1-28-2023 4:46am

St. John’s Lutheran Church, Boyertown sends team to Mexico

Lesley Misko Editor

Article submitted by Shannon Omlor, St. John’s Lutheran Church, Boyertown, PA

Eleven members of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Boyertown, PA, traveled to Cuernavaca, Mexico in January 2023 to join with staff of Wellspring Karitas (Berwyn, PA) to learn, serve, and grow in faith. They experienced firsthand the grassroots projects developed there that allow local disabled people to have full-time, fair-wage employment; encourage young people to stay in school through alternative education; support local farmers, and feed marginalized populations and build community.

Wellspring Karitas (karitasfoundation.org) empowers people who some consider to be lowly--people with disabilities, people with hunger, children at risk of dropping out of school, indigenous farmers. They do this "lifting and building up" by supporting programs that empower people and build community. Programs include a preschool in a squatter’s community that provides education and feeds breakfast to 180 children every day; an education initiative that supports young people transitioning from elementary school through middle school to reduce the dropout rate; a group of fair trade restaurants, employing people with disabilities and sourcing food from indigenous farmers with all profits going back into the community.

Another significant program at Wellspring Karitas is ALEM. ALEM is a team made up of physically challenged people that repair and customize wheelchairs with an objective to provoke individuals to: stop, think, and challenge their perception of ability and participation. ALEM is growing, and is establishing a second workshop. The ALEM coverage area includes five states and twenty-two million people. At Christmas, St. John’s members were asked to help equip this work by donating funds to buy the necessary tools for this second workshop. $1,300 was donated for tools, $10,000 went to Wellspring Karitas in support of the programs they fund, with $5,000 earmarked for Xoxocotla, an indigenous village in Mexico.

Student participant and St. John’s member Ashley Gheer stated, “This trip showed me not to fear differences or to let them hold me back from becoming friends with someone. I think the purpose of many of the groups we met was to teach us and help us to share something in common, to put aside our differences, become a community and of course to remember to play and have fun.”

Another St. John’s traveler Bev Blake recognized, “that there were many more similarities than diferences between us. It made me realize that we are all working on the same goals of loving God and loving all people. I return to St. John’s with a commitment and excitement to see where God is leading us in ministry to love and serve all.”

St. John’s members look forward to sharing their experiences with the congregation and wider community, including ways that the trip will bear fruit and plant seeds in our own community.

Editor's note: St. John’s members issue an invitation to all to join members of the church in learning about its mission and participating in the many activities and ways of serving that St John’s sponsors.