Marion teens prepare for mission trip serving youth in foster care system

MARION — While the youth of Saint Gabriel's Episcopal Church have gone on several trips to volunteer in communities in need, they haven’t gotten to serve people their own age.

For each trip, Youth Director Wendy Reardon selects a few projects for the young parishioners to choose. A project building homes for teenagers about to age out of the foster care system was their pick this year.

The group will spend a week this summer in Muskegon, Michigan doing construction work at Kids Belong, an organization serving foster kids and parents.

Building projects aren’t new to the group, but several trip participants said they chose this one because they wanted their work to benefit peers and looked forward to connecting with similarly-aged people. 

“A lot of the kids that we’re going to be working with are in our age group, so it'll be a lot easier to connect with them and be able to learn what they're experiencing.” Evann Bienz, of New Bedford, said. 

Lexi Kalkanis said when she went on a similar trip with the church last year, she saw many of the volunteers form friendships with the people they served and gained new perspectives through their work. 

She said she wants to be able to make similar connections with the youth they will serve this year.

“You go in with a perspective, and then once you leave, you have a totally changed perspective — you have a totally different way of seeing things,” Kalkanis said.

Many of the volunteers also credited Reardon for their excited participation. 

She said the group was excited their trip would be spent helping people their age, and she hopes these interactions will give them a chance to empathize with people in less privileged circumstances.

Some of the kids in her group will soon turn 18, the same age as people who age out of foster care.

“They're going to be in that six month window of ‘Gee, six months from now I'm going to be 18. What would it be like for me to be on my own,’” Reardon said. “I think it's going to be really impactful.”

To further build empathy with those they are helping, she requires each participant to fundraise for the trip. Even if their families could cover the expenses of their week away, she said she wants the youth to work to fund the trip.

For their Michigan trip, this has included selling baked goods and hosting dinners for community members. Olive Huggins, of Mattapoisett, said the fundraisers both help people in need and are rewarding for the volunteers.

Reardon said she doesn’t want kids with wealthy parents and stable homes to feel bad for what they have, but she does want them to understand how differently some of their peers live. 

Reardon also asks them to pack only what they can fit in a backback and leave their phones and electronic devices at home. 

“It evens the playing field,” she said. “When you get out there — meeting kids face to face — there isn't this big disparity. I'm thinking it's going to be a huge learning experience.”