HOW ARE WORKSITES SELECTED, AND ARE THE AREAS YOU WORK IN SAFE? We work in cooperation with various agencies in each city to choose the sites and write up work descriptions.  These agencies work to improve the lives of low- income families, children and the elderly. CHWC hopes campers will develop more of a heart like Jesus and share His compassion and love for the world.  Our hope is campers will be stimulated by their service experience and be motivated to continue in their own communities. As Catholics, we are called to “serve the least of these”.  We have a responsibility to help others…..which in the case of CHWC includes the poor and middle class.   Jesus constantly talked about helping and feeding the poor. CHWC hopes the service week will give campers an opportunity to grow in their Catholic faith. Many campers are able to learn more about God from the residents they serve.  Some feel they have met God through a person with a low income.  CHWC hopes campers can see the incredible generosity and hospitality from people who are considered “the least of these”.  CHWC hopes campers will have the opportunity to experience who and what impoverished people are all about.  It is a humbling experience.  God gives grace to the poor. Their hearts are really big.  CHWC hopes in the process campers develop meaningful relationships with the people they serve. CHWC wants to teach campers to get beyond their selfishness and teach them to walk with Christ among the poor.  Following Jesus can be hard and sacrificial.  The things Jesus loves sometimes can be uncomfortable or disgusting to campers (a person who has a house full of junk , hordes stuff and has cockroaches running around it is an example that comes to mind).  The questions is can campers forget about themselves and truly follow him in low income neighborhoods?  They may have to make sacrifices and get out of the comfort zone but the benefits are substantial. Our hope is a CHWC week will raise questions such as why is their poverty, why do the richer get richer and the poor get poorer? CHWC desires campers return home with the conviction they need and can do something about improving our world and making it a better place to live for others. CHWC wants them to learn how much they have and be grateful and not take it for granted. CHWC hopes the faith of campers is radicalized and is motivated to advancing His kingdom as a lifestyle, not just a week-long commitment.  Our hope is that they will take steps of faith to uproot their comfortable, predictable, secure life and continue on a path of the extraordinary lifestyle that is following Christ. CHWC hopes that through seeing poverty up close and personal they will discover the richness of Christ.  It is something that is easily taken for granted.  It gets lost in the pursuit of earthly possessions and pleasures.  There is nothing wrong with material wealth. God blesses people with nice things. But He also wants us to understand what it means to be more dependant on Him.  God wants us to understand the suffering and poverty of others, so when He blesses someone with wealth, they will have the heart to help the poor with their blessings.  CHWC hopes campers will go away with an exposure and better understanding of what it means to be poor. There are many different levels of poverty. In America, many claim to be poor if they cannot buy the latest clothing or a new car every few years. Others say they are poor because they have to hold two or more jobs to make ends meet. Some rely on government assistance programs to meet their needs, because they have been unable to do it on their own. Still others have no place to call home. They beg in the streets, or dig in dumpsters for their meals. CHWC goal is to give campers an opportunity to open themselves up more to the light of Christ and be more concerned about the things that concerns God …which is helping the poor.  Working and serving in poor communities raise serious questions for people who live in a ‘cultures of comfort’ vs. a ‘culture of poverty’.  In the ease and affluence of our lives, making sacrifices can seem unreasonable. The world we live in whispers in our ears that we are entitled to hold on to every comfort – that we have a right to do so.   This is not to say, our campers are not needed to serve in middle to upper class neighborhoods. According to Mother Teresa it is among the wealthy that we can find the most terrible poverty of all – loneliness.  Wealthy countries like the USA have the highest rates of depression, suicide and isolation. Back to F.A.Q's