When Christian Lapsley and Gemma Solomon experienced their first diocesan WorkCamp in 2023, they knew they needed to do something to carry on the WorkCamp spirit.
“WorkCamp really deepened my faith and sparked something in me to help people and to do it in the name of Our Lord,” said Lapsley, a senior at Sherando High School in Stephens City. “We wanted to dedicate ourselves to a movement of helping others.”
Lapsley and Solomon, a senior at James Wood High School in Winchester, both started Christian service clubs at their schools after talking to Father Stephen M. Vaccaro, parochial vicar of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Winchester.
“Seeing how many teenagers came together at WorkCamp helped me decide that this was something we needed to do,” said Solomon. “I wanted to do something that brought out my faith.”
Providing Thanksgiving meals for families is the first big project that has united students from two public high schools. “Father Vaccaro told us we should do something at the end of WorkCamp and we thought, ‘Thanksgiving is right around the corner,’ so we started fundraising and decided we wanted to provide 25 really good dinners,” said Lapsley.
“WorkCamp was hugely impactful in my life. I went twice when I was in high school,” said Father Vaccaro. “Kids are open to growing in prayer and service, and then are inspired to keep the WorkCamp spirit alive after the week has ended. This is what happened with Gemma and Christian. The faith has now gotten into the public high schools and these kids are inviting others to church. It’s awesome and evangelically effective.”
The Christian service clubs established at the schools are like mini WorkCamps. Instead of hundreds of students coming together for one week in the summer, the clubs each have about 30 students seeking service opportunities throughout the year. They didn’t know how they were going to pay for the Thanksgiving dinners, but the WorkCamp spirit of prayer and hard work kicked in and things got rolling quickly.
“We did fundraising with a spirit night at a local ice cream shop and received donations from a pancake breakfast,” said Lapsley. “Then we went out and bought food and on Sunday before Thanksgiving, families will come to Sacred Heart to pick up their food.”
“We wanted to make sure that the meals weren’t going to just be canned goods,” said Solomon. “We want people to have a nice meal for the Thanksgiving season. It was Christian’s idea to prepare real meals, so everyone gets a turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and a pumpkin pie.”
Only months after saying goodbye at WorkCamp, many students continue to evangelize with faith in action.
“There’s a lot of service clubs in our high school but being able to unite under our faith is really great,” said Lapsley. “It’s just like WorkCamp.”
“I hope it puts a smile on their faces during the Thanksgiving season,” said Solomon. “We want them to know that people care about them, and I pray it helps them to grow closer to God.”
