Ignite 2025
IMMERSIVE FAITH BASED COMMUNITY ORGANIZING EXPERIENCE
Saturday, July 12th to Friday, July 18th, 2025
Dream | Organize | Lead
The Experience
Service
Immerse oneself in the farmworker reality. Serve in solidarity and collaboration with farmworkers and their families. Learn about the farmworker reality through genuine relationship.
Leadership Development
Participate in community organizer led workshops that allow for deep reflection on service experiences and community organizer skills development. Be formed as an aware and powerful social justice leader!
Spirituality
Spend a week living in intentional community that provides opportunity for encounter. Through relationship, reflection, embodied spiritual practice such as service begin to expand an understanding of oneself as a spiritual being.
The Details
The Invitation:
Ignite is open to Catholic high school rising juniors and seniors and educators. While we encourage all rising juniors and seniors who are interested in social justice to participate, this program is designed to be most appropriate for students who are already engaged in ministry, leadership or service programming at their schools. Imagine Ignite as an advanced seminar!
Capacity:
Ignite offers service immersion opportunity up to 7 Catholic high schools or Catholic youth groups. Each school is encouraged to bring a minimum of 6 and maximum of 8 students as well as at least 2 adult support staff spots (required).
Dates:
Sunday, July 12th – Friday, July 18th, 2025
Cost:
Ignite costs $600 per person. A $600 non-refundable group reservation fee is required to reserve your school’s spot and contributes to the overall cost of attendance.
Registration Deadlines & Process:
Reservation for Ignite is provided on a first come first serve basis and registration will either on the date below, or when 7 groups have completed registration.
March 7th, 2025 – Registration closes only complete when the registration form is completed and the reservation fee is received. Participant paperwork will be provided at this time.
June 6th, 2025 – Full payment and final participant paperwork due.
Scholarships available upon request, please reach out to Will Rutt at wrutt@ipjc.org.*
Lodging Location:
Assumption Catholic Church
2116 Cornwall Ave, Bellingham, WA 98225
Service Location:
Whatcom County and the Skagit Valley – Washington State
Transportation:
Transportation is not provided by Ignite. Schools and their educators will be required to provide transportation for their students to and from the lodging location and service location, along with transportation to various service sites.
Meals:
All meal and snack costs are covered by the registration fee and will be provided by Agape Service Project. Please notify the planning committee of any dietary restrictions upon completion of student profile forms, which will be sent out after the registration fee is submitted.
Tentative Schedule – July 2025*
Saturday, July 12th
Group Travel Day – Arrivals at Assumption no earlier than 6pm
. . . . .
Sunday, July 13th
9am Welcome!
9:30am Workshop 1: Introduction to Community Organizing
11am Workshop 2: Identity – Who are we? How do we arrive here?
12:30pm Lunch
1:30-3pm Workshop 3: Building an Effective Team
3:00pm Meet Agape Staff
3:30-4:30pm Introduction to Ignite and Farmworker Community
4:30pm Depart for Farmworker Communities
5:00 pm BBQ with Farmworker Community
9:00-9:15pm Evening Prayer and Reflection
9:15pm Ignite Shirts / Free Time
9:15-9:45pm Adult Meeting
10:30pm Lights Out
. . . . .
Monday, July 14th
6:30am Wake Up, Breakfast, Get Ready
7:30am Morning Wake Up, Prayer, Preparation for Day
8:00am Depart to Service Locations (Farms)
8:30am Farm Service Location
11:00am Depart Farm
11:30pm Break
12:00pm Make Lunch at Assumption
1:00-2:30pm Workshop 4: Listening & Communication – Encounter
2:30pm Break, Prep to Leave
3:45pm Head to Farmworker Housing Community
4:15-6pm Enrichment Activities at Farmworker Housing
6:30pm Dinner at Assumption
7:30-9:15pm Workshop 5: The Art of 1-1s
9:15pm End of Day Reminders
9:30-10:30pm Evening Showers & Free Time
11:00pm Lights Out
. . . . .
Tuesday, July 15th
8:00-9:00am Wake Up, Breakfast, Get Ready
9:15am Morning Prayer / Day Introduction
9:15-11:15am Workshop 6: Structural Analysis –
Why do farmworkers experience food insecurity?
11:15am-12pm Break
12:00-1:00pm Lunch at Assumption & Pack Dinner
1pm Depart Assumption
1:30-4:00pm Food bank Set Up
4-7:00pm Mobile Food Distribution
7:30pm Return to Assumption
8:00-9:00pm Communal Reflections and Prayer
9:00pm End of Day Reminders
9:30-10:30pm Evening Showers & Free Time
9:30pm Adult Meeting
11:00pm Lights Out
. . . . .
Wednesday, July 16th
6:45-7:45am Wake Up, Breakfast, Get Ready
7:45-8:30am Morning Prayer, Preparation for Day & Pack Lunches
8:30am Depart for Food Bank (Lynden)
9:00am-6:30pm Food Bank Operation
6:30pm Depart to Assumption
7:00pm Dinner
8pm-9pm Fun & Reflection
9:00pm End of Day Reminders
9:30-10:30pm Evening Showers & Free Time
9:30pm Adult Meeting
11pm Lights Out
. . . . .
Thursday, July 17th
7:45-8:45am Wake Up, Breakfast, Get Ready
8:45-9:00am Morning Prayer, Preparation for the Day
9:00-11:30am Workshop 6 – Solidarity: The Story of Us – Storytelling
11:30-12:30pm Lunch
12:30-2:30pm Closing Ceremony
4:30pm Dinner and Community Celebration at Lake Padden
8:00-9:00pm Showers at Bellingham Highschool
10:30pm Lights Out
. . . . .
Friday, July 18th
Group Travel Day
. . . . .
Schedule is subject to change as determined necessary by the planning committee.
* Throughout the week the large group will have the opportunity to encounter and serve at different
sites throughout Whatcom & Skagit Counties; when this means the large group will need to divide up to match location restrictions, school groups will always be kept together.
Contact IPJC’s Executive Director, Will Rutt, with inquiries about Ignite at wrutt@ipjc.org
The Collaborators
Intercommunity Peace & Justice Center
The Intercommunity Peace & Justice Center, grounded in Catholic Social Teaching, builds community to act for systemic change in our church and world.
Agape Service Project
Agape Service Project fosters service, community, and prayer as participants encounter Christ and uphold the dignity of our farmworker brother and sisters.