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07-14 - The Trip is Full!!!
Thank you Everyone! The Pilgrimage to St. Anthony's Chapel and the Pirate Game is officially full! Since the trip is at capacity, PLEASE read below carefully and make sure your family and the number of tickets is listed correctly. If there are any mistakes, please contact me immediately so that I can change it. Any additional sign-ups will go on the waiting list. I will try to make it work if at all possible, but I can't make any promises. If you don't see a number next to the name, it means you're signed up, but only for a single ticket. Many of you are missing documents - I'll contact everyone with what they're missing this week, but everyone needs. 1. Trip Registration Form (It says St. Anthony Chapel on the top) 1 per family 2. General Permission Form (for everyone under 18) - If you went on Hershey, I already have this 3. Money - Always important ($25/person) Trip Chaperones (6) Fr. Matt Samantha Dravis Austin Keith Christine Babik Ryan Kucera Evonne Homway (Ms Y) Families (29) Bevil Family - 2 Tickets Farabaugh Family - 4 Tickets Keiser Family - 4 Tickets Leventry Family - 4 Tickets Schulte Family - 3 Tickets Roy Family - 5 Tickets Weaver Family - 4 Tickets Vizzini Family - 3 Tickets Students (16) Courtney Amsdell Erica Amsdell Cody Beiter Michael Beiter Glen Brown Connor Brown Morgan Casto Jon Casto Joe Eger Namita Gallo Anastasia Hall Rachel Hall Rachel Nagy Libby Rager Becky Ribblett Amelia Williams |
Pilgrimage and Pirates - Doughnuts - Adoration
Good Morning Everyone!
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A Fall Calendar, St Anthony, a Pirate Game! Please Read!
Good Evening Everyone, Thanks to the couple of parents who made it to our Parent Meeting! We covered a lot of stuff! General Permission Forms - To simplify things, this year we will have ONE annual permission form, and simple registration forms for each event. We MUST have a general permission form on file for all students, but you only need to turn it in once a year. If you turned one in for Hershey Park, you're good to go for this year. The General permission forms are available on the website under forms Pilgrimage - After looking at the surveys we WILL be going to St. Anthony's Chapel and to a Pirate Game. St. Anthony's Chapel is the largest collection of relics outside of the Vatican, and it's a great place to visit especially if you're thinking of a confirmation saint. The Trip will be THURSDAY JULY 23rd. As the game will be a fireworks night and the fireworks over the river are amazing, we need to do registrations very quickly and we cannot accept late registrations. The registration form is posted on the website under forms. Cost will be $25, which will include the Bus trip, A guided tour of St. Anthony's Chapel, a box Subway dinner, and a ticket to the game. Families are welcome to this event! Please get a registration form to me as soon as possible. We need a minimum of 25 people to make this trip happen. The absolute last day I can accept reservations is Tuesday July 14th. Please don't miss this amazing trip at an amazing price! If Cost is an issue for families with multiple kids, please email me at frmsbj@gmail.com and we can work something out. Slinky Zone Lockin - We had talked about doing a Slinky Zone Lockin for kids entering 6-8th grade this fall sometime in August. However, there was only 1 junior high parent at the meeting. If there are any interested parents out there, please contact me at frmsbj@gmail.com and we can meet in the next week or so to setup plans. This would be open to any students entering grades 6-8 in the fall. Fall Retreat - Since the Summer retreat fell through, I'd like to get dates down for the Fall retreat as soon as possible. We have 3 possible options for dates. I will put out a new survey in the next week or so about fall events. Included in that survey will be a choice of these retreat dates. For now, please let me know if you know of any major conflicts on any of these dates. Sept 25-27, Oct 9-11, Nov 13-15. The Fall Retreat will be open to anyone in grades 9-12 in the fall. Adult Clearances - The Adult Clearance Section of the website has been revised...it should be much clearer and easier to understand now. Please understand that these clearances are now state law. Fall Calendar - We also worked out a tentative calendar for Fall. Below are the expected dates for activities this fall. Please let me know if you see any inaccuracies, issues, or concerns. In a week or two we'll make this calendar final. If you've been helping in past years, you'll notice that for both soup and pies, we'll be doing pre-orders this year. This was a strong request last year and will be a big help in running the events. Essentially, we'll sell the items about 2 weeks before, and then have set pickup times in the gym. Also, the Hayride/Cornmaze/Bonfire date still needs to be determined. That will depend on the retreat date we pick. September
October
November
December
That's it for now! Thanks everyone! PLEASE get those registrations forms for the pilgrimage in to me quickly! -Fr. Matt |
06-30 - Some Bad News and Some Good News
Good Morning, Summer Retreat - Unfortunately, I have some bad news. While I was looking forward to doing our summer retreat, we only had 6 people say they could make it. I hope we all understand that we can't really run the sort of retreat we've had in the past with just 6 people. On the other hand, I did hear from quite a few people who liked the topic and were interested in the retreat, but the schedule simply didn't work. Parent Meeting - The Parent Meeting is this Wed, July 1st @ 7pm in the JPII Chapel. We have a lot to discuss. Especially in light of the scheduling issues with this retreat, it's very important that we get a fall calendar together soon so that people have plenty of advance notice on all of the dates for our fall events. Please bring your calendars and we'll try to get this all straightened out! Let's try to make sure we can get things scheduled into the calendar a bit better in the future! Remember, ALL parents and interested adults are welcome! Summer Pilgrimage - I have, however, gotten a lot of positive responses for the summer pilgrimage. As I finished up the finances after the Hershey trip, we're in a little better place than expected due to some last-minute signups on the trip. With that in mind, the prices for the summer pilgrimage will be a bit lower. There is still time to fill out the survey, but at this point the leading candidate in the St. Anthony's Chapel/Pirate Game. I believe we should be able to lower the price for that and make the trip about $25 including the ticket. If anyone has trouble with the $25, especially in families with multiple kids, please talk to me and we can help make it work. Our tentative date for the pilgrimage would be Thursday, July 23rd (which is also a Fireworks night at the Pirates). If anyone knows of any major conflicts that day, please let me know soon. Game Nights - Quite a few of you have expressed interest in doing the game nights a little more regularly through the summer. I see no reason why not to, but I will need to check times and locations weekly, as we'll be setting up for the reunion. I hope to give you an update after the parent meeting! God Bless, -Fr. Matt |
I need to know! Retreat and Pilgrimage Survey
Good Afternoon, Just a quick update. Survey - If you have not yet filled out the Activity Week/Pilgrimage survey, PLEASE fill it out this weekend. I need to have the results in by Tuesday Night because Our Parent Meeting on Wed July 1st. We want to make a decision on where we're offering for a pilgrimage. There's 4 great choices, and we'd like to keep the excitement going! Let us know which one you'd like to do! There WAS an issue where you could only take it once per email address. As some of you share a family email, I've changed that option. You should now be able to fill it out multiple times, but please put a different name for each survey. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/S857WHY Retreat - At this point, I have one female adult chaperon and 3 students signed up. If you would like to do the retreat, PLEASE sign up by Sunday Night. I need to make a decision on Monday about whether we will have it. We need 15 people to sign up. I know from talking to you, many of you were interested. Please sign up. As a reminder, the retreat will be held Tuesday-Thursday July 7-9, and It's open to students entering 9th-12th grade in the fall as well as those who graduated this year. At this point, all I need is an email commitment that you're going to go! Cost is $10 Parent Meeting - A reminder that there will be a parent meeting in the JPII Chapel at 7pm this Wednesday July 1st. All Parents/Interested adults are invited to attend! God Bless, -Fr. Matt |
Hershey Thanks - Retreat Potential
Good Afternoon Everyone, First of all, thank you to everyone who participated and helped with both Activities Week and Hershey Park. Both were a big success! We have a lot of new people in the group and on the list. Please read these emails regularly. They come out about once a week and keep everyone posted on what's going on. If you ever want to get a message out to the entire group about something that you think everyone would be interested in, please feel free to email me at frmsbj@gmail.com and I'll be glad to post it for you! Every Week, this message is posted on the website at http://jpii.stbenedictchurch.org on the Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/jp2yg/ and via email. You can sign up for the email at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/jpiiyg or by sending me your email address to frmsbj@gmail.com! Parent Meeting - Our Next Parent Meeting is July 1st @ 7pm in the JPII Chapel! All Parents of those in 6th-12th grade in the fall, and any other interested adults are welcome. Please come with ideas! I'd really like to see us get a schedule together for the Fall during the month of July. Upcoming High School Retreat - A number of you have mentioned wanting to do a summer retreat. I have some plans, but at this point we need to get things into gear, and I need your help if we can make it happen. The Sisters in Portage are holding the dates of July 7-9 for us. The retreat would be Tuesday Evening through Thursday Morning. It will be open to anyone entering 9th grade through those who just graduated 12th. Cost will be $10/Person The Theme will be "Mercy and Forgiveness" Unfortunately the OLV folks aren't available due to Arts Fest....so we have to make up the 15 people ourselves. Here's what we need to make happen. 1. If you are able to come, I NEED a commitment from you NO LATER THAN MONDAY JUNE 29th. Please check your schedules and send me an email if you can commit to coming. We NEED a MINIMUM of 15 people to make a reasonable retreat happen. If we have less than 15, we'll re-evaluate and our next retreat will be fall, so make it happen. (even if we don't have the people, we'll still do the 1 day pilgrimage) 2. I NEED CHAPERONS/SMALL GROUP LEADERS - We need to find at least 2 people, 1 male 1 female over 21 who will be chaperons for the retreat. If one of them is willing to do a talk, I'd certainly be excited about that. I spoke to one or two of the sisters and a few other people about potentially doing a talk. I know many of you want to make this happen. Please sign up and help me find chaperons and I think we can do it. I MUST know by Monday June 29th! Survey - This is just a very short survey after Activities Week and Hershey Park. Please take a moment to fill it out. I also included a list of pilgrimage places. Please let me know which one you would be most interested in by filling out the survey. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/S857WHY God Bless, -Fr. Matt |
Activity Week Thanks - Hershey Info
First of All Thanks to EVERYONE who helped make both Vacation Bible School and Activities Week a success! You guys did a wonderful job at VBS, working with the little kids, making blankets, etc. AND everything went very well for our evening activities. A special thanks to the parents who came nearly every night to help work and cleanup! We're looking into getting some details set for two possible activities in June, depending on interest. We're looking into a 3 day summer retreat and/or a pilgrimage (trip) to a Saint Shrine or religious site. On that note, we'll be putting together a survey in the next couple weeks to see interest in upcoming stuff. The NEXT PARENT MEETING IS WED JULY 1ST at 7pm in the JPII Building Chapel- ALL PARENTS OR INTERESTED ADULTS ARE WELCOME!! PLEASE COME!! Hershey Info: If you are going on the Hershey Trip, Here are the details! 1. Drop off - GO TO MASS - 8am Mass at St. Benedict's. I cannot stress this enough, this is part of what we do. You may wear whatever you're wearing to the park to mass. We will load the bus after mass. Please DO NOT simply try to catch the bus after mass. 2. At the Park - There is a large waterpark at Hershey, bring a swimsuit & towel in a drawstring bag, watershoes are also a good idea. At the park, there are lockers. I'd recommend you get a large one and share with a few friends, it's cheaper that way. You can stash your bag in the locker and ride the rides. Lockers are around $20 for a large, it will accommodate about 4-6 people's drawstring bags. 3. Meal Tickets - Those who ordered meal tickets will get them as we arrive. They are good for one meal in the park. I suggest buying a souvenir cup, as refill drinks are much cheaper during the day and it may be hot. 4. Check-in - I will go over this on the bus as well. You may choose your own group to walk around the park, but you MUST check in via text message at 2pm and 5pm. Simply send me a text message with your name, those who are with you and where you are in the park. This enables me to know where you are, but not force you to get out of line. 5. Departure - Meet at the entrance to the park at 8PM. There are benches and a small restaurant near the entrance. Be there at 8PM. We will go through Chocolate World as a group at the end, as it is NOT part of the park. DO NOT LEAVE THE PARK DURING THE DAY FOR ANY REASON. 6. If you have any questions or issues, I will have my Cell phone with me most of the day. My phone number is 814-308-0501. Text messages work better during the event. I think that's everything! I'll see many of you on Monday! -Fr. Matt |
Bonfire Tonight! - Directions Included
Thanks to everyone for an AWESOME activities week so far! Let's cap it off with a Bonfire tonight at the Blough's. We meet there at 6pm! See you there! A few instructions: When you arrive, if you are staying, please go ahead down the lane to park. (We certainly encourage you to stay) If you are just dropping off, please don't go down the lane as it's very narrow. The kids can walk down the lane and it'll avoid a lot of unnecessary ruts and congestion. Please bring a snack to share! You can never have too many smores, chips, soda, etc. at a bonfire! Here's the Directions: Turn onto Bedford st. Then turn left
onto Nees Ave. (at Ann's Pizza) the. Follow that until it merges with Walter
Ave. turn right on to Solomon Run Road. Go straight at two red lights. Turn
right to stay on Solomon Run Road at the firs intersection you pass after
Mihalkos then follow Solomon Run Road and make a right at Brook Lane and then
follow the black top down to the house. See you tonight! |
Good Evening, - PLEASE READ - IMPORTANT UPDATE ABOUT COAL TUBIN
Sorry for the late notice on this, but I think you'll understand as you read. As you may have been aware, it's been raining a lot lately. The water level is too high to coal-tube safely. However, after speaking to the folks at coal tubing, they made an incredible offer for us. The water level may be too high for tubing, but it's just perfect for white water rafting. Their rafting is a very nice program and it's calling for sun tomorrow evening. The rafts are a much more run experience for the kids. If you are familiar with Rafting, all of the rapids are class 1 or 2, and are rated as a "family run." We've negotiated with Coal tubing due to the late date, and the cost for the kids will be $20. If you have already signed up, that means we'll need an extra $10. Typically this trip would cost between $40-$70 and a similar trip at Ohiopyle is around $65, so I have to stress what a deal this is. So Here's the short version Sign-Up - If you've already turned in a form and money - get me another $10 (total of $20) If you haven't get it in tomorrow at Bible School. Meet - at Coal Tubin in Moxham BY 6pm. We will Drive away at around 6:10pm. BE THERE BEFORE 6PM We don't want to change the time, but we want to maximize the daylight Wear - SHOES ARE A MUST (Water Shoes, sneakers, sandals that have a back strap - DO NOT WEAR FLIP FLOPS) Wrap Up - We should finish around 9pm-9:30pm. We do have a few spots left if you haven't signed up and still want to go! This is an incredible deal! Make sure we fill this trip! See you tomorrow! |
Youth Activities Week - Some Last Minute Updates
Please check this message out, we've had some last minute updates to Activities Week! Please read this message! Mission Trip - If anyone is interested in going on the Mission trip with Maria and Zach from Windber, "The next Mission Trip planning meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 18th @ 7:00pm at St. Anthony's Education center (2nd floor). As a reminder, our trip is scheduled from July 26th to 31st to Blackwater, VA." Sunday - Doughnuts - Thanks to the Egers for picking up the Doughnuts this week. Anyone who can help cleanup after the 9:30am Mass, please do. Sunday Night - P&W - Don't forget - Praise and Worship in the Church Sunday Night 7pm-8pm. If you've never come, try it out, you just might like it! Monday - Movie Night - Due to some last minute parking lot re-paving (you really can't make this stuff up) We're going to be meeting at Benedict's in the upper lot behind the Mausoleum. So far, most of the posted items people are bringing are snacky/desert type stuff. That's great, but I want to make everyone aware that's what it will be and that it will NOT be a full meal. I have 4 suggestions for the movie, please come ready to pick one. The suggestions are Princess Bride, The Original Star Wars, The Mighty Macs, John Carter, or the Original Jurassic Park (since the sequel is out this weekend). If you have any strong objections to any of those, please contact me ASAP. Meet time is 6pm. (In case of rain, we're in the Gym) Tuesday - Coal Tubing - Be at Coal Tubin' in Moxham at 6pm on Tuesday. We currently have about 10 signed up. I could DEFINITELY use another adult or two. If anyone wants to step up, please let me know! You MAY just show up that day, but if you print off a waiver and have it turned in ahead of time, it'll take us a LOT less time getting ready and more time tubing. Wed - Game Night - Plans look good, if anyone can help with setup, it'd be super helpful. I'm still trying to get some placement and materials for the video-games. Anyone willing to help get those setup would be awesome. Just email me. We will also have Bocce, Cornhole, Ladderball, and Washers tournaments going. If it looks like it's going to pour, I'll investigate doing everything in the school building. More info will be forthcoming! Thurs - Paintball - PLEASE turn in sign-ups if you are coming. We currently have 8 people signed up and paid. I know many more have expressed interest. I really need an accurate count so that the place can prepare and get us started on time! Also, as many of you as get waivers in ahead of time, the faster we can get started. We START AT 5 PM and run until 8PM- You can arrive at 4:45pm. DO NOT WEAR SHORTS OR SHORT SLEEVES!!! Again, if an extra adult or two wants to stick around it would be helpful, please Contact me ASAP if you are willing. |
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