Later this summer, the Northwest Suburban Interfaith Council is planning to go on their fourth service trip to help those in need.
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They are headed to the St. Louis area to work in the city of Eureka, Mo., which has been greatly devastated by massive amounts of flooding recently. The trip is scheduled for July 30 through Aug. 3.
Volunteers must be at least high school age. Lodging and transportation already have been arranged.
Earlier this month, several counties in the St. Louis area were under water, forcing many school districts to shut down. Thousands of volunteers still are continuing efforts to fill and pile up more than 200,000 sandbags to protect area businesses and Eureka High School after the Meramec River crested.
These flood levels have broken all previous records in the area, including the historic river flooding in 2015 that communities were still trying to rebuild from.
If you are unfamiliar with the Interfaith Council, it is a nonprofit organization with local representatives from Congregation Beth Am, Congregation Beth Judea, Congregation B’nai Shalom, Hope Lutheran Church, Kingswood United Methodist Church, Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, St. Mary Parish, Shir Hadash Reconstructionist Synagogue, St. Alphonsus Liguori Parish and Temple Chai.
The group is funded by annual membership dues and donations. All participation is on a volunteer basis, and events are scheduled throughout the year.
Pastor Eric Schlichting, of the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, explained how valuable the council’s service trips are to our community.
“Our group represents churches and synagogues from a variety of traditions, and we think the interfaith relationships we build on the trip are as important as the homes we build,” he said.
The Interfaith Council’s mission this summer is to address persistent recovery needs before federal funding runs out in November 2017.
While their work will require a broad spectrum of skills, including carpentry, landscaping, plumbing and painting, the group stresses that everyone is invited to come along to offer a helping hand as an ambassador of goodwill and encouragement to those who are still struggling to recover.
Tom Chrysler, youth director of Hope Lutheran Church in Buffalo Grove, has been on past mission trips. He said he is looking forward to traveling again on this one.
I asked him how it feels to participate in one of these service trips.
“I have a friend who quotes John Wooden, the famed UCLA basketball coach, who said, ‘You can’t live a perfect day until you do something for someone who will never be able to repay you,'” Chrysler said. “On these mission trips, you live many perfect days. Also, our command from God is to ‘Love One Another.’ There are so many opportunities to show love on these trips.”
If you are unable to attend the trip, but wish to support the volunteers’ costs of meals, transportation and lodging, a GoFundMe page has been established through the website, lcgoodshepherd.com/mission-trip.
Registration and trip details are also available at that website. Additional questions can be sent to Schlichting at [email protected] or by calling 847-537-4353, or by contacting Chrysler at [email protected] or by phone at 847-680-5936.
Aileen Simons is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press. Reach her at [email protected].