Local youth group hosting luau to fundraise for Poland pilgrimage

MOSES LAKE — A group of 17 kids from Our Lady of Fatima (OLF) Catholic Church’s youth group in Moses Lake are fundraising for a trip this summer in which they will travel to Poland to participate in World Youth Day (WYD), a worldwide encounter with Pope Francis that occurs every three years.

The OLF youth group is calling for assistance from residents of the Columbia Basin. Including travel fees, the cost for each child to take part in the weeks-long trip is about $4,300. Fundraising efforts for the trip have been ongoing since last October and the group has breached the halfway point of its $100,000 fundraising goal.

Seventeen kids in the OLF youth group will be accompanied by five chaperones from the church, including one of the local priests, for a grand total of 22 that will take part in the pilgrimage to Poland. The group from Moses Lake will join other parishes in the Yakima Diocese on the trip.

Wheels up for Poland is slated for July 18, according to Katy Walker, one of the chaperones for the trip, so the OLF youth group is making some final fundraising pushes to help send the youngsters on their trip of a lifetime.

This Saturday, the group is hosting an authentic Hawaiian luau “stay-cation,” and all community members who are 21 or older are invited to enjoy the festivities and help send the kids to Poland. The luau will start at 5:30 p.m. at Hidden Meadow, a venue located six miles north of Moses Lake on Road 11.5. The event will feature authentic Hawaiian food, live music, real hula and fire poi ball performances, and dancing, as well as a no-host bar and opportunities to win raffle prizes throughout the night, according to information provided by the church. There will also be authentic Hawaiian entertainment from Onie’s Hula Halau to channel “the true Aloha Hawaiian spirit.”

Costs to attend the luau Saturday are $60 per person or $100 per couple. Tables of eight can also be reserved for $400, Walker said.

If the prospects of real Hawaiian entertainment and, more importantly, helping send the Our Lady of Fatima youth group on its pilgrimage aren’t persuasive enough, perhaps the luau’s dinner menu will be. The main course of kalua pig, Polynesian fried chicken, rice noodles and chicken long rice will be preceded by Hawaiian appetizers and salads and followed by guava cake for dessert.

For more ticket information or to donate to the Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church youth group for their pilgrimage, call 509-765-6729 or visit www.olf.church.

World Youth Day is celebrated every three years in a different country. In 2013 — the last time it was celebrated — the gathering was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in late July. This year, the celebration will take place from July 26 through July 31 in Krakow, Poland.

The WYD event is open to “all young people who want to take part in a festive encounter with their contemporaries centered on Jesus Christ,” according to information provided by OLF Catholic Church. It serves as “an opportunity to experience in first person the universality of the Church; to share with the whole world the hope of many young people who want to commit themselves to Christ and others,” per the World Youth Day website.

Walker said the pope attends World Youth Day each time it happens. The celebration was started in 1984 by Pope John Paul II, she said.

The itinerary for the group’s 17-day trip abroad includes five days of “Days in the Diocese” activities at the outset, the World Youth Day pilgrimage for six days, and another several days of sightseeing and international exploration. Among the sights to be visited are Auschwitz, the infamous Nazi concentration camp, the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki, and Wieliczka, once Europe’s most prolific rock salt mines where the miners built shrines and a cathedral underground.

For more information on World Youth Day, visit www.worldyouthday.com.

Ryan Minnerly can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.