Service Project Prep

Hello Convo 2018 Participants,

We are very excited to see everyone soon and get our great week started!

Every year we do a service project on one of the days in order to help an organization in need, whether it was making blankets for the homeless shelter or writing cards to veterans, we try to help the people that need it the most. This year is no different as we will be supporting the NEPA Youth Shelter located in Scranton, PA. As requested by their Executive Director, Maureen Maher-Gray, we will be supplying NEPA Youth Shelter with school supplies for the upcoming school year.

For many of us, purchasing school supplies has become a ritual and a sign that summer vacation is ending. However, for some people this can bring fear and be something that means a hard year of struggling is ahead. To stay on track with the theme of the week, we ask that the participants act as “financial lifeguards” for our peers that are having trouble meeting the requirements of the supply lists for the upcoming school year. The 2018 Convo Committee is requesting that the participants bring a suggested monetary donation of about $10 (but of course, any amount is greatly appreciated!). At Convo, as a group, we will assemble supply bags for distribution to these deserving kids.

We hope you can help to the best of your ability and sincerely appreciate anything that can be donated.

Rebecca Kotula
Secretary of the Convo 2018 Committee


Convo Outreach – Making a Difference for At-Risk Youth

Convo 2018 is supporting the NEPA Youth Shelter founded by Maureen Maher-Gray.

Maureen was raised in the desert southwest. She attended Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington where she earned both a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters of Arts degrees. She worked in corporate America for several years while raising her family. Maureen went back to school and earned a teaching degree which she joyfully used at St. Aloysius Catholic Grade School and Gonzaga Preparatory. In 2009, circumstances allowed her to move to Pennsylvania where she took up the mantle of issue politics. Her passion for social justice and her local work opened her eyes to the issue of youth homelessness in NEPA. After much research and organizing community meetings about the subject, Maureen began the nonprofit NEPA Youth Shelter to address this issue. She

Maureen her Board of Directors opened an After School Teen Drop In Center in Scranton in October 2017. The center serves all youth, especially low income and at-risk youth. As of June 15,2018 the center had welcomed 113 individual teens, averaging 36 teens per day. She is actively working with 3 of the youth who attended the center to find housing because they no longer live with their families/guardians. She is honored to be a part of this year’s Youth Convocation.

Maureen would like to especially thank the attendees for their community service project for the teens who attend the Center. May the Lord’s blessing be upon you in all your good works.

NEPA Youth Shelter
541 Wyoming Ave,
Scranton NY 18509