Guerin Catholic Students work outdoors at SJRCC on their Day of Service

On a perfect sunny fall day, 45 boys from Guerin Catholic High School in Noblesville trooped the 25 miles north to St Joseph's Retreat & Conference Center to put in a day's service for the Lord. 
 
The students wrapped up their first trimester with finals before participating in the 8 ^th annual Service Day November 8. All GCHS students, via their Kairos groups, were assigned one of 32 locations to serve. Throughout their years at GCHS, students meet daily with their Kairos group. The first 10 minutes of the sessions are devoted to prayer and the remaining 30 minutes can be a study hall. In addition, the students attend mass together once a week.
 
Splitting up into four groups, the GCHS boys enthusiastically jumped into the job at the Retreat Center! Group one went with our Groundskeeper, Mindy, and played ‘pick up sticks’ from the recent windstorm across the property.  Group two scoured flowerbeds, shrubbery, leaves and limbs up around the St. John of the Cross log cabin.  Group three clipped and cleared the summer flowers, leaves, sticks and mulch up around all our outdoor shrines and statues, and brother, we are plentiful with shrines and statues!  Finally, Group four worked in our woods clearing the paths and center courtyard for what will soon be our Woodland Sanctuary Walk. 
 
All told, the boys completed a colossal amount of work that by the math would have taken our Grounds Crew roughly 45 days to complete. We are so thankful for the Guerin Catholic students and staff for including us in their Service Day. The students who worked for us that day are a credit to themselves, Guerin Catholic High School and the Catholic faith. From start to finish they were incredible volunteers, and because of their dedication and hard work the clean-up of the St. Joseph Retreat & Conference Center was a great success.
 
“Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve…. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.