Category Archives: What’s Next

OYMT Training Session #6

REMINDER – Mandatory Parent Meeting

OYMT Training Session #6
Mandatory Parent Meeting  Sunday, June 11, 2023
3 – 5 pm(Leader meeting to follow)
Note the Location:
St. Barbara Orthodox Church
480 Racebrook Road, Orange, CT

Wear clothes you don’t mind getting paint on!
We’ll finish the saw horses we worked on
at the last construction training. 
Only 32 days until we leave for West Virginia! We so appreciate everyone’s commitment and dedication to our mission effort—you are all hard workers and with God’s grace our work will bear Good Fruit!
 
MANDATORY Parent Meeting: One parent for each teen needs to attend. We will go over the pack list and all the information you need for your child on the trip as well as have you verify essential health and contact info.

ALL Participants: Bring a copy of the front and back of your team member’s insurance card (leaders too!)

It’s hard to believe that we have only 2 Trainings left!
Useful information Links:

The Pack List

ASP Required Reading
If you have any questions, contact us at oymt.info@gmail.com
Looking forward to seeing you soon!

In Christ,
Susan

Construction training Saturday 5/7 in Danbury

Hello Orthodox Youth Mission Team,

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

We hope you are all enjoying a most blessed and beautiful Pascha celebration! Guess what? Only 67 days until we leave for Appalachia! And, in case you didn’t hear, we have received our assignment. We will be going to Clay County, WV. You can click here to learn a little more about our center and the county we will be serving. 

This coming Saturday we have our construction day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Holy Trinity in Danbury, CT. We will be putting the tool and safety skills you learned last session to work and building a garden fence. A few reminders:

  • Eat breakfast before you come
  • Wear ASP work clothes (long pants, work boots, t-shirt with sleeves) and bring a reusable water bottle, hat and sunscreen (and rain gear if the weather forecast calls for it—there are no rain days on ASP!)
  • Bring your personal tool kit which should now be updated to include any missing items. 
    • Work gloves (2 pairs preferable)
    • Hammer
    • Safety glasses if you have them
    • Measuring tape
    • Carpenter pencil
    • Flashlight
    • Nail apron if you have one
    • Refillable water bottle
    • Hat or bandana
    • Sunscreen

We will provide lunch. Please bring $5.

You’ll also get to meet our two newest team members: Lexi and Jamison who come with lots of mission team experience and we look forward to officially introducing them to everyone.

We will expect to see everyone on Saturday since no one has let us know they are unable to attend. Only 3 training sessions left and each one is critical at this point—let’s push for a strong finish to our training. 

 

Looking forward to seeing you all!

In the Risen Christ, Susan

 

P.S. Bring any additional stock you may have received. Stock sales are going very well! You will be receiving information shortly on sending thank you notes to all your donors—don’t worry, there’s a form letter for you to use!

Safety Training 12-4pm April 2 in Danbury

Hello OYMT Members!

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!

Great job to everyone who attended the Sensitivity Training Session! For those St. Barbara teens who were unable to attend, please talk to Shaun Berner about making up the session.

Wanted to give you a heads up for our next session because there are a few items you will need to gather before you arrive. It is our Tool and Safety Training Session and will take place on Saturday, April 2nd from 12-4 p.m. at Holy Trinity in Danbury. At this session we will be going over how to safely use a wide variety of tools and skills that we may need for our work in Appalachia including, sheet rock cutting and taping, using power tools such as chop saws and saws all, nailing, painting, flooring, ladder safety and more. Each teen will get signed off showing that they have trained in these areas. This is a critical part of what we do to keep everyone safe! Any teen who is not able to make this session will need to be trained on these skills and provide documentation that they have done this training for safety purposes.

On the trip we and ASP provide most of the tools that we will use. However, it is required that each teen bring a few basic items that are used frequently. We would like everyone to gather these supplies and bring to the Tool and Safety session. A leader will check that your bag is complete and then we will keep them at the church to use on our construction day and for the trip. Please mark everything with your name and pack all items in a drawstring bag.

The following items are required:

  • Work gloves (2 pairs preferable)
  • Hammer
  • Safety glasses if you have them
  • Measuring tape
  • Carpenter pencil
  • Flashlight
  • Nail apron if you have one
  • Refillable water bottle
  • Hat or bandana
  • Sunscreen

Other reminders:

  • Wear work boots or other heavy shoes—everyone will need these for the trip. If you don’t already have a pair it’s great to get them now and wear them for this and the following session to break them in. Nails and other debris on the worksite make sneakers insufficient for foot protection.
  • Long pants
  • T-shirts with sleeves
  • Stock sales

Eat lunch before you come. We’ll have snacks. As always, if you have any questions let us know.

In Christ, Susan

Training #2 This Sunday 2/27, Don’t Miss It!

Hello Orthodox Youth Mission Team,

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!

Our second training session will take place this Sunday, February 27th from 3-5 p.m. at Holy Trinity in Danbury (74 Joes Hill Rd., Danbury, CT). 

This is our fundraising session for our biggest fundraiserMock Stock Sales. For those of you who are new to the team, each teen will be sending letters to friends and family asking them to “invest” in their youth mission work. Each teen is required to bring names and addresses pre-printed on peel and stick address labels to use for this fundraiser. We recommend that families use their Christmas card address lists. If you have any trouble making your labels you can contact Beth (bethryzyk@gmail.com). Mock Stock sales will also take place at each parish during coffee hours and the procedure will be explained to your teen at the meeting. Families with more than one team member need only make one address list and siblings can share it. 

At this meeting the remainder of the payment for the trip is due. The total cost of the trip per teen is $350. Please bring a check (made out to Holy Trinity) or cash for the total minus the deposit you made initially for your teen’s fees. 

We are also looking for a parent volunteer to prepare something simple for meal (baked ziti, a ham, mac and cheese—whatever you like!). We can reimburse you for the cost of the ingredients if you wish.

Team members are asked to bring $5 for dinner.

As always, if you are unable to attend this meeting for any reason please let us know in advance. 

Thank you and looking forward to seeing everyone on Sunday!

In Christ,

Susan

CT/NY Feb Meeting

2/9 3-5PM IN DANBURY OR

2/16 1-3PM IN ORANGE

Hello Orthodox Youth Mission Team Members,

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!

At our next training session we will be sending out our Stock Sales and going over some basic training material for our ASP trip this summer. A few notes about stock sales:

  • Stock Sales is our biggest fundraiser for this project.
  • Everyone is expected to participate (as a reminder, in the Covenant you sign in to participate on the mission team you agree to sell 50 shares of stock (which amounts to $500) to help defer the costs of the mission trip.
  • The volunteer fee that youth pay goes in total to ASP. It does not cover transportation, hotel and travel expenses and training expenses.
  • If participating in the stock sales is an issue for you or your family, we will be looking for you to raise the funds that would have come from stock in another way. We do not want to see any $0 stock numbers for any youth team members.
  • Another way to help sell stock is to participate in your parish fellowship sales.

For new members, we offer “mock stock” shares for $10 each to friends and family as a way of “investing” in our youth. In return, “investors” get to follow our progress and are invited to a thank you presentation when we return from Appalachia. For the training we ask that each youth member (family) bring pre-printed address labels to the meeting for people you will send stock packets to. We suggest using your Christmas card list. If this is your first time, you will be surprised at the number of people even beyond the church who are happy to see youth involved in giving of themselves to others and are pleased to support this effort.

We will provide envelopes, stamps and all materials. 

Training #2 will take place in Danbury on Sunday, Feb. 9th from 3-5 p.m. (followed by a brief adult leader meeting). It will take place in Orange on Sunday, Feb. 16thfrom 1-3 p.m. If you are unable to make either of these training sessions, please let Susan (ssulich@yahoo.com) and Shaun (shaun.berner@gmail.com) know asap. Please also bring $5 for refreshments.

Last but not least, the final payment of $175 for volunteer fees is due at this meeting.

Any questions, please contact me.

In Christ,

Susan

OYMT CT/NY Fundraiser Meeting 12/8

Hello Returning and New OYMT Members in CT/NY,

Glory to Jesus Christ!

We hope you are all enjoyed a blessed Thanksgiving with your families and friends!

On Sunday, Dec. 8 we will be preparing our holiday fundraiser—apple pies—at Holy Trinity in Danbury from 3-6 p.m. Please make every effort to attend and help kick off our fundraising for our 2020 summer ASP trip. Parents: we will have a holiday shopping opportunity for you up at the rectory while the youth are making pies. Pani Bethany Mihaly will offer a Holiday Open House with Mary Kay gifts for women, men, teens, teachers and everyone on your Christmas gift list. Best of all, 30% of the proceeds will go right back to OYMT. Festive refreshments will be served.

If you haven’t already done so, please complete the 3 forms below to be registered for this year’s trip. We have several returning teams from MD, TX, AL, FL and new teams from CA and other places so spots are filling quickly. We don’t want anyone to miss out. Please bring a deposit of $175 to the fundraising session and $5 for dinner. If you will not be there, please mail as soon as possible to Holy Trinity.

Registration Form


Youth Protection Policy


Covenant

Finally, please put Sunday, Jan. 12 on your calendars now. That will be the date of our first training session which will take place at St. Barbara in Orange from 3-5 p.m.  Adult leaders will stay for a meeting from 5:00-5:30 p.m.A schedule for the rest of the trainings for Danbury/Bridgeport is attached here. New this year: a full schedule of trainings will also be offered at St. Barbara in Orange. Stay tuned for dates and times.

In Christ, Susan

P.S. Please forward to new or prospective members whose emails we may not have yet!

 

Sign Up for OYMT 2020

Hello Prospective Orthodox Youth Mission Team 2020 Members in CT/NY, (expansion teams will hear from their team leaders soon)

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!

It’s time to sign up for next year’s youth mission project. Our mission trip, led by Fr. Luke Mihaly, will again be with Appalachian Service Project (ASP). The dates for the mission trip will be July 11—19, 2020. We will have an all Orthodox center.

Exciting news! We have managed finally to get our forms digitized. That means you can fill them out and sign online and copies will be returned to us. You’ll also notice that we’ve reduced the total number of forms that need to be filled out. Below are links to the 3 forms all team members (adult leaders and youth) need to fill out to register:

Registration Form

Youth Protection Policy

Covenant

A few notes:

  • You’ll see that the registration form is the one ASP requires us to fill out and have notarized. Since the medical information we need for the year is on that form, we are asking each participant to fill it out now—YOU DO NOT NEED TO GET IT NOTARIZED AT THIS TIME! You also do not need to send in your insurance card. You will see that the fields for the notary are not required. At the end of the year we will print out your completed forms and you will be able to update if necessary before getting notarized.
  • For the Youth Protection Policy (YPP) and the Covenant if you are 18+ you will have to sign in both the 18+ line and the parent line—both fields are mandatory so that we don’t miss parent signatures. 
  • Note that we are using an electronic signature program. For youth under 18, both parent and child will need to sign the same form. You will both have to create a signature as directed in the document. 
  • If you have more than one child participating in OYMT this year, you will need to fill out separate forms for each child. Simply click on the link again and you will get a fresh form. 

In order to be registered for the team and have a spot reserved for you, you need to complete all 3 forms and submit your non-refundable deposit of $175 by Sunday Dec. 8th. (Note: ASP has raised their volunteer fee to $350 this  year. Second payment of $175 will be due Feb 9th.) This year, you may also pay your volunteer fees via the PayPal link on the oymt.info website (click the Donate button on the left). Please put “OYMT Volunteer Fee” in the notes section. If you wish to pay by check, please make checks out to Holy Trinity Orthodox Church and mail to OYMT, 74 Joes Hill Rd., Danbury, CT 06811 or bring with you to the holiday fundraiser meeting Dec. 8th. If you need financial assistance please let us know.

Dec. 8th will be the date of our first get together to prepare our Holiday Fundraiser. We will meet at Holy Trinity in Danbury from 3-6 p.m.

Parents: there will be a Christmas shopping opportunity available at the rectory during this meeting—Pani Bethany Mihaly will again be offering a Mary Kay Holiday Sale as a fundraiser for the mission team. Please enjoy browsing through beautifully wrapped gifts or custom design you own and pick up some presents for special people on your list or treat yourself! 

Please feel free to forward this email to anyone who is interested in joining our team this year. As always, if there are any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us via oymt.info@gmail.com or you can call me at 203-947-7405. 

This will be OYMT’s 10th year of youth mission work and we look forward to sharing this blessed and fruitful spiritual opportunity with veteran and new team members!

In Christ, Susan Sulich

Orthodox Youth Mission Team

Holy Trinity Orthodox Church
74 Joes Hill Road
Danbury, CT 06811  

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