School Supplies Drive: UPDATE!

And the winning team is...

Middle School!

The Middle School Team earned 33,995 points over the high school team bringing in 24, 931 points!!! Great job to both teams! The running start drive is now sorting and distributing all the collected supplies and will be distributing to families in need throughout the rest of the month of August. Here is what we collected:

2 backpacks

94 folders

103 notebooks

44 glue sticks and glue bottles

 319 pencils

 213 pens

52 Packs of crayons, markers, colored pencils and watercolors

That's not counting scissors, erasers, loose-leaf paper, rulers, binders, other supplies,

 and some very generous monetary donations!

Abigail Thompson helped to organize and pack up all the supplies before it was sent over to the Running Start Program at United Way. 

Thank you to all youth and adults who donated and participated in this program!

Did you know? We collected more this year than we did two years ago in 2009!  See the results here:

http://stfrancisyouthgroup.blogspot.com/2009/08/and-winner-is.html

End of Summer Party!

Bring a board game to share!

Print Permission Form Here.

Going to 'Meet the Teacher' at St. Francis School? 

Join us afterwards to 'Meet the Youth Minister!'    :)
Feel free to come a little before 6:00 pm if you are done early!

Last Movie Night of the Summer: The Empire Strikes Back!

Join us for the LAST High School Movie Night this Summer!

Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
Monday, August 22nd    6-9:30 pm
Activity Room
(open to all youth entering grades 9-12)



Vanilla Ice Cream will be provided...bring a topping to share!

Movie Summary: Fleeing the evil Galactic Empire, the rebels abandon their new base on Hoth. Princess Leia, Han Solo and the droid C-3P0 escape in the damaged Millenium Falcon, but are later captured by Lord Darth Vader on Bespin. Skywalker and the droid R2-D2, meanwhile, follows Ben Kenobi's posthumous command and receives Jedi training by Yoda on Dagobah. Will Skywalker manage to rescue his friends from the dark lord?
Read a movie review here: http://parentpreviews.com/movie-reviews/star-wars-trilogy

FINAL Movie Night 2011: Toy Story

Join us for the FINAL Middle School movie night of the summer!

Monday, August 8th
6-9:30 pm
Activity Room
(open to all youth entering grades 6-8)

Vanilla Ice Cream will be provided...bring a topping to share!

Movie Summary: Woody, Buzz and the whole gang are back. As their owner Andy prepares to depart for college, his loyal toys find themselves in daycare where untamed tots with their sticky little fingers do not play nice. So, it's all for one and one for all as they join Barbie's counterpart Ken, a thespian hedgehog named Mr. Pricklepants and a pink, strawberry-scented teddy bear called Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear to plan their great escape.

Read a movie review here: http://parentpreviews.com/movie-reviews/toy-story-3

Print a Permission Form Here: http://www.stfrancis-church.org/images/stories/Youth/movienightspermission2011.pdf

Steubenville North 2011: UPDATE!

Steubenville North 2011 was another great success!
 Our Rochester group boasted 48 youth including 11 from St. Francis Church--our biggest group yet!  We had a great group of youth this year from all over Rochester, Stewartville and Byron Kasson.  We also had 4 different youth participate in the LEAD program--a 5 day experience before the conference that teaches youth about Leadership and helps them to share their faith.

The conference included great speakers like Tammy Evevard and Sean Forrest.  Sonar provided great praise and worship music.  The highlight from many was the time of Adoration on Friday and Saturday nights.  There was also Mass each day and an opportunity to participate in the Sacrmanet of Reconciliation.

A conference like this is always coordinated by many people.  Thanks goes out to all the parishes and different Knights of Columbus groups who supported the group with fundraisers, scholarships and doantions.  We are especially grateful here at St. Francis to the St. Francis Knights, St. Joan of Arc Group and the St. Patricks Day Dinner group for their fundraising efforts and donations.

Thanks also goes out to Sandy Hocraffer who worked since this spring to arrange the money and paperwork for the entire Rochester group, helped youth get scholarships, and arrange details for the weekend!  Thanks, Sandy!

Thanks also goes out to Dave Hubka, Theresa Perters, Dominic Miron, Jackie Harrington, Mike Eckerman and Jes Brey who all shared their time, energy and faith with the youth  to serve as chaperones.  THANK YOU!

Service Splash 2011

We'll be working to help clean up the Resource Room and around the Church and School grounds. 

Afterwards we'll have water fun!

Bring a snack to share!

Please join us!

Permission forms available at the Gathering Space kiosk or Print Permission Form Here.

Middle School Movie Night: Tangled

Movie Monday: Tangled
July 18th 6-9:30 pm
Activity Room


 Please bring a snack to share.
Pizza, popcorn and lemonade will be provided!

Movie Summary:
After receiving the healing powers from a magical flower, the baby Princess Rapunzel is kidnapped from the palace in the middle of the night by Mother Gothel. Mother Gothel knows that the flower's magical powers are now growing within the golden hair of Rapunzel, and to stay young, she must lock Rapunzel in her hidden tower. Rapunzel is now a teenager has been in the tower her entire life. One day, the bandit Flynn Ryder scales the tower and  Rapunzel strikes a deal with the charming thief totake her on the most exciting and  journey of her life.

Print Permission Form here: http://www.stfrancis-church.org/images/stories/Youth/movienightspermission2011.pdf


Family Movie Review:
http://parentpreviews.com/movie-reviews/review/tangled#primary

Running Start for School

School Supplies Drive and Youth Competition!
July 2nd-August 10th

The Youth Group will be hosting a school supplies drive starting in July for the Running Start for School Initiative sponsored by United Way of Olmsted County. Supplies donated will help k-12 students in Olmsted County.

High school and middle school students will compete to see who can bring in the most donations. The winning team will celebrate with a party at the end of the drive!

All parishioners are encouraged to donate. Choose a “team” (High School or Middle School) to award points to—or help both teams! Drop off items to the bins in the gathering space. See the Point System below. Get your items in right away so we can see the point totals adding up! Supplies can also be dropped off at the Parish Office Center anytime during the drive.




Points        Supplies Needed
2,000      Backpack - no wheels
1,000      Binder with zipper
75          Colored pencils - 12 count box non-short (points per box)
100        Crayons - 24 count box
50          Eraser - block (points per eraser)
75          Folder - two pocket
100        Glue - 4 ounce washable bottle
50          Glue stick - .21 ounce washable
50          Highlighter - variety of colors (points per highlighter)
100        Markers (thick washable) - 10 count box (points per box)
100        Markers (thin washable) - 10 count box (points per box)
5           Pen - Red (points per pen)
50         Pencil box - 8” x 5”
300       Pencil pouch - fits 3-ringed binder
75         Pencil sharpener - covered
5           Pencils - #2 (points per pencil)
5           Pens - blue OR black (points per pen)
25         Ruler (inches and centimeters) - 12 inch
100       Scissors - kids blunt tip
100       Scissors - kids pointed tip
25        Spiral notebook - 70 sheet wide-lined
25         Spiral notebook - 70 sheets college ruled
50        Paper - wide lined - 150 count loose leaf (points per pack)
50         Paper - college ruled - 150 count loose leaf (points per pack)
150       $1.00 Cash Donation (example: $10 donation will award 1,500 points)*



*Cash/check donations will be accepted. All mopnetary donations should be dropped off at the Parish Center Office. Please make checks to Running Start for School Initiative. Be sure to designate which “team” you’d like your donation to be awarded to: High School or Middle School.


Questions?  Please Contact Carol Crawford.

July HS Movie Night

Movie Monday: The Truman Show
July 25th 6-9:30 pm
Activity Room



No permission form necessary for high school movie mondays. Please bring a snack to share. Pizza, popcorn and lemonade will be provided!




Movie Summary:
In this movie, Truman is a man whose life is a fake one... The place he lives is in fact a big studio with hidden cameras everywhere, and all his friends and people around him, are actors who play their roles in the most popular TV-series in the world: The Truman Show. Truman thinks that he is an ordinary man with an ordinary life and has no idea about how he is exploited. Until one day... he finds out everything. Will he react?

Family Movie Review:
http://parentpreviews.com/movie-reviews/review/truman-show#primary