August 6, 2020
By Kevin J. Parks, Catholic Review
NEW WINDSOR — As the rising sun broke the horizon on a humid July 22, the sound of nail guns could be heard down a concealed driveway.
The work was being done by a volunteer crew of more than 10 youths and young adults from the St. Peter the Apostle in Libertytown REAL (Rebuilding and Evangelizing Around Libertytown) Team.
They were replacing the roof on the modest home of Milly Sweitzer, 85, a parishioner of St. Peter the Apostle. She and her husband, Donald, who died three years ago, built the home in 1972 and raised their eight children there.
It was one of five job sites visited by a total of 33 volunteers during the week-long REAL Team outreach. It was coordinated by Kevin Parker, known as “KP,” the first-year minister for the parish in eastern Frederick County.
What would normally have been a trip to Preston County, W.Va., to help restore homes ravaged by floods, turned more local with the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Father Charles Wible, pastor of St. Peter the Apostle in Libertytown, REAL built on its long tradition of a summer youth work camp to West Virginia’s Appalachia.
“With COVID- 19, it was impossible to do it, but both the young people and adult leaders wanted to do some kind of larger service project,” Father Wible said. “We’ve also thought for a long time that we wanted to do something local, for the needy in our own neighborhood, so to speak. Out of this, REAL was born.
“Taking into account the restrictions and care for social distancing, (we) came up with a plan to do several projects with small groups of adults and teams,” he said. “Those parishioners who regularly supported the Appalachia Camp came right on board. We set up a virtual giving tree through Flocknote and the parish website and the parish generously responded.”
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