Trinidad Spinello worries about the future of San Juan Bautista Catholic Church's 41-year-old Hispanic festival that attracts nearly 5,000 people over its four days.
The festival is the church's biggest fundraiser, having raised an estimated $2 million since the first one was held in 1983.
"I've always helped, but seeing how exhausted my parents were, especially my mom, was a sign to me that more help was needed, and I had to step up," said 54-year-old Spinello.
Spinello's parents, Expedito Santos, 84, and Elidia Santos, 85, are longtime members of the 425 S. Duke St. church in Lancaster city, having joined the congregation in 1974.
Expedito Santos is among a core group of approximately 10 to 15 church volunteers in their 60s through 80s who have helped organize and operate the festival for most, if not all, of its 41-year run. And while they enjoy volunteering, they have confided in the Rev. Luis Rodríguez, the church's pastor since 2020, that they need "new blood" to take charge.
Elidia Santos is no longer involved in the festival.
READ: San Juan Bautista celebrates Hispanic culture and heritage with annual festival
Longtime volunteers Hector and Otilia Lopez outside San Juan Batista Catholic Church in Lancaster on Thursday July 11, 2024.
“At my age, it’s difficult to do the work and I think it’s time to bring in the younger people,” she said.
“It’s discouraging because we all want this community celebration to continue, but if we don’t take care of it today, there’s not going to be a tomorrow for the festival, or possibly this church, and that is going to be very sad,” Spinello said.
Many Latin American immigrants in Lancaster County are drawn to San Juan because it is the county’s only Catholic church that offers Masses in Spanish.
Among the Latin American immigrants drawn to San Juan are Hector and Otilia López, who came to the county from Colombia in 1972 with plans to return to their native country in two years.
“Then we started attending church at San Juan Bautista, working for this community, and we began to see that the longing we had for Colombia was being replaced by the family and relationships we developed here,” Hector Lopez said. “We are of different nationalities, but this community is a wonderful family.”
Community musicians lead the crowd with a selection of hymns and songs at the annual San Juan Bautista Hispanic Festival, which has been held every summer since 1983.
The West Lampeter Township couple is among a group of about 150 volunteers ages 14 through 88 helping to run this year’s Hispanic festival, which began Wednesday and ends Saturday.
Like Santos, the Lopezes are part of the core group of volunteers that has been running the festival since its early days.
“We work very hard setting up the tents, preparing the food, getting sponsorships, but the desire to help and produce a good event is always there,” said 88-year-old Hector López.
He said people assume the people working on securing sponsorships, signing up vendors and entertainers, organizing food sales, promoting the festival and assigning other related tasks do it for the pay.
“We are volunteers. There is no pay,” López said. “For us it’s just beautiful to be a part of something that benefits the community.”
His wife said the work is hard, but they do it with joy.
“When we come here, it feels like home, like a family,” Otilia López, 81, said.
‘There aren’t enough helping hands’
Of the approximately 2,400 people on San Juan’s membership roll, only about 1,000 consistently attend Masses offered daily Monday through Sunday and the first Saturday of each month, according to Teresa Zapata, the church’s office manager.
Expedito Santos has served as an ordained deacon at San Juan for 46 years. In addition to preaching, teaching and helping in the ministry of the church, he serves on various committees and volunteer groups within the parish. Volunteer work, he says, is more than simply good will.
“It’s a personal experience with God,” he said. “When you fall in love with God, everything has a new meaning. If the person does not have God in their life and their faith is not strong, then they will not have a passion for the work that needs to be done at church either.”
Volunteer Coordinator Glenda Torres pauses with her husband, Luis Torres, for a moment together as they both went off in different directions making sure that everything was running smoottly on Wednesday, July 24th, 2024 at the San Juan Bautista Hispanic Festival.
“I don’t know what to expect this year,” he said during an interview prior to this week’s festival. “The festival lasts four days, there’s a lot of work to do and we need a lot of help. We are all getting older and cannot do some of the tasks we used to with ease.”
Expedito Santos spoke of the biggest change he’s seen at San Juan Bautista throughout the years.
“Our congregation is big, but there aren’t enough helping hands,” he said. “We have and will continue to set a good example of what it is to be a servant, but we cannot force anyone to help.”
Zapata said that of the 1,000 people who attend Masses at San Juan, only 200 volunteer consistently for the different events at the church.
Meanwhile, Rodríguez said he has always encouraged people who consistently volunteer at the church to identify and train new volunteers to perform the many tasks needed to keep events like the festival running. This year, for example, two 14-year-olds have been recruited to serve as runners during the festival.
“While the festival is not the church's largest source of income, it is the main fundraising measure,” Rodríguez said of the festival, which typically raises between $50,000 and $70,000. “But it has been difficult to increase the number of volunteers to work on this and other projects, and I don’t want to think about the possibility that one day the festival will have to be discontinued. We have to make clear in people’s minds that if they cannot contribute financially, they can contribute time and talent.”
READ: 'A homecoming of sorts' for San Juan Bautista pastor the Rev. Luis Rodriguez
‘We are supposed to serve each other’
Miriam Ortega, 65, is a lifelong member at San Juan who began serving as a volunteer 35 years ago.
“I love my church, the people,” Ortega said. “I feel that we are supposed to serve each other, and that’s what I’m doing.”
Ortega, of East Lampeter Township, has organized the food preparation and sales for the festival for 20 years.
Paul and Sarah Thibault, and Louis Ortega, serving hamburgers and hotdogs with all the fixings at the annual San Juan Bautista Hispanic Festival on Wednesday, July 24, 2024.
“I do it for the love of God. This is everybody’s job. That is what we are called to do, but, unfortunately, that is what’s lacking out there because people are afraid of commitment,” Ortega said. “Our church gets full, you can't find seating sometimes, but those numbers don’t show up when it’s time to volunteer.”
Ortega participates in the church choir and volunteers in the thrift shop, food sales and other ministries of the church. Her husband Luis, 65, is helping at this year’s festival as a cook.
“We all have children that we trained to help as they grew up. Now they are older with kids of their own and some of them come to San Juan at times to help. But they belong to other churches, so they volunteer at their churches,” Ortega said.
Sergio Albino spinning the Money Wheel at the annual San Juan Baptita
Spinello has helped her parents with their volunteer duties at yard sales and food sales since she was a little girl, but she only began helping with the Hispanic festival five years ago.
Although Spinello and her family attend a different church closer to her home in Lancaster city, she continues to volunteer at the festival because that is the church of her childhood.
“San Juan will always be my home church,” she said.
‘Give time, talent and treasure’
Rodríguez said every year San Juan holds an event where members of the parish can learn about the church’s different ministries and register to help.
“This should fall on everyone's mind… if someone cannot contribute treasure, then they must contribute time. It’s all hands on deck, and it's as simple as that. Treasure is important but your time and your talents are important as well. Give time, talent, and treasure,” Rodríguez said.
The event, Miriam Ortega said, is held once a year in the spring. “But whenever the opportunity to help and volunteer in different functions arises, only a few people sign up,” she said.
Isabel Avila (left), Diego Segura-Ortiz and Luis Facio serving at the Mexica Food Booth at the annual San Juan Bautista Hispanic Festival on Wednesday, July 24, 2024.
“What we need is young people, but the younger generation just doesn’t want to commit,” church member Glena Torres said.
Speaking about her volunteer service at San Juan, Torres, 48, said that for her it is more than just an obligation that she needs to fulfill.
“We are called to do this. You find purpose and help create a legacy that you hope will last through time,” Torres said.
The East Lampeter Township resident began volunteering at age 14 by helping teachers in catechism classes.
Volunteers are the backbone of the San Juan Butista Hispanic Festival, handling everthing from entertainment to security to food prep and serving.
“We were teaching kids who came to church without their own parents. It gave me a feeling of being a part of a family that gave back not only to the congregation but the community as well,” Torres said. “My parents couldn’t contribute much financially to the church, but we could contribute our time and work in whatever we could.”
Torres, along with her husband, Luis, 51, helps organize San Juan’s annual Way of the Cross procession during Holy Week. They also help prepare couples at the church for the sacrament of matrimony through a mentoring program.
Last year, the Torreses joined the group of festival volunteers. While Torres helps plan the festival's entertainment and promotion, her husband oversees the event's security team.
Luz Marina Delcaprio, (left) and Miluska Radon and Marina Radon at the Peru booth at the annual San Juan Bautista Hispanic Festival on Wednesday, July 24, 2024.
“We will not give up because too much is at stake. I feel confident that we will continue to make the festival and our ministries happen, even if we have to go out and start knocking on doors. We just have to put on our big pants and get going.”
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