Annual Youth Report 2024

Saint Louise de Marillac Youth Conference, London (Started in 2008)

Our Youth Conference have been very busy with Street Ministry and Social Justice (SJ) awareness sessions this past school year.

We hosted 6 SJ topics in our Particular Councils Parishes in London. Fast Fashion, Food Waste, Water Security, Energy Choices for the Future, Plastics and Non-Biodegradable and lastly Air Concerns. The youth team are doing another 4 more sessions this coming year, Pollinators and Food security, Deforestation/Reforestation, Invasive Species-Flora and Fauna, and Water Rights – Corporate buy outs.

Our commitment to Environmental SJ is in connection to Pope Francis’ Laudato Si Encyclical, to take care of Mother Earth. It is in our future to take on some Environmental issue and change our community, making a difference to our World. Our Youth are very passionate to succeed in changing the outcome of our Environment. We also do road clean ups and Earth Day activities.

In our Street ministry activities included three On the Street Events, in which our SSVP Youth conference partnered with multiple community groups of like mindedness and schools, both Elementary and High schools.

Collected items were distributed to those giving rough on our Streets. Hot food and other food stuff was offered at each of our OTS. Our December OTS we included Christmas caroling and Stockings with tons of clothing and supplies to make life on the street more comfortable.

We also visit a soup kitchen and the SSVP Thrift Store on P.A. Days and make 100 bagged lunches in the cooler months to bring to the soup kitchen the night before.

Our Youth Conference partner with community groups, ClothingWorks and Hyde Park Lions. We just finished up the Huge Winter Clothing Giveaway. We will be in the Hyde Park Lions Santa Claus Parade collecting dried and canned goods for one of our Food pantries in our area, this will be our 10th time participating in this event.

We visited a soup kitchen and the SSVP Thrift Store on P.A. Days and make 100 bagged lunches in the cooler months to bring to the soup kitchen the night before.

Our Team also continues to clean our Veteran’s gravestones before Remembrance Day, the Last Post is our focus. It follows our mandated Mission Statement, to serve Christ in the poor with love respect, justice and joy. All the veterans who passed way in this part of the cemetery were impoverished upon passing. This is why we take this on, to serve those who are marginalized. We have painted up Memorial Stones to place on each grave and we spoke out loud each name of the Veterans and offered up prays for those still fighting and those who have died for us.

For Succession of our youth Team, we recruit annually to elementary schools, High Schools and postsecondary schools. Our biggest method is word of mouth from our youth members. Siblings and friends are best ways to find new young people.

This year we trained 22 new members and commissioned our old and newest members after our Family Mass. Families came to celebrate with a shared meal and our Volunteering Hours Ceremony, certificates were given out to each member with their hours from the past school year. Always a great night for celebrating our young people!

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