What is AWOL?
AWOL stands for “A Work Of Love.” It is the Sr. High mission and service project. This is Lord of Life's 23rd year doing AWOL.  All of those years, groups of Lord of Life youth and adult leaders have gone on 10-12 day mission experiences to help build homes for God’s people in need through Habitat for Humanity.

What are the plans for this summer?
We're going one BIG AWOL trip to Kentucky this summer. The capacity will be 44 participants & 8 adult leaders.

 What is Habitat for Humanity?
HFH is an international organization whose goal is to provide simple, adequate housing for all of God’s people in need. They rehabilitate old, run-down housing or build new, depending on the situation. The labor is all volunteer. The materials are bought at cost or are donated. The houses are then sold to low-income families (who have also put in anywhere from 300-500 hours of sweat equity) at 20 year, 0% mortgages. HFH can put up a four-bedroom home for about $35,000-$40,000.

How will the group prepare?
Beginning in February (once the group is set), we will meet one Saturday morning of each month. During late winter and until the departure, we will work to plan our itinerary, put together a side-trip, plan the menu, plan and carry out the fundraisers, and train for the work. Our training will include team-building, Bible study, and basic skills for construction (i.e. how to hammer, how to saw, how to walk on a roof, etc...).

How will the group travel to the city?
We will take one  or two of the Lord of Life black buses with a trailer plus a minivan. Believe it or not, the road trip is usually one of the highlights!

 Where will the group stay?
While in the AWOL cities, our group will stay at a local church, most likely in the general community in which we’ll be building. The facilities will have kitchens for us to cook our meals. We will shower and clean up at the end of each work day at a local “Y” or community center.

 What about food?
The AWOLers are responsible for their own food on the days we’re traveling to and from the city (fast food stops). While there, we will cook for ourselves from a menu the group will put together. We’ll buy our non-perishables here and bring them with us and buy perishables as we need them.

 What is there to do during free time? 
After the workday and dinner, the group will do some activities together. We will plan these evenings during the trip planning process. It might be sightseeing, going swimming, hanging out at our “home,” or doing laundry. Generally we’re too tired to do a lot of high-energy stuff! At the end of the trip, we will do a simple side-trip to do sightseeing. In past years we have camped out at the ocean, visited national parks, etc...

 What about adult supervision?
We will have eight adults along. We maintain a one-to-six (or better) ratio on the AWOL experiences. The Habitat chapter will provide at least one skilled site supervisor to train us and lead us in the actual work. 

What about safety?
We are very safety conscious. Safety will be emphasized in our training and at our work site. We will do safety training before we leave, and the Habitat chapter will have a thorough orientation before we begin work. When not on the work site, or at our church, we always follow the “rule of 3” which means at least 3 people must be in a group.