That’s a wrap! Camp MOSH (Maternity Outreach Service for Humanity) returned this week to Maternity BVM Parish, bringing together nearly 150 youth and adult volunteers to serve those in need, right in their own backyard. The parish-wide effort included Viatorians who serve there, including Fr. Jason Nesbit, CSV, pastor, Fr. Moses Mesh, CSV and Br. John Eustice, CSV.
Each day started with having a continental breakfast and preparing sack lunches, before circling up for prayer and a safety talk, and heading out to their assigned sites. Team members returned each afternoon to have fun with water slides on campus, a complete dinner, praise and worship, and entertainment.
“Work hard, then play hard,” the parish’s Facebook page declared in sharing photos from day four.
In all, MOSH volunteers worked at 45 different sites across Kankakee County. Their projects included painting, cleaning, repairing porches and decks, laying mulch, weeding, and trimming trees and bushes. They also tore down a shed, cleaned out an attic and moved furniture. One project even had them disposing of an old piano that had rusted out.
“You are planting seeds of charity, friendship and goodness as you go out into the community,” said Fr. Jason Nesbit, CSV, to the teams before they left one morning for their work sites.
It was former youth ministry director Patty Bailey who conceived the bi-annual event, organizing the first MOSH in 2009. She used to organize summer mission trips to places throughout the Midwest for young parishioners, when it occurred to her that residents right in their own community needed help.
Fr. Jason Nesbit with a MOSH volunteer
“There are more than 6,000 people in Kankakee County who are below the poverty line, and experiencing financial difficulty, medical difficulties, or may be elderly and in need of a helping hand,” Bailey says. “These are the very people we strive to help.”
The benefit to the community is so measurable that the Kankakee Daily Journal covers Camp MOSH each year, citing its positive impact on the community.
“It’s awesome,” said Br. John Eustice, CSV, “to see this Viatorian parish doing so much good in the community.”