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    October is here . . . and it's BUSY!

    9/30/2015

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    Fall has begun and Youth Ministry is bursting with different events for faith, fellowship and fun. Whether you are interested in volunteering, going to a festival, expanding your faith, or just hanging with friends; we have something for you this October!

    Christ House Volunteering: October 1 and more

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    Our Youth Group has committed to feeding the hungry at Christ House (50 West Street in Old Town off of Duke Street) the first Thursday of each month. Our first event is tomorrow, October 1, and we still need 3 – 4 volunteers.

    What can you expect?
    Every first Thursday of the month, our Youth Group goes to Christ House (a homeless shelter for men) and prepares and serves the evening meal for the residents as well as those who are hungry in the community. Volunteers will meet at GS at 3:30, load up the food, ride together into Old Town, prepare and serve dinner (our menu is hot dogs, beans, pasta salad, brownies and awesome sweet tea), clean up and return to church by 6:30pm. We usually serve 50 to 60 people, which include men, women, children and sometimes even middle schoolers.​​ We will need 4 or 5 youths and a second adult each time. Volunteering is open to 7th thru 12th grade and best done with a group of friends!

    Benefits?
    Aside from service hours, we usually have almost unlimited hot dogs to feed the volunteers, and occasionally some brownies. Plus you get to spend a few hours with friends serving your community.

    Upcoming dates: Oct 1st , Nov 5th, Dec 3rd. 
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    Questions: Please contact Mike O’Neil, 703-799-7594, michaeloneil825@aol.com

    Lock-In: October 10/11

    Don't miss our first Lock-in of the school year.  Join us October 10 at 4:30pm. Bring a snack to share and a sleeping bag. We will attend 5:00 pm Mass together, then have dinner and games through out the night. HS students can stay over and get picked up at 7 am on Sunday, October 11. MS students are welcome for the first few hours to share in Mass, dinner and games. Permissions online.

    RALLY: October 18

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    Join us for the biggest gathering of HS teens in our diocese! 1,000 teens will come for music by Matt Maher, I Am They, Jon Guerra, Hannah Kerr, and beatboxer artist Paul J. Kim; inflatable games, pizza, ice cream, inspirational speakers, Confession and Mass with Bishop Loverde.

    The cost per student is $25. But, you can save money by bringing a friend! If you bring a friend, your cost drops to $20 and your friend pays only $10. The cost includes games, concert, t-shirt, dinner, ice-cream and more!

    Be sure to eat a good breakfast/lunch beforehand. Dinner is provided around 5:00 pm and the concert ends about 8:00 pm. All participants should meet at GS at 10:00 am on October 18 and will return by 10:00 pm.

    Permissions are online and deadline is October 11.  Visit the RALLY website for more information.

    Other Events and Opportunities

    Fort Hunt Clean Up – October 3
    Friends of Fort Hunt Park are sponsoring a Fort Hunt Community Day this Saturday, October 3, from 1:00 – 4:00 pm.  Join fellow Youth Ministry students and GS parishioners for an afternoon of community service to help maintain and enhance Fort Hunt Park. Registration is from 1:00 – 1:30 pm and volunteer projects run from 1:30 – 4:00 pm. Contact Kurt Rausch for more information and let him know if you plan to attend: kurtrausch@cox.net.

    Mom’s Group Rummage Sale – October 3
    Help support the Mother’s Support Group at GS by volunteering at their Fall Rummage Sale. The ministry is looking for volunteers anytime between 8:30 am and 1:00 pm on Saturday, October 3. Contact Jessica Navarro if you are able to help: jnavarro412@gmail.com
     
    Human Trafficking Talk – October 8
    A great opportunity for HS teens and their parents is a “Talk on Human Trafficking in Fairfax County” at St. Raymond’s Parish Hall in Springfield.  Detective Bill Woolf, a fellow Catholic, and lead investigator of the Fairfax County Police Department’s human trafficking unit, will present on human trafficking in our area. He will talk about what it is, statistics, social responsibility, warning signs and prevention, as well as answer any questions. The talk is from 7:00 – 8:00 pm on Thursday, October 8 at St. Raymond’s 8750 Pohick Road Springfield, VA 22153. Event is free, no need to RSVP.
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    Sunday Dinners at Youth Group

    9/28/2015

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    Dear Parents,

    At Good Shepherd Youth Ministry we continue to look for better ways to achieve our mission of leading teens to a transformative relationship with Christ, that they may love as Christ loves and serve as Christ serves. One of the changes we are implementing this year is to have a quick dinner at the beginning of each Sunday night youth group. The sense of community that grows from this simple act of breaking bread together will go a long way to foster the trust and belonging that are needed if our teens are to open up to a relationship with Christ.

    To achieve this we need your help. Colleen Claussen and Sue De Angel have offered to coordinate our Sunday meal effort. The meal can be as simple or grand as you wish (chili, subs, pizza, casserole, etc.). The key is that we are able to gather and break bread together.

    Please consider making/buying a meal for one of our Sunday Youth Group meetings. You can do it on your own or team up with another friend or family. Visit the SignUpGenius link to sign up and provide a meal once or as many times as you are able. Thank you for your support, and God bless you!

    ~ Miguel
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    A Letter to Parents . . .

    9/11/2015

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    A Letter from the Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries

    Dear Good Shepherd parents:

    Greetings! I pray you and your families had a blessed summer full of fun, rest and good times with family and friends.

    It was an exciting summer for us at Good Shepherd Youth Ministry!  A summer that included trips to Kings Dominion, Old Rag and standup paddling in Georgetown.  We also had fun weekly during youth group, soccer and drop-ins.  Check out our old blog posts and Facebook page for some great photos of all the fun we had this summer.  Of course we ended the summer with a great showing of teens at the International Festival. I am always humbled by how many of our teens step up to volunteer for such a great cause!

    We Kick-Off the new school year for middle- and high-school students this Sunday, September 13 at 4:00 pm on the church grounds.  We will have a free cookout, games and lots of fun!  Everyone is welcome whether they are parishioners or not.  Bring a friend so they may witness our youth ministry in action!

    Our weekly youth group meetings resume on Sunday, September 20 after the 6:30 pm Mass (high school) and on Thursday, September 24 from 6:30-7:30 pm (middle school). We hope to see your child each week.

    There are some great new communication tools we are using. This summer we rolled out our News Blog and Online Permission Forms with the new website. This Fall we are pleased to share with you a new Online Student Registration Form and large-scale texting capabilities (FlockNote). These new tools mean less paperwork for you and ease of use with mobile-friendly technology. Please register your child in the next few days, the process is simple and takes only a few minutes. Link

    It truly is an exciting year, we are adding new events to our calendar every day. I, and our team of volunteer youth ministers, are excited to welcome your children at Good Shepherd this new school year! Thank you for trusting them to us as we seek to lead them to a transformative relationship with Christ, that they may love as Christ loves and serve as Christ serves.

    In Christ,
    Miguel De Ángel
    Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries

    September Kick-Off Party this Weekend!

    Bring a friend and join us September 13 from 4:00 – 6:00pm for a free cook-out and games!

    Online Registration and Texting

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    We are excited to share with you a new online registration form for our students. The new form takes just minutes to complete and can be done from your mobile-device. Please take a moment in the coming week to complete the Student Registration Form so we have up to date information on all students.

    In addition to the new form we would like to introduce FlockNote, a large-scale texting service for our teens. During the registration process you can opt-in to use our texting tool and ensure you are on the list for all youth ministry events and information.

    Calendar and Upcoming Events

      We are updating our calendar daily on Facebook and the youth ministry page.   Take a look and mark some key events in your calendar. Next up is High School    Rally at Marymount University on October 18th.
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    Good Shepherd Catholic Church
    8710 Mount Vernon Highway Alexandria, Virginia 22309
    Phone: (703) 780-4055    FAX:
    (703) 842-8232    Email: office@gs-cc.org
    Office Hours: M-F 9:30am - 5:00pm  Closed Saturday  Open 1st,  3rd and 5th Sundays 8am - 4pm 

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