Seminarians and volunteers watch as seminarian and Project Warm manager Ben Riley fells a tree at the St. Meinrad Archabbey grounds on Nov. 2. All of the trees they use come from somewhere the 250-acre grounds of the Archabbey.
All of the trees they fell come from the 250-acre grounds. “As part of the care for the forest and care for the world that God gave us, we go and clear trees that are dying or have already fallen over,” Riley said.
St. Meinrad seminarian Tyler Huber puts on earmuffs before sawing the branches of a tree on the grounds of St. Meinrad Archabbey on Nov. 2.
St. Meinrad seminarian Tyler Huber saws the branches of a tree on the grounds of St. Meinrad Archabbey on Nov. 2. "Our relationship with God is not just a purely spiritual thing or just this mental faith that we conceive of," said Project Warm manager Garrett Braun. "We're called to action and to serve."
"It gets us out in the woods and gets us out in nature and enjoying God's creation," said Ben Riley, a Project Warm manager. "There's great fraternity behind being out in the wilderness."
“The wood lot is a bonding experience,” said Project Warm manager Joe Friend.
“In a lot of ways this is a chance to get outside and do something physical at the end of a long week,” Braun said. “We try to emphasize the prayer that we’re doing and the people that we’re serving, and I think in some ways your motivation kind of changes. You appreciate the bigger picture of what we’re really doing.”