Youth Speak

WOODSTOCK (11/16/2011) -- In this edition of Youth Speak, Connecticut Conference Media Assistant Drew Page interviews Olivia Arsenault, Age 15, East Woodstock Congregational and Gloria Knust, Age 15, First Congregational Church Woodstock

What is your earliest memory of church?: Gloria: Probably one of my Easter Sundays where we would go to my grandfather's church. It's bigger than mine and they have a bigger choir. I remember the choir always singing that Alleluia song. It was big and grand, with trumpets and horns. It was a nice experience.; Olivia: I was probably four or five years old, and I went to a Methodist church. I remember that a few times my mother would let me stay with all the adults instead of going to Sunday school, and at the end we would all hold hands and sing a song. I thought it was really cool that I could be part of all the other worship services.
How about now? Still think it's fun?: Olivia:Yeah, it's pretty cool.
So you've both attended Compassion Camp 2011 this summer? Tell me about that.: Olivia:I thought it was very eye-opening. I really enjoyed seeing everyone work together to accomplish a common goal to help the community that we live in and to make it a better place.

Compassion Camp

Compassion Camp is a week-long summer service camp for children interested in giving back to their communities, sponsored by the First Congregational Church UCC of Woodstock and the East Woodstock Congregational Church UCC. This summer marked the sixth year of the program.

Thirty-five youth from northeastern Connecticut participated in Compassion Camp 2011, which ran July 25-29. The group served a different mission each day for 2 or more hours, in addition to engaging in reflection times and fun social activities. Participants volunteered at the Northeast Regional Animal Shelter; assisted folks with mental disabilities at Center of Hope in Southbridge; provided tornado relief at First Congregational Church of Brimfield, MA; harvested vegetables at People’s Harvest Garden, a community garden in Pomfret; served meals at the Covenant Soup Kitchen and worked at WAIM in Willimantic. The participants in Compassion Camp 2011 gave back over 480 total hours in service to their communities.

What exactly was this camp? What did you do there?: Olivia: Each day we went to a different site to help people in our community. We went to an animal shelter. We went to Brimfield, MA, to help with the tornado relief. We went to Center of Hope.; Gloria: A community garden [where] the food supplies people who don't have enough money for food, or good fresh food.
What did you take home from the camp?: Olivia: I really wanted to get out in the community more and help more. We do that through Giv2 and the youth group. We went to Boston. We did mission trips when we went to Synod. It was all connected through compassion camp. It's just going out to the community and making it a better place.; [Giv2, or 'Give Squared', is a youth service program sponsored by the Connecticut Conference. The program brings together youth from neighboring churches in service and fellowship.]; Gloria: Before Compassion Camp, I did two other community things with General Synod [in Miami] and an offsite conference through Silver Lake helping a community in Maine. It just feels so good to help someone that I wanted to do it again. It's rewarding.
I saw that you both attended a workshop on Thinking About Working For God [at the Fall Session of the 2011 Annual Meeting]. So I have to ask: Have you ever thought about working for God for a living?: Olivia: Yeah, I guess since I've gone to Silver Lake so many times that has given me the idea that working for God isn't boring. I used to think it was, but seeing the people at Silver Lake so happy that they're working at a Christian camp all summer, and my sister also thinks about it, I don't... it's kind of a cool thing to think about.; Gloria: I have... vaguely... kind of... thought about it. I think all the stuff that I do, like with volunteering and things, has kind of opened my eyes to what kinds of things you could do when working for God. I think it's pretty inspiring.; [Gloria was a Counselor in Training for Compassion Camp 2011. Olivia was a first-year participant in the program. See inset for more details on Compassion Camp 2011.]

Interviewer Drew Page is Media Assistant or the Connecticut Conference, UCC.

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