High school student Kristina Kaczmarek works with Czech children last year during Club Beyond’s trip to Czech Republic. (Courtesy to Stripes)
High school student Kristina Kaczmarek works with Czech children last year during Club Beyond’s trip to Czech Republic. (Courtesy to Stripes)
Anthony Placeres removes dirt from holes dug at the work site of a playground the teenage ministry group built last year during the service trip. (Courtesy to Stripes)
FRIEDBERG, Germany — For a few hundred American teens in Europe, spring break won’t be the typical hiatus from homework.
About 500 students, adult volunteers and community leaders from more than 20 U.S. military bases in Europe plan to travel to Slovakia next month as part of a Christian outreach program. They’ll build playgrounds and renovate buildings on behalf of Club Beyond, a ministry for teenagers.
“It’s work,” said Tanya Raedeke, a volunteer for the ministry that covers the 284th Base Support Battalion, headquartered in Giessen, Germany.
“They are giving up their spring break to help others who are less fortunate.”
Like a lot of other chapters, donations to support the effort are crucial.
At a 284th BSB community briefing in nearby Friedberg on Wednesday, Raedeke’s husband, Robert, was drumming up support for a fund-raising effort next Sunday that’ll help defer some of the costs. The fund-raiser is slated for March 13 from 2:30-4 p.m. at the Alpine Club on Giessen Depot.
This will be the fifth year the Giessen/Friedberg chapter has held a “fund-raising dessert” for the spring break project, said Robert Raedeke, the community director for the Club Beyond 284th BSB chapter. The money also goes toward a summer trip to Camp Darby, Italy. Last year’s effort raised more than $9,000.
Club Beyond is a Christian ministry for junior high and high school students interested in spreading the word and celebrating God.
Sixteen Giessen High School students and four adult chaperones plan to make the trip to Slovakia, scheduled for April 8-16. The group will join students and adult supervisors from others communities in a few villages in the north-central region of the country. A year ago the ministry traveled to the Czech Republic.
Tanya Raedeke said the objective is to build playgrounds, renovate buildings and share Christian beliefs.
“For a lot of them,” Raedeke said, referring to Slovakian youth, “this will be the first time they’ve heard of Jesus Christ.”
Anyone wanting more information about Club Beyond should contact their local chaplain’s office.
