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Volunteers help locals

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ST. IGNATIUS – Rollers covered in bright blue paint spun across the bleachers at the girls’ softball field on Thursday. When the church group from Portland, Oregon, was finished, the once faded gray bleachers looked new.

“We replaced some of the rotted boards, too,” said Jake Luther, 16. 

The crew pulled weeds and did everything they could to improve the field. Funding for the project came from a spaghetti dinner the group held back home. They raised $20,000 to pay for the cost of travel and the materials needed to volunteer. 

“We wanted to put that money back into this area,” said Mark Bernal, youth group leader. The group utilized local businesses for everything from lumber to ice cream treats.

They did several other volunteer projects during the week including maintenance jobs for seniors, landscaping for a church in Arlee and they built a float for the Good Old Days parade. Why did 19 students and eight adults travel almost 20 hours round trip to volunteer?

“Every summer we take high school youth on a mission trip,” said Youth Director Stacey Bernal for the Lake Oswego United Methodist Church. “We go where we are led, and this year we ended up here.”

The group worked with the Catholic church in St. Ignatius to find volunteer projects and help with the Vacation Bible School.

“The younger kids admired the high school kids,” said Sister Margaret Hillary of the St. Ignatius Catholic Church. “The younger kids see the faith in Christ that the older kids have. They are good models.”

Julia Logue, 17, was interested in the location of this year’s mission trip.

“I wanted to see what it was like on a reservation,” she said. “The first thing I noticed was the Catholic church. It makes you wonder ‘how did it get here?’”

The group headed home on Friday, so they weren’t able to ride on the float they built, but the Vacation Bible School kids did. 

“God’s garden is the theme of the float,” Sam Willis, 17, said as she helped add paper flowers and banners to the float. 

Jake felt rewarded for the hard work he did during the trip.

“I feel awesome love seeing the smiles as we finish a job,” he said. 

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