A group of college students is embarking on a one-of-a-kind spring break this week, the result of a partnership between FOCUS’s Youth Equipped to Serve (YES) and Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF). Rather than sun themselves on the beach, the students are participating in a Real Break—a service trip to Los Angeles’ Skid Row, a community known for its acute poverty and homelessness.
Working with two local organizations—the Fred Jordan Mission and Midnight Mission—the students will spend their spring break serving the poor and gaining a first-hand experience of the many faces of poverty. The students are being led by Father Apostolos Hill, Proistamenos of St George Greek Orthodox Church in Prescott, AZ.
YES is a ministry of FOCUS North America that provides local parishes and youth workers with the resources to engage high school students in community service and short-term missions projects. Its goal is to encourage youth to live out their faith in service to others.
“YES has been involved in service activities in Skid Row for years”, said Katrina Bitar, YES Program Director. “We are so pleased to be a part of the OCF Real Break to Los Angeles. We are looking forward to sharing this life-changing experience with the members of OCF.”
OCF began its Real Break program in 2000 to give college students an Orthodox Christian alternative to the “traditional” spring break. Since then, more than 1,000 students have participated in Real Breaks in more than a dozen locations, engaging in prayer, fellowship, witness, and service.
FOCUS North America is a national movement of Orthodox Christians, united in faith and joined by a desire to provide action-oriented and sustainable solutions to poverty in communities across America. FOCUS has operations and youth volunteer experiences in more than 20 cities in the United States.
