The CATHOLIC DIOCESE of DODGE CITY

Serving the People of Southwest Kansas

Serving Casa San José

Becca Hawkinson (7th grade, Ness City) works on laying out the steel roof which the kids installed to cover a patio at the Casa San Jose.

Becky Jones (Holcomb) works on Landscaping at the Casa San Jose.

Megan McDonald, Marla Seib, and Erin Flax (all 5th graders, Ness City) refinish a porch railing at the Casa San Jose.

Wyatt Beckman (5th grade, Ness City) and Evan Lane (7th grade, Ness City) build the plywood deck for a covered patio at the Casa San Jose.

Ethan VanNahmen (7th grade, Spearville) and Father Henry Hildebrandt build a stairway for the Casa San José.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the last week of May, Father Henry Hildebrandt led a team of volunteers – young and … not as young — from towns across the Diocese of Dodge City on his annual mission trip to Casa San José in Grants, NM.

Casa San José is an agency of Catholic Charities of Gallup, and offers residential and other support services to pregnant teens who do not have the finances or familial support necessary to bring a child into the world, or know how to care for it.

Each year, Father Hildebrandt leads the mission trip to the Casa, where they take on construction and landscaping projects.

For 13-year-old Becca Hawkinson of Ness City, it was her second time on the mission, and, like her first trip last year, it was a lot of fun, but hard work.

"It felt really good to be able to do some stuff for those girls down there," she said. "I was mostly on the roof the whole time, putting down tin. Some of the others laid rock or worked in the garden."

Around 15 people made the week-long trip, the best part of which for Becca was making new friends. The residents of the Casa were "really nice," she said, and "really young." She said it was hard to see such young girls dealing with the issues of pregnancy and child rearing.

The trip wasn’t all hammers and shovels. The group also enjoyed swimming, and visiting an historic refuge containing hieroglyphics from Apache Indians.