Volunteer Opportunity: Culturing Compassion Retreats
About the Retreat
We call the retreat "Culturing Compassion", as a way of signaling that it's not just about doing service-activities for people in poverty, but about developing a more compassionate awareness of and connection to people in such situations (a more respectful/mutual/reciprocal way of interacting).
The retreat combines some direct-service activities (e.g. distributing food for the Caritas Food Shelf, doing a variety of activities with Place of Hope Ministries) with some interactive learning experiences (including an activity that simulates key decisions faced by people in low-income situations).
About the volunteer opportunity involved
While the Center's director provides the upfront "presentation" segments of the retreat, and organizes the direct service activities, the program relies on adult from participating churches to mentor the youth through the various aspects of the retreat (e.g. leading small-group discussions, mentoring them through the simulation activity, accompanying them on the service-activities).
However, we need additional volunteers to assist with the direct service activities (which take place on Saturday morning through mid-afternoon) and the simulation activity (which takes place on Saturday evening).
Time-commitment: 9 am through 3 pm, and from 6 pm to 8:30 pm, on a Saturday.
Possible Dates: We have four retreats scheduled for the coming school year; and the Saturdays involved are October 7th, January 20th, January 27th, and Feb 10th. Note: We are not expecting that these additional volunteers to commit to every one of these weekends; even being involved in one of them will be helpful.
Training: Volunteers need to participate in a 1 1/2 hour training session prior to their first weekend. (We seek to schedule this training at a time that is convenient for volunteers.)
To apply as a volunteer – or to inquire for more information – contact Kevin LaNave, director, at (320) 259-5480 or via e-mail.