Ignite 2025
IMMERSIVE FAITH BASED COMMUNITY ORGANIZING EXPERIENCE
Sunday, July 20th to Friday, July 25th, 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 20th – Friday, July 25th, 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*
Sunday, July 20th
3:00pm Group Arrivals
3:30-4:30pm Introduction to Ignite
4:30pm Depart to Service Locations*
5:00-7:00pm Opening BBQ and Activities for Farmworker Communities
7:30pm Depart to Assumption
7:45-9:00pm Workshop 1 – Norms & Identity Development
10:30pm Lights Out
. . . . .
Monday, July 21th
7:00-8:00am Wake Up, Breakfast, Get Ready
8:00am Prayer, Preparation for Day
8:30am Depart to Service Locations
9:00am-6:00pm Service in Whatcom and Skagit
• 12:15pm Lunch
• Workshop 2 – Introduction to Farmworker Reality
6:00pm Depart for Assumption
6:30-7:15pm Dinner
7:30-8:30pm Workshop 3 – The Power of Storytelling
8:45-9:15pm Evening Wind Down
10:30pm Lights Out
. . . . .
Tuesday, July 22th
7:30-8:30am Wake Up, Breakfast, Get Ready
8:30-9:00am Prayer, Preparation for Day
9:00am-12:00pm Workshop 4 – The Art of 1-1 and 1-1 Speed Dating
12:00-1:00pm Lunch
1:30-7:30pm Service
• 5:00pm Dinner at Service Sites
7:30pm Depart to Assumption
8:00-9:30pm Reflections and Prayer
9:30-10:30 Evening Wind Down
10:30pm Lights Out
. . . . .
Wednesday, July 23th
7:00-8:00am Wake Up, Breakfast, Get Ready
8:00-8:30am Prayer, Preparation for Day
9:00am Depart to Service Locations
9:00am-6:30pm Service (Lunch at Service Sites)
6:30pm Depart to Assumption
7:00-7:45pm Dinner
7:45-9:00pm Workshop 5 – Social Analysis: Why Does the Food Bank Exist?
9:00pm Evening Wind Down
10:30pm Lights Out
. . . . .
Thursday, July 24th
7:00-8:00am Wake Up, Breakfast, Get Ready
7:00-8:30am Prayer, Preparation for Day
9:00am Mass
9:45am-12:00pm Workshop 6 – Power Analysis: Using Prophetic Power for Change
12:00-1:00pm Lunch
1:00-3:00pm Workshop 7 – Mock Organizing Scenario
3:00-5:00pm Public Action
5:00-6:00pm Dinner
6:00-7:00pm Workshop 8 – Dreaming Together
7:00-7:30pm Debrief
7:30-9:00pm Community Bonding
9:00pm Evening Wind Down
10:30pm Lights Out
. . . . .
Friday, July 25th
7:00-8:30am Wake Up, Breakfast, Get Ready
8:30-9:00am Keynote
9:00-11:00am Closing Ceremonies
11:00am Pack Up
12:00-1:00pm Lunch
1:00pm Departure
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.
Youth Migrant Project
Youth Migrant Project is sponsored by Catholic Community Services. A program working with the farmworker community…
Jesuits West
Jesuits West acts to invite all people to experience the transformative power of God’s love through our educational, pastoral and social ministries.