Mary O’Donnell meets one of the people behind a successful faith summer camp
Faith, fun and friendship are the key elements of a hugely successful summer camp for youngsters in the Co. Derry parish of Limavady, which is seeing the benefits spread beyond the week-long camp and enriching community spirit.
With other parishes around the Derry diocese and beyond expressing an interest in running the HOPE camp, one of the main organisers, Leo McCloskey, was delighted to share this amazing success story with The Irish Catholic.
Exhausted but exhilarated following the third annual HOPE camp, the 50-year-old highlighted that its success was not just the enjoyment the children get from it, but the involvement of 100 parishioners as volunteers and the benefits of this to the parish as well.
HOPE stands for ‘Help Our Parish Evolve’ and that is what is happening in the Limavady parish, where Dungiven-born Leo lives with his family.
A vice-principal and Year 6 teacher in Termoncanice Primary School, Limavady, Leo recalled the conversation in the corridor outside his office which led to him becoming more involved in parish life and the start of HOPE.
“Our current curate, Fr James Devine, was a deacon in the parish at the time and during one of his school visits he told me that he was very impressed by the late Michaela McAreavey’s faith story and had been praying during adoration about what could be done for the youth of our parish.
“He wondered if we could have a week of activities in the town and, with both of us being mad about sport, we thought we would start off with a week of faith and sport activities, but now it has grown into something much bigger,” says Leo.
The HOPE camp caters for three age-groups: 9- to 10-year-olds, 11- to-13-year-olds, and 13+ years. Interest in the camp has grown considerably over the three years, with 190 children enjoying the first one and this year they had to cap the numbers at 300 for operational purposes.
When only a few people turned up at the public meeting three years ago to discuss the proposal when it was first mooted, Leo said that he and Rev. Devine decided to approach a few people and ‘persuade’ them to get involved.
“We had 57 volunteers by the time we started our first camp and none of us had ever really been involved in parish events before. We have three retired teachers who, funnily, didn’t think they had anything to contribute but yet had so much to offer and the children love them.
“That is the case with all of our volunteers – who range from 17/18-year-olds to retired people – they have great skills which they are happy to offer, and the more successful the camp has become, the more we have found people offering their help and taking no money for it, because they see the good that it is doing.
“We are tapping into the talent within the parish, such as Irish dancing, jiving, cardio dancing, orienteering, various sports, the scouts, artists, stylists, beauticians and bakers, and we have volunteers from other faiths as well taking activities during the camp,” Leo says.
Careful planning goes into the camp programme, with a good mix of contact and non-contact activities, and particular attention is paid to the faith formation programme, which is adapted to suit the different age-groups.
Faith formation
This year’s camp had four teams which were named after St Oliver Plunkett, St Jean Vianney, Blessed Louis Zelie Martin and Blessed Mother Theresa, and on the first day each learnt about their specific saint.
The second day’s hour-long faith formation session involved preparation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, with an opportunity the next day to go to Confession.
The young people and volunteers responded to this so wholeheartedly that Fr Devine told Leo the priests who had come along to hear Confessions were “literally singing with joy” afterwards, and had declared it as one of the best days of their priesthood.
On the fourth day, the children and volunteers spent time in adoration. Describing it as “excellent”, Leo says: “We had 292 children in St Mary’s Church that day. We asked them to behave for about 15-20 minutes and they were great.”
Noting that all seven sacraments were covered during the week, he says: “We feel the faith part of the programme is very solid, and is both interesting and fun for the children.
“There are many parishes interested in the HOPE camp, including one in Galway, so we now have a charter drawn up that includes an hour of faith formation each day, which we encourage parishes not to deviate from.”
Saying that there was no reason why the HOPE camp couldn’t be in every parish – big or small – in Ireland, Leo says: “Every parish has the same talent amongst its parishioners, it is just a matter of harnessing it.
“We have found that if you ask parents for nothing they will give you everything. We have built up so much goodwill and this, along with prayer, is how the camp will succeed.”
While it costs about £60 a child to run the camp, the fee charged is only £10, so that it is affordable to everyone, and this includes a specially designed, non-contentious HOPE camp top that each child wears.
“This means that we have a £16,000 deficit before we start,” says Leo, “so we have to fundraise within the parish, but that is all part of the HOPE plan – to involve the parishioners and build community spirit by organising events, such as bingo and duck races, throughout the year, building up towards the excitement of the camp week within the community.”
For more information on the HOPE summer camp, contact info@hopelimavady.org