About Us

Mission

Provide Orthodox youth an opportunity to put their Faith to work.

Vision

Offer an Orthodox communal setting where youth and adults can encounter Christ and deepen their personal relationship with Him through mission and service, inspiring a lifelong desire to serve God in their homes, parishes, communities and throughout the world.

  • Living the liturgy by witness and action.
  • Building relationships with God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each other and those we serve.
  • Strengthening the Church by raising up youth leaders who can be the Body of Christ serving in their parishes and communities in Faith and Love, now and in the future.

History

The Orthodox Youth Mission Team was founded out of Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Danbury, Connecticut in 2010, by Susan Sulich, Beth Ryzyk, and Fr. Luke Mihaly. What began as a band of three adults and four youth has grown into a program in which over 300 youth and adults have participated over the past fourteen years.

In July 2012, OYMT embarked on its first solo mission trip with Appalachia Service Project, after shadowing another church’s mission team in the summer of 2011. Our team has grown each year, drawing ACROD, GOARCH, OCA, and Antiochian members from CT, NY, and NJ.

In 2017, we were invited to participate in a two week-long OCMC mission trip to Napaskiak, Alaska. For youth to participate in an OCMC mission without their parents was monumental. We took twenty experienced youth and six adult leaders on this life-changing mission.

By 2018, we were receiving interest from outside of the Tri-State Area. In 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2024, we filled an entire ASP volunteer center with our core OYMT team and satellite Orthodox teams we trained from across the country. In 2019, we had over 80 participants on one trip. Overall, we’ve had approximately 130 youth and adult participants from CT, NY, and NJ, and another ~200 participants on satellite teams from across the country. We have always been extremely proud of our return rate; the majority of local participants return for at least a second year!

Post-COVID-19 interruptions, we have been growing our team once again and look forward to adding additional mission trip opportunities in the future! In 2024, we filled an ASP volunteer center with 63 youth and adults from CT, NY, VT, PA, and GA across 4 jurisdictions.

In Fall 2023, Beth retired from full-time leadership and Lexi Klimaszewski became OYMT’s Co-Coordinator/Program Director alongside Susan. Lexi did five OYMT trips as a youth from 2014-2018 before transitioning into Young Adult and Adult Leader roles. A year later, Susan also retired from her full-time Coordinator role. We look forward to seeing OYMT grow under Lexi’s leadership! Fr. Luke Mihaly remains the spiritual advisor for the Team, and he has been joined by additional clergy from various jurisdictions in recent years.

Past Trips

  • July 2011 = Summers County, WV (ASP)
  • July 2012 = Johnson City, TN (ASP)
  • July 2013 = Wayne County, WV (ASP)
  • July 2014 = Mingo County, WV (ASP)
  • July 2015 = Martin County, KY (ASP)
  • July 2016 = Wyoming County, WV (ASP)
  • July 2017 = Napaskiak, AK (OCMC)
  • July 2018 = Johnson County, TN (ASP)
  • July 2019 = Knox County, KY (ASP)
  • July 2022 = Clay County, WV (ASP)
  • July 2023 = Greenbrier County, WV (ASP)
  • July 2024 = Wyoming County, WV (ASP)

Upcoming Trips

Our 2025 summer mission trip will be with ASP from June 28 – July 6, 2025. The deadline to register for this trip is December 1, 2025.