Mike Kehoe donates while you drive

Mike Kehoe will be hosting the second annual Drive One 4UR School Event. Mike Kehoe and Ford Motor Company will donate $20 for each test drive to the area high school of your choice.  This is a competition between Helias, Blair Oaks, and Jefferson City.  Let's win!!!

Stop by May 8 from 5:00pm -7:00pm or
May 9 from 9:00am - 3:00pm and designate HELIAS to receive the donation. It will only take 15-20 minutes of your day and is for a GREAT cause...  HELIAS!!

Click below to link to our Corporate Crusaders:

Hawthorn Bank         Midwest Block and Brick

A Full and Happy Life
By Kyle Stover '09

Most of us know him as a teacher; but others know him as a coach, co-worker, friend, and father. Coach Ray Hentges has been a great role model to many. He does not just walk the walk or talk the talk; he digs deep and finds the true meaning of life, love, and happiness.  He is retiring from Helias at the conclusion of this school year.

Coach Hentges is a Christ-filled person; his favorite quote comes from John 10:10 when Jesus says, "I have come that you may have life and have it to the full." He loves this passage because, in his words, "A full, happy, satisfying life is found when we allow the spiritual dimension to motivate us to live out life in such a way that God would be pleased with us."

Coach Hentges found a happy and satisfying life at Helias. He taught Biology and Physical Science before he began teaching religion classes. He coached golf for 37 years and won three state championships. Though he coached golf, Coach Ray Hentges is known for coaching football.

He coached football for 33 years and had a final record of 252 wins, 99 losses, and three ties. He and his teams also won two state championships. Coach Hentges loved coaching. "The relationship you develop with your players is an experience only a coach would understand. To see these young men grow to become productive citizens, leaders, and great fathers is a thing that makes you proud."

In 1962 Ray married the love of his life, Marilyn Hoffmeyer. Together they had five children and sixteen grandchildren. One of their children, Chris, follows in his father's footsteps. Coach Chris Hentges said, "My father has been the greatest role model in my life. I've patterned much of my teaching and coaching style after his." Ray is proud that his son is following in his footsteps and hopes that "the reason he wanted to become a coach is he saw how much fun I had during my 33 years.    

Many people will miss Coach Ray Hentges next year; but we shouldn't be sad, for he embarks on a new journey: a new time for him to travel, play more golf, go to the theater with his wife, and go biking, fishing, and camping - a time during which only God knows what is in store for him. "Only time will tell, but I think He wants me to continue to support my family and my church, and hopefully He will give me many years and good health to do these things."

Thank you, Coach Hentges, for the 45 years you have served at Helias. Thank you for the wisdom you have poured upon every teenager you have taught, and thank you for being a great coach, friend, and father.

Click on the logo to link to our Corporate Crusader:

21st Annual Helias Foundation Golf Tournament
Monday, September 14, 2009

Entry Fee $140 per person ($160 at Jefferson City Country Club)includes:

• Complimentary lunch before tee off, except Seasons Ridge Golf Club
• Eighteen holes of golf and cart (Four-Man Scramble)
• Complimentary golf prizes and drinks on course for all players
• Prizes for each flight
• Post tournament dinner at Helias High School
• Auction - Silent Auction - Raffle (non-golfers welcome to attend)

Choose from one of the following courses: (team placements occur in the order paid registrations are received).

Jefferson City Country Club
Meadow Lake Acres Country Club
Eagle Knoll Golf Course
Seasons Ridge Golf Club

Register online

Entry Deadline August 14, 2009 - brochure will be mailed soon.
All Proceeds to Benefit Helias Foundation

Click below to link to our Corporate Crusaders:

Jefferson Bank    Huber & Associates, Inc.

Not Called to Be Comfortable
A Story of a Mexico Mission Trip
By Brad Berhorst ‘09
Helias Catholic High School

On the evening of Monday, April 13, 2009, eleven young men and one man young at heart pulled into the front parking lot of Helias High School, to be met there by an assortment of their families, friends, and girlfriends. Scruffy, bedraggled, unkempt, and in a generally disheveled state of being and appearance, they unloaded their bags from the vehicles. They were all tired, and it was noticeable that in some cases they had not showered for over a week. But upon further observation, there was more to this scene of homecoming than first met the eye. Each of them carried themselves a bit differently than before, with the gleam of the ineffable experience they'd had lingering in their eyes, and with change written visibly on their hearts.

Eleven days before, they had all loaded into the same vehicles, much cleaner, very excited, and though perhaps unsure of what the next week and a half had in store for them, throwing themselves into it wholeheartedly nonetheless. They were embarking on a journey whose final destination lay in sixteen small villages scattered across the Sonoran Desert in northwestern Mexico. Their mission on this journey was just that: a mission; a duty, as Christian people, specifically as pupils of the Lasallian charism, to bring Christ to the poor and the children in those villages through both their own presence and through the Holy Eucharist during the high point of the Catholic Church year - Holy Week and Easter.

This Holy Week Mission was a joint effort of three schools of the Lasalle Christian Brothers tradition: Helias High School (Jefferson City, MO), Archbishop O'Hara High School (Kansas City, MO), and Colegio Regis (Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico). The Americans definitely form a minority there, with only eighteen missionaries. The other nearly three hundred missionaries were from Colegio Regis, and they coordinated most of the logistics of the mission.

Of the eleven young men who were chosen to serve on this Holy Week Mission to Mexico, six were going for their second time - recent graduate Kyle Stuckenschneider, seniors Jorden Bax, Andy Yuill (pictured below far right), Tyler Seabaugh, and Brad Berhorst, and junior Adam Kremer - and five were going for their first time - senior Seth Raithel, juniors Jonathan Aur and Conor Dermody, and sophomores Matt Rundle and Cody Distler. Rounding out the group was Helias High School President Didier Aur (pictured below far left). Also pictured are organizers Richy Castillo and Ana Lopez.

It was Mr. Aur who first began Helias's mission trip program, and an excerpt from his journal about the Mexico mission trip reads as follows, "The mission trip is a wonderful way for our students to both share and increase their faith. The idea behind the mission trip is to promote to our students a lifetime of service by introducing them to both the joys and hardships of serving others. I believe that more is learned by this type of activity than is learned sitting in a classroom. These young men have had a very positive educational experience about people, teamwork, service, religion, and sacrifice that a classroom could never match; they've had real life experiences in real life settings."

Any of the young men who were privileged to serve on this mission could speak for hours about their experiences there, but here are a few thoughts from just a couple of them.

When asked about his experience, senior Tyler Seabaugh responded, "Going to Mexico is so much more than just a spring break trip or a chance to get out of a few days of school. Going to Mexico is branching out of our community to help some people that we don't know, whose language we don't even speak. The smiles from the parents and the kids that know we are from America make the trip. The children love you on sight, and if that doesn't show God's work in them and us then I'm not sure what does. It's a simple hello, helping with their groceries, getting the groceries from the store for the lame or the blind that shows the villagers that we are here to bring the Body of Christ and our knowledge to them. Their appreciation to us cannot be summed up in words, and I can't explain how much respect and appreciation I have for them."

When asked what he liked about the mission, sophomore Cody Distler said, "Attending the Mexico Mission Trip was probably the best choice I have made so far in my life. The faith and love that people shared while I was there was overwhelming. The culture was probably my favorite part, closely followed by the growth in faith I had experienced. People say you come back different after you have gone on a mission. I wasn't so sure about that until I came back and realized how much I had changed. The friendships I had made while down there will stay with me the rest of my life, whether I see them again or not. I would greatly suggest it to people that want a deeper faith with God and Jesus, or to someone that is struggling with their faith. It's an awesome experience with numerous benefits. When you help the poor you get a feeling that's hard to explain, but it's unlike anything I have felt before. They are always smiling and always being optimistic about everything, especially their faith with God. In the U.S. we are too busy with our fast paced society to really sit back and appreciate. I will definitely be going back the next two years if I can."

The kind of excitement iterated by Seabaugh and Distler has been evident in all of the young men who participated in the mission. In a special way, seniors Andy Yuill and Brad Berhorst have continued the missionary effort even after returning to the United States. While in Mexico, Yuill worked in the village of Cerro Blanco, where a singular opportunity arose to help in the construction of a church building - the physical symbol of the figurative Church building being done in all the other villages by the other missionaries. The people of Cerro Blanco have been in the process of building their Iglesia de Santiago Apostol for several years now. While working this Holy Week, they ran out of cement. Seizing the opportunity, Mr. Aur consulted Yuill and together they decided that Helias High School would donate the money for the rest of the concrete needed. Since they returned, Berhorst and Yuill have been working to raise funds to send the villagers to help with further construction costs.

A week or so after they returned, the twelve met again for dinner to share stories from the week and to discuss their experiences on the trip. There was much laughing, good food, and even some serious discussion about the trip, interrupted occasionally when Mr. Aur would get distracted by the soccer game on TV. While discussing what they had been called to do while on mission, and talking about how stepping out of one's comfort zone is absolutely necessary in order to grow on a personal level, Helias graduate Kyle Stuckenschneider made this comment, now the unofficial theme of the Mexico Mission Trip, "We are not called to be comfortable!" How right he was.

 Click below to link to our Corporate Crusader:

Central Bank

 Our Leadership - Their Future

The annual fund drive is underway. 
This year's goal is $265,000. 
To see how your class stands in the Class Challenges or to see the list of business donors to date click here.
Thank you for your continued support of Helias Foundation!!