Story by Shelley Wolf

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On a Saturday in August, nearly 20 members of the Young Catholic Professionals of Central Connecticut gathered in Meriden for a “service day” to help the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist tend their orchards and gardens.

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The young adults joined the sisters in picking peaches, pruning the apple trees, weeding around the asparagus and beets, weeding the flower beds and sweeping the walkways.

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“We could have spent the day somewhere else, but this was the best way for us to spend a Saturday,” says Joe Luchene, a member of the group, as he gathered tree branches into a wheelbarrow. On weekdays, Luchene is employed as a life coach and as a substitute teacher.

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After four hours of outdoor labor, the young people prayed with the women religious and were treated to a lunch, breaking bread with the Franciscan Sisters on their patio behind the John Lateran Center in Meriden.

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