St. Noel Pilgrimage - Advance Team & HNDL Service

Pilgrimage Service on the Advance Team

Dedicated Advance Team volunteers provide prayerful support, service & assistance to all aspects of our Special Needs Pilgrimage. The “A-Team” arrives two days before the pilgrimage and extends their stay for inventory, material storage and to clean/disinfect the hospital-like facility utilized by the pilgrimage. North American Volunteers coordinates this A-Team of volunteers with formation, orientation and training in service and support to our St. Marianne Special Needs Pilgrims. Our pilgrims could not visit Lourdes without the support of the A-Team!

Advance Team responsibilities during pilgrimage include: Transportation Service (wheelchair/voiture assistance), Dining Room Service (set up, serve and clean up), Hospitality Service (provide coffee, tea, Lourdes water for consumption, supplemental dietary items, and assistance to pilgrims), Housekeeping Service (cleaning rooms of pilgrims including making beds, sweeping, taking out trash and cleaning bathrooms). Schedule varies depending on assignment.

Volunteer Service with the HNDL for Returning Stagiaires

Hospitalité is the association, founded in 1885, of volunteers worldwide who come to offer volunteer service to the pilgrims of Our Lady of Lourdes through the Sanctuary. This international team of 8,000 lay volunteers offers assistance in baths, at the train station and in the Sanctuary, and they support sick or disabled pilgrims at hospital-like facilities in Lourdes each year.

Volunteers must be capable and in good health, between the ages of 18-75 and willing to offer six consecutive days of service. Two half days of Formation and hands-on training are provided by Hospitalité Notre-Dame de Lourdes. Volunteer assignments are subject to volunteer suitability and the needs of Hospitalité.

Available daily throughout pilgrimage:

Mass with pilgrimage family
Sacrament of Reconciliation
Eucharistic Blessing
Candlelight Rosary Procession

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