Missionaries from Benedictine College were among those who joined Fr. Michael Mitchell in Haiti for Holy Week. Mission Youth was very active in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, during Holy Week 2013. Giving of themselves generously were 44 high school and college missionaries. Beneficiaries of the mission trip included an orphanage, a clinic, a tent city and a parish church. The missionaries spent time helping in two of the centers run by the Missionaries of Charity. The missionaries cared for sick babies and orphans at a children´s home and aided the sick patients at a home for the dying, both run by the sisters. In the tent city, missionaries helped distribute food and supplies as well as spending time running activities for the children there. “The children feel very much abandoned without a proper school or playground area,” said Paola. “The missionaries tried to brighten their Easter celebrations with 
games and candy and clothing.” The missionaries also visited the parish church Immaculate Conception in Gallet Chombon, just outside of Port-au-Prince. They participated in the residents’ living Way of the Cross on Good Friday. After praying with the villagers, missionaries organized games, a soccer tournament and distributed food and clothing. Two Challenge clubs in the Midwest US offered their assistance through a new apostolic outreach project. (Conquest youth clubs, also in the Midwest, are also participating in this new effort.) After receiving a presentation on the situation of the poor people in Haiti, the young people spend the next week gathering supplies (baby bottles, food, diapers, etc.) and fundraising to help aid the Mission Youth missionaries on upcoming missions. For this particular Holy Week mission, Challenge girls from Des Moines, Iowa, made dresses for the Haitian girls. They also gathered medical supplies and baby products to donate. And a Challenge club in Chicago made 300 colorful rosaries for children, which missionaries passed out in the tent city and in the village of Gallet Chombon.
