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Before students start the school year, the Teens 4 Christ youth group in Amsterdam wanted to provide a little fun.

Last weekend, the group -- which includes youth from St. Joseph's/St. Michael's/Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Mary's and St. Stanislaus parishes in Amster-dam and St. Stephen's in Hagaman -- pulled together a Noah's Ark-themed ice-cream social for young parishioners.

St. Joseph's/St. Michael's/Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish hosted the event. Bridget Little, youth minister for the four parishes, hoped to "raise money for the group, so we can do more activities this next year."

In the 10 months since Teens 4 Christ's inception, members have hiked at Nine Corner Lake and collected donations for a local food pantry.

Martha Berben, a 15-year-old home-schooled sophomore, is the group's treasurer. She said it's fun to hang out with people who have a common faith -- and to play air hockey with "the right kind of friends" at the Teens 4 Christ meetings.

Maggie Sweeney, who's 13, reported that group is working on a "prayer chart," trying to offer 2,000 hours' worth of prayers by the end of the summer. The youth group has also hosted activities, weaving palms on Palm Sunday and putting on skits.

"It's really nice to come [to group meetings] and have people with similar interests. You can talk about your faith," said Maggie, a home-schooled eighth-grader who is the group's secretary.

Olivia Cromer, a sophomore at Broadalbin-Perth High School, has only been in the group a couple of months. She helped to paint a giant Jenga game and get a ball-toss game ready for the ice cream social.

Olivia's 12-year-old sister, Katie, also joined Teens 4 Christ after her sister told her how much fun members had at their meetings. She said she likes meeting young people from different parishes.

"It's a great way to bring everyone together," said Katie, after winning at the squirt-bottle boat races during the ice-cream social.

"Most of the stuff we do is based around our faith," said Jaron Loux, an eighth-grader at Galway Middle School who was enthusiastic about the social's Noah's Ark theme. The event included a duck-pond game and a frog obstacle course.

Although the ice-cream social was intended to be a fundraiser for Teens 4 Christ, Ms. Little hoped it would "inspire some of the younger kids" to join the group, too.[[In-content Ad]]

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