Campus Ministry Volunteers Give Christ House New Coat of Paint

By Patricia Spencer
^{HERALD Staff Writer}

ALEXANDRIA — "We’re getting all sorts of help here," said Rose LaRocca, director of Catholic Charities’ Christ House Shelter in Alexandria. The help has come in the form of painters.

Last week, the Catholic Campus Ministry (CCM) of George Mason University coordinated a team of 17 that spent two full evenings working on painting the interior of the shelter. The students heard of the need through the CCM-hosted "Thursday Night Gatherings" during June and July at the university.

The get-togethers are open to all college-age young adults, even those not enrolled at George Mason, said Michelle Miller, associate campus minister. "We also welcome those who have just graduated from high school."

Some students, who attend other colleges during the school year, come to the weekly summer gathering for faith-sharing, fellowship and information. About 60 people attend each evening meeting in the St. Robert Bellarmine Chapel building.

The campus ministry’s regular service activities, such as visiting a nursing home and a training center for the developmentally disabled, continue throughout the summer. The students also take on additional projects. After she got a call from LaRocca asking for assistance on the painting, Miller put the word out for volunteers, and received a good response.

The CCM students were supervised by two seminarians, Aran Canes and Frederick Edlefsen, who are on summer assignment at the shelter. Canes just graduated from the University of Virginia and will enter St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook, Pa. this fall. Edlefsen just completed his first year of theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md.

Christ House, the only diocesan shelter and the oldest in Northern Virginia, closes every year at this time year for cleaning and maintenance. The residents are placed at other shelters for the week. According to LaRocca, they try to put a new coat of paint on the facility at least every two years.

Other groups from around the area have joined the painting project. Eight youths from the confirmation group at St. Mark Parish in Vienna spent all afternoon last week repainting the resident lounge. .Students from St. Coletta School for the developmentally disabled in Alexandria, who were learning the skill as part of their job training, have repainted a hallway and a seminarian’s bedroom.

By week’s end, Christ House had been "redecorated" and ready for the resident’s return.

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