and maintain financial independence and housing stability. See https://campgraves.org/ for much more!

You can also check out https://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local-organization-helping-people-who-fell-through-the-cracks-after-dec-10-2021-tornado/article_027abc3e-cf73-11ee-b826-7f627376ec09.html for a video and some media coverage of this fantastic organization!

One of the many projects that the group is scheduled to work on this week is finishing touches on Camp Rendezvous. Located in Mayfield, KY, Camp Rendezvous will house up to 9 veteran residents, have a library/study, the “CORPS room” (Crisis Outreach through Resources and Peer Support), recreation room, group room, an office space for confidential meetings, and a work center. Housing is provided for up to 18 months’ rent free, giving these servicemen the time and opportunity to heal physically, mentally, and financially, so they can break the cycles that have kept them from the life a hero deserves to lead.

Check out more at https://campgraves.org/camp-rendezvous/

This team is working HARD and getting a lot done! So far we have built an entire deck and handicap ramp (yay power tools!), cleared out some really difficult plumbing issues for a local resident, and done a LOT of drywall installation for a building that will soon be

In a somewhat last minute twist, we were asked to throw on our shirts to get a picture for our host church and figured well… why not get our group picture as well? So here we are! Many more pictures and an update to be posted later, keep watching for more!

While we are serving mostly in Mayfield, Kentucky, we are staying in another church home: Pentecostal Tabernacle Church! “PTC” is located in Water Valley, KY, about 20 miles south of Mayfield and has hosted countless churches and volunteer groups coming to the area to help with tornado clean-up and reconstruction over the past 2.5 years. In addition to showers, a kitchen, and places to sleep, PTC has provided each of us with actual beds and real mattresses! THANK YOU PENTECOSTAL TABERNACLE! Learn more at https://www.visionptab.com/

In a FCL YC Mission Trip first, we arrived AHEAD of schedule to our host church in Water Valley, Kentucky! The first thing we all noticed was the HEAT — it’s a hot one this week, possibly the hottest of the summer. But once we got into our very air conditioned quarters, we quickly forgot all about it (only to be reminded every time we walk out).

We got settled in, got some pizza, and got some orientation about our week… then did some meal planning with our work groups! It was fun to involve the kids in the planning for all that!

One challenge to keep in your prayers — we are working around another youth group of about the same size, here from Holland, Michigan — a bit of a fun challenge haha — but they are working on separate projects each day. But bonus, now we have plenty of people to play basketball in the gym/dining hall/Mission Building!

SO much more to come!

While First Church of Lombard’s Youth Community is blessed to be staying here in the Mayfield, Kentucky area, we also want to acknowledge that we are staying on the native lands of the Chikashsha Iyaakni (Chicasaw), O-ga-xpa Ma-zho (Quapaw), Shawandasse Tule (Shawananwaki/Shawnee), S’atsoyaha (Yuchi) and Osage peoples. Learn more about the all the Native tribes in our area at https://native-land.ca/

And we’re off! Please keep the whole team in your prayers this week as we travel down to Kentucky today, work in the heat all week, and head back this Saturday!

Updates to this blog will be made as often as possible. Please be patient!

Thank you to our wonderful church, First Church of Lombard UCC, for “sending us forth” this past Sunday, June 9! We go to bring our church’s mission of love and service to the people of Western Kentucky! Keep us in your prayers as we manage last-minute details!

All are invited to a special “Sending Forth” for the First Church of Lombard Youth Community Mission Trip during the 9:30 a.m. worship service THIS Sunday, June 9.

Please keep the team in your prayers… and be watching RIGHT HERE for updates during the week of the trip to Mayfield, Kentucky (June 16-22)!