Service & Song Camp Makes Serving Others Fun

By now, neighbors living around Saint Viator High School are used to finding flyers in their mailbox about a food collection as part of the Service & Song Camp. As middle school students and their high school leaders attempt to provide direct service in their own community, they start by collecting food.

On Thursday, students returned to those same homes and collected non-perishable food items. The response was very generous and once they returned to school, another team prepared to unload and sort the food at the nearby Wheeling Township Food Pantry.

Service & Song Camp wrapped up last week, with many new friends made, valuable lessons learned about ways to serve the community and an overall familiarity with Saint Viator. 

Back in 2013, Fr. Corey Brost, CSV, started this unique summer camp, which aims to give students experience in providing direct service to local social service agencies and at individual homes. He hoped the week would instill the Viatorian charism, to "embrace those counted of little importance."

“Our intention was to let students directly serve those most in need in the local community,” Fr. Brost says, “and learn why service is at the heart of a lived‐out Catholic faith.”

Young people are divided up into teams and each day they spread out to sites across the Northwest suburbs. Their work ranges from helping with landscaping at the homes of local seniors and making blankets for veterans; to collecting food and going to facilities that feed the hungry, including Catholic Charities, Feed My Starving Children and the Wheeling Township food pantry.

They also packed lunches, lots of lunches. In all, campers packed 360 lunches for Journeys the Road Home and Catholic Charities in Des Plaines. In delivering the sack lunches, they also toured these facilities which serve the vulnerable in the Northwest suburbs.

Inevitably, Service & Song Camp falls not only on the last week of June, but on some of the hottest days of the summer. The early part of this year’s camp was no different. On Tuesday, when a team of campers headed over to the Viatorian Community Garden — where gardeners raise vegetables for area food pantries — on the grounds of the Province Center, the real feel was in the upper 90s.

However, Brendan Patton ’25, in his second year as leader, kept the group laughing as they weeded the walk paths in between the raised beds – and he kept monitoring the timing for water break intervals.

"I like getting to know the middle schoolers," Brendan said. "I want to give them a positive impression before they start freshman orientation. Hopefully, they have as much fun doing service as I do."

The camp concluded Friday with Mass in the school's Alumni Memorial Chapel, celebrated by Fr. John Eustice, C.S.V., who is a former leader of the camp. He has a special bond with students, having spent the bulk of his 20 years as a Viatorian in youth ministry, but this Mass was special. It was the first Mass he celebrated at Saint Viator since being ordained on June 8. Beginning in August, Fr. John will serve as chaplain and head of Campus Ministry.

“The camp gives students the opportunity to form community and to go out to serve those who are in need,” said Ann Perez, camp director and Assistant to the President for Mission. “They have fun playing games and also take the time to pray and reflect on who God is calling them to be as disciples of Christ in the world."