Photo (front to back):
front row Wayne Tigges, Josh Tigges, Megan Rotert, Vanessa Foley, Cassidy Christiansen, Zach Daniel, Sarah Healy, Mindie Simons
2nd row: Riley Long, Brooke Janssen,, Maddie Simons, Tempi Hathcock, Andrea Gehling, Olivia Klein, Julia La Rue, Kayla Venner, Brooklyn Bakke
3rd row: Deb McCarty, Sara Albrecht, Michon Bakke, Taliya Kock, Mary Lawler, Grace Molak, Aimee Adams, Ambrea Schreck, Vickie Ryan, Janet Klein
Back row: Jon McCarty, Joe Danner, Kyle Danner, Michael Schreck, Lucas Riesenberg, James DeBoldt, Mike McCarty, Dave Klein, Tino VanVenrooij, Colin Schreck
Twenty-five Kuemper Catholic High School students have signed on for the next Mission Honduras trip, taking place next spring. Middle school theology teacher and kindergarten through eighth grade campus minister, Mike McCarty, is once again working to organize the biennial mission trip. To help cover the expenses, they are currently holding their largest fundraiser for the project where each one of the students is being tasked with selling 20, $25 raffle tickets for a total of $1,000 in prizes. On Oct. 31, they will draw for a first-place prize of $500, second place of $300 and third place of $200. McCarty says it seems harsh, but if the students don’t sell the tickets, they have to make up the difference. He says they are trying to help them understand that they need that money to build the homes and complete their other mission projects while in Honduras. McCarty says the first trip there with Le Mars Gehlen Catholic was an eye-opening experience.
Gehlen and Kuemper work out of the same company in Kansas City to handle all the arrangements for the mission trip. McCarty says the whole process started with a letter to students this past April. It is a big commitment for them, he says, as they will be gone from April 2, 2019 to April 12, and they need to have their work pre-done before leaving. The group has had to purchase land for the construction of two homes that will provide those two families with shelter and security in the mountain area called Nueva Capital. It is at the completion of these projects, when the keys are handed over and a cross is hung on the wall that McCarty says the students are hopefully going to feel the full impact of what they have been doing.
In addition they have offered around $3,000 in tuition assistance for the children, each person on the trip brings two bags of basic, daily necessities for 30 different families—from toys to their chalk-form of clothing detergent and toiletries—and they have now developed a character education program to train local males, in particular, to be good men and to encourage them to stay around to raise their children. One of the most striking things about this mission trip is learning that even though these people face a myriad of different forms of adversity on a daily basis, for the most part, they are happy.
He says it makes a person jealous in a way, because they are not in the best of circumstances, but they are making the best of the circumstances. Those interested in buying a raffle ticket can contact any one of the student missionaries in the accompanying photo, or they can contact Mike or Deb McCarty directly at mpmccarty@kuemper.org or dmmccarty@kuemper.org. Anyone wishing to make monetary donations can also contact either one of the McCartys directly. We will bring you more on other fundraising efforts as details become available.
