A fundraising project bridges the gap between skills and service.
A few minutes spent browsing Facebook Marketplace goes from paving stones to used cars, tiny homes to shoe organizers, but a recent listing was selling “Mary Shrines.” The photo showed a wooden structure featuring a statue of the Virgin Mary inside against a blue background.
“I’m selling these Mary Shrines as a fundraiser for the youth at St. Veronica Catholic Church. We’re raising money to support the Arlington Diocese WorkCamp,” the post read.
It went on to say the 10-inch enclosure, made of cedar, features a plastic statue of Our Lady and has an eye screw on the back so it can be hung outside. The Mary shrines sell for $40.
Marketplace poster John Pitts said his wife, Denise, suggested that he post the fundraiser on Facebook, and the response has been steady with nearly two dozen people interested in purchasing a shrine.
The community at St. Veronica Church in Chantilly is working hard to fundraise for WorkCamp June 20-26. This year, high schoolers will perform home repairs for residents in Quicksburg, Va., during the weeklong service project, which includes daily Mass, confession and fellowship.
Parishioner John Keegan came up with the idea for the shrine and Pitts came up with the design, this on the heels of previous woodworking fundraisers of Adirondack chairs that were raffled off and wooden trays painted with the WorkCamp theme. Last year, they sold 75 Mary shrines and hope to have at least 50 made by Mother’s Day.
“Once you get your workforce trained, which we’ll do, we’ll be off to the races,” Pitts said.
He led the first of two tool-training sessions March 14. The retired engineer worked in the building industry, so “I still get to build stuff,” he laughed, “just a little smaller stuff.”
In the courtyard behind the church, Pitts moved through the handful of teens starting with safety protocols, equipment set up and showing the proper techniques to using a power miter saw.
The project is twofold. The teens going to WorkCamp “need to show up with a knowledge of how to set up the saw safely and how to set up the worksite,” Pitts said. And funds need to be raised to cover parish costs for a crew leader, van, T-shirts for the kids and each camper must pay $600 to attend the camp.
Parish youth minister, Daniel Sabia, has been at the parish for four years and has attended WorkCamp about 10 times. He said the Mary shrines are a perfect project that’s “low-cost and easy to make. It’s probably one of the most popular fundraisers we’ve had because it’s artwork and it’s accessible,” he said. The shrines can go inside or outside.
“It’s fun getting to prep with the kids and be together as a young Christian community,” Sabia said.
The first training session involved cutting the fence planks into the six pieces of the frame, and a little pedestal for the Marian statue to rest on a dowel. The wood was donated by parishioner David Swisher, who owns Builders Fence Co. in Chantilly. The second session will focus on assembling the shrines. Mary “is the last one to go in,” Pitts said. He does a little sanding of the corners to round them afterward. In all, it takes about 10 hours to make each shrine.
Seasoned WorkCamper Julianna Pereira, 16, knows her way around some power equipment. She’s heading to WorkCamp for the third time. The 11th grader at Chantilly High School said there are surprisingly few incidents at WorkCamp because of the training. For her, every year she looks forward to the community. “Meeting new people, helping people in the community, it’s really nice to meet them and help out,” she said.
For Aarya Le, 15, a freshman at Freedom High School in Chantilly, it’s his first time at WorkCamp and first time using these tools. He held the boards as Pereira, wearing her eye and ear protection, lowered the circular saw. Sawdust flew and the blade whirred loudly as the cut was made. The piece was inspected by Gabe Nguyen, 15, a sophomore at St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly. Then Le and Nguyen took their turns with the saw. The 13 teens going to WorkCamp are a mix of newbies and repeat campers.
Pitts first attended WorkCamp as a contractor in 2018 when his daughter went. He returned as a stakeholder in 2023 and continues going as a contractor. “I get a lot out of it myself,” he said. “Personally, it’s been important in my faith, just seeing new life, the faith, especially young people are forming, how excited they are to be around other kids who believe the same thing. Some of the kids in the parish don’t attend Catholic high school. They see that they are not alone at this.
“The kids learn skills here that are useful on projects, to keep safe, and be somewhat useful,” Pitts said. “But the best is to interact with those less fortunate. They never see people in need; this is exposure.”
Among the parish WorkCamp fundraisers — Lenten supper, car wash, pulpit appeal and letters — the shrines are central. The more the parish raises, the less the teens have to put forward to make their individual costs.
And Pitts said, “If other parishes want some, we’ll make more.”
Get a Mary Shrine
Email John Pitts at [email protected].
Putting the ‘fun’ in parish fundraisers
The price of service isn’t cheap. For 800 teens across the diocese, WorkCamp, the weeklong service project, starts long before they pick up a hammer. Parish fundraisers help offset the costs of participating.
Parishes must provide transportation, and they usually supply T-shirts and often pay the crew leaders among the expenses. Each teen must pay $600 to participate.
This year, WorkCamp is June 20-26 with the home base in Quicksburg, Va., and service projects in Shenandoah, Warren and Page counties.
Along with the 800 teens, 165 adult crew leaders, 170 contractors, 175 adult homebase support volunteers and more than 200 parish security volunteers will attend.
To ensure no student is left behind due to cost, parishes across the diocese have transformed into hubs of entrepreneurial spirit, launching creative fundraising campaigns that turn local crafts and community treats into the fuel for summer service.
St. Paul Chung in Fairfax makes Easter egg baskets for people to purchase after the Easter Vigil and Easter Masses, according to Yong Kwon. This Korean parish also makes rosaries with beads from Korea, and they pray for the parishioners as they make them.
St. James Church in Falls Church held an all-day Bake Off in January. Teens made dozens of cinnamon rolls and coffee cakes in the school kitchen, then sold these and other homemade treats after weekend Masses. Father Tim Banach, youth ministry director, said they raised $3,800.
St. Theresa Church in Ashburn has an annual Advent calendar and candle sale each November over two weekends. Parish WorkCamp contact Michael Dunne said they sell paper and chocolate calendars, candles, candle rings and “Keep Christ in Christmas” magnets. They also stand at the church doors with buckets to collect donations. Last year they earned $5,000.
St. Patrick Church in Fredericksburg did a letter-writing campaign, which the diocesan youth office encourages. That raised the largest amount of funds so far, according to Adam Wiederman, youth ministry director. They also host Lenten soup suppers.
Nativity Catholic Church in Burke held WorkCamp donation weekend in February where teens spoke after Masses and then collected donations outside the church and encouraged online giving. Claire Anderson, director of youth ministry, said they usually raise $15,000-20,000 that weekend, and another $2,000-2,500 from soup suppers.
Corpus Christi Church in Aldie does a clothing/soft goods drive called a FUNDrive through Fundsavers. Sarah Skees, WorkCamp coordinator, said they collect soft goods and bring them to the thrift store where they are weighed and the payout is about 20 cents a pound. They also sell Mother’s Day flowers placed in Starbucks Frappuccino bottles they collect throughout the year.
St. Luke Church in McLean did a Nail Sale fundraiser where they gave out construction nails for donations. Youth Ministry Director Benjamin Emrich, Y.A., created a huge, complex display to track progress. He said he’s willing to lend it to other parishes. Posing with his intricate chart, Emrich looks less like a youth minister and more like Steve Kornacki, NBC News’ chief data analyst, on election night.
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