Teen volunteers tee off to fund annual mission Youth group to visit Denver to work with homeless kids, elderly BY MARY ANNE ROSS Correspondent Members of the Senior Youth Group at St. Paul's Church enjoyed a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game on their way home from last year's mission trip. At a different locale each summer, the teens spend a week repairing and painting homes, working with soup kitchens, food pantries, community centers for children and seniors, and with homeless programs, among other initiatives. MILLTOWN - Miniature golf fans don't need to head to the Shore this weekend to look for a hole in one. The social hall at St. Paul's Church, at SouthMain Street andWest LakewoodAvenue, will be transformed into an 18-hole miniature golf course Friday and Saturday night. Members of the Senior Youth Group at the church have designed and decorated the course, complete with a refreshment stand, and are hoping residents will come out to play a round or two to help raise money for their annualmission trip in July. The Rev. Richard Hayes Weyer started the St. Paul's Youth Group about 15 years ago. It has proven popular with young people from all over the area and is open to children in grades seven through 12. Currentmembers are not all affiliated with the church, and come from Milltown, North Brunswick, East Brunswick, Edison, Old Bridge, Kendall Park, Spotswood, Colonia and Monroe. Allyson Kircher poses with two boys she was working with last summer at Kids Camp in the coal mining town of Bluefield, W.Va. "We don't require that they be from our church or even fromMilltown,"Weyer said. "The group is very busy throughout the year, but the most popular activity is the annual mission." Every year, approximately 30 of the group's members spend a week performing community service in an impoverished part of the country. "For most of the kids this is a real eyeopener. They get to see people living in a way very different from the way they have grown up," said Elaine Kircher, a parent who has accompanied the group. St. Paul's partners with YouthWorks, a Christian organization that sets up the mission locations and arranges for housing and volunteer opportunities. Young people from St. Paul's Church have served food in soup kitchens and organized clothes in thrift shops; worked with the elderly at senior facilities and children in day camps. They have also helped paint and repair houses. Students are closely supervised, and since several groups may be volunteering at the same site, participants get to meet other young people from all over the country. "We try to vary the sites so that one year they are in a rural environment and the next they are in an inner city location," Weyer said. This year, the group will visit Denver in July. Like many urban areas, Denver has pockets that struggle with affordable housing and poverty. Fifteen percent of residents live below the poverty level, including 12 percent of those age 65 or older. There also are 4,600 homeless people in the city, and a growing percentage of those are children, many of whomlive inmotels, shelters or other temporary housing. The youth group will participate in children's programs and outreach for the elderly. Last year, the group went to Bluefield, W.Va., which was once a booming coalmining town. "They used to be very wealthy. In fact their high school logo was the dollar sign. Since the mines have shut down it has become a depressed area," Weyer said. Allyson Kircher, 15, ofMilltown worked in the day camp in Bluefield. "People are a lot poorer. It really looks different from here, but the kids are the same," she said. "It was fun working with them." Matt Lucid, a Milltown resident and senior at Spotswood High School, has gone on four of the annual trips. "I have seen all different parts of the country. I remember inAtlanta working on an elderly woman's home. She started trying to fix it up too. I think us being there seem to motivate her," he said. Kathy Ramsen, a sophomore at Spotswood High School, recalled working at the day camp in Bluefield last year. "I was at a dance station, so we sang songs and danced with the kids. I met people from all over country and made new friends," she said. While Weyer does not underestimate the importance of community service, he feels that the real goals of the mission are spiritual. "We want them to think about how God is going to work in their lives, how he is going to bring out their gifts," the pastor said. With that in mind, he dares to suggest what some parents might consider impossible. "We ask them not to use their cell phones and iPods when they are on the trip. We want them to focus on the experience they are having," Weyer said. The Senior Youth Group is still accepting individual and corporate sponsors for theminiature golf fundraiser. Sponsorships range from $50 to $1,000. The goal is to raise $30,000. Miniature golf will be offered Saturday and Sunday from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Adults play for $5; children and seniors for $3. One free children's game is offered with every paid adult ticket. For more information, call the church office at (732) 828-0020.