Baltimore-Appalachia Work Camp volunteers reunite, remember former leader

FREELAND – It had been two years since the Baltimore-Appalachia Work Camp had met due to pandemic restrictions. Its one-day reunion at First Fruits Farm in northern Baltimore County Aug. 7 was bittersweet, however, as it also recalled the life of Mike Robinson.

Robinson, a parishioner of Christ the King in Glen Burnie and Work Camp adult leader for nearly 10 years, died suddenly in late April.  

Over the last decade, he was an integral part of the Work Camp, which draws from 11 parishes in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. It began in 1985, with a small group from St. Joseph in Cockeysville venturing to West Virginia following the “Election Day Floods.” In 1998, it expanded to helping families in Baltimore City, usually in the last week of June.

COVID-19 derailed plans for 2020, and then 2021, which led some longtime volunteer leaders to call for a reunion that would also serve to honor Robinson, according to co-directors Becca Goldberg, a parishioner of St. Francis of Assisi in Baltimore; Bobby McGraw, like Robinson of Christ the King in Glen Burnie; and  Joanie Carlson, of the Catholic Community of St. Francis Xavier in Hunt Valley. 

“I think we all knew that we needed to get together to rebuild community and remember the gifts that Mike Robinson gave to all of us,” Carlson said. “It was the perfect way to mourn but most of all to celebrate his life in doing service for others, having fun with friends and sharing faith together as family. That was what Mike Robinson was about.” 

First Fruits Farm – a nonprofit Christian ministry dedicated to providing fresh, nutritious produce to those experiencing hunger – saw 40 alumni revisit the highlights of Work Camp, including serving in the fields; playing trivia led by Mike Ricigliano, another parishioner of St. Francis of Assisi in Baltimore and best known as a professional cartoonist; and a scavenger hunt, which Robinson always organized. The farm partners with the Archdiocese of Baltimore and other nonprofits in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The theme, intended for their 2020 trip, was “Start the Fire – Fan the Flames.”

“It feels a little more like we are at Work Camp here,” said McGraw over a chorus of kazoos during Ricigliano’s game of trivia. “I think any close-knit community will have that feeling that they get out of living together, and serving together for a week.”

The group remembered Robinson both during a concluding Mass and in a mid-day circle of reflection, in an open field around a large wooden cross. The stories they shared were diverse, heartfelt and celebratory.

Carlson read a letter by Nancy Drew, the office manager of Christ the King and former co-director of the Baltimore trip. In the letter, Drew wrote, “Mike knew that the work was important, and we were fixing more than walls and stairwells. We were mending fences and building bridges.”

Tim Robinson, one of Mike’s four children, shared several anecdotes about his father, including when he served as a Good Samaritan.

“Mike was not only about faith; he was about good work,” Tim said.

Diana Healy, also of Christ the King, shared days with the elder Robinson.

“Mike was a torch, a light for the world,” Healy said. “He empowered others to want to do good things. He gave that torch to others and he wanted it to blaze forward, because for him it was about community, it was about faith, it was about family, and it was about service.”

The reunion included parishioners of Our Lady of Grace in Parkton, St. Pius X in Rodgers Forge, Sacred Heart in Glyndon, and St. Margaret in Bel Air. Other parishes that have participated in the Work Camp include Our Lady of the Chesapeake in Pasadena, St. Bernadette in Severn, St. Joseph in Cockeysville, and St. Joseph in Sykesville-Eldersburg. The John Carroll School in Bel Air has also helped staff the Work Camp.

From 2015 to 2019, the volunteer effort included Clay McComas and Dominic Colarusso, upperclassmen at the University of Maryland, College Park.

“Mike (Robinson) was compassionate,” McComas said. “He was always present, but he was more than just fully there; he was fully devoted to everything that was going on. Mike made Work Camp the best it could be. He had an effect on all of us, but he did so much more in his life than in just that one week.”

Colarusso added, “The intention that he brought with him to camp is what I want to take with me in the work I do in the future. It’s a great way to live out your faith to do service for people.”

Kalie Paranzino, a parishioner of St. Joseph in Cockeysville and teacher at the School of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, said, “I think about Mike as a pillar. You knew he would show up. You knew you could count on him for a ridiculous, complex, creative scavenger hunt. We’ll continue to ask Mike to pray for us at Work Camp and know that he is praying for us and continuing to inspire this community that so beautifully comes together each year.”

Father Nicholas Amato, a retired priest of the archdiocese who assists at Church of the Nativity in Timonium, celebrated Mass on the same field where Mike Robinson was remembered. In his homily, he spoke passionately about serving others and discipleship.

“It’s not just Word, it’s presence. And it’s not just now, but it’s every time we come to the altar; it’s every week of our lives,” said Father Amato, who then extended his arms and looked across the fields. “There is your vineyard. It is spreading the fire, it is feeding the hungry.”

Attendees included Kerri Morris, one of Mike Robinson’s daughters, who worships at St. Therese in Wrightsville Beach, N.C.

“My dad was an amazing dad to four children for 51 weeks of the year,” she wrote the Review. “But the 52nd week, he was an amazing dad to another 100 adolescents and young adults. The day of service was a beautiful tribute to his caring heart while the games and scavenger hunt honored his creativity and sense of humor.”

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