Work for Winchester: Groups visit town for mission work camp
Published 10:49 am Thursday, June 27, 2019
Campers sit down for dinner Tuesday after a long day of work during this week's Group Mission Trips work camp in Winchester. (Photo by Lashana Harney)
Bloomington, Illinois, native David Ferrier, 14, adds cheese to his plate during Taco Tuesday after a long day of work during the weeklong Group Mission Trips work camp. (Photo by Lashana Harney)
Pennsylvania native Jackie Douglass, 14, writes a note for another camper Tuesday during the weeklong Group Mission Trips work camp. (Photo by Lashana Harney)
Each camper has a folder for other campers and staff to fill with nice notes and other information. (Photo by Lashana Harney)
Larry Wills and Hannah Rogge, 14, paint the ceiling at 27 Sylvania Ave. Wednesday as part of their work during the 2019 Group Mission Trips camp in Winchester. (Photo by Lashana Harney)
Clark County Public Schools food service workers have put in hundreds of hours this week to prepare meals for the Group Mission Trips work camp. (Photo by Lashana Harney)
Campers work on painting a shed at 27 Sylvania Ave. as part of their work during the 2019 Group Mission Trips camp in Winchester. (Photo by Lashana Harney)
Bob Weeks, a native of Verona, Virginia, works on the roof of a shed at 27 Sylvania Ave. Wednesday as part of their work during the 2019 Group Mission Trips camp in Winchester. (Photo by Lashana Harney)
One of over 60 crews working in Winchester this week paused to take a photo on their work site at 27 Sylvania Ave. Pictured, from left, is Olivia Schulte, 19, of Des Moines, Iowa; Ryan Mack, 13, of Hermitage, Pennsylvania; Bob Weeks, of Verona, Virginia; Owen Keeton, 14, of Illinois; Larry Wills, of Verona, Virginia; and Hannah Rogge, 14, of Pennsylvania. (Photo by Lashana Harney)
Nearly 500 teens and adults from as far away as Minnesota and Florida are working on projects this week around Winchester, constructing ramps and porches, repairing trailers, painting ceilings and more.
They are part of the 2019 Group Mission Trips work camp.
Crews arrived Sunday and leave Saturday. Nearly 70 six-person crews divided the work among the 60 plus project sites to do home repairs.
This year’s work camp, Tom Sollars, a director at Group, said, is Group’s largest and its first in Winchester since 2002.
“Our campers are made up of mainly youth from youth groups around the country, and their adult leaders out of that group,” Sollars said. “It’s 23 different youth groups that have come here from 12 different states all the way from Oklahoma, from Georgia, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, so you got them from all over this week to work on homes for the elderly, or those who just can’t afford to get the work done and the disabled, we’re building anything from porches to decks to wheelchair ramps to painting inside or outside of home. So just anything that needed done.”
Sollars said Group Mission Trips provide weeklong camps where youth groups from all across the country come to upgrade homes for the less fortunate, disabled and the elderly. These camps, which are for teens 12 and up, are typically in rural areas, inner city and on Native American reservations.
“Group has done this since 1977,” Sollars said. “We’re just one of like 25 to 30 camps that are going on all summer long.”
Sollars said one of the co-sponsors of Winchester’s camp was the area Salvation Army.
Teams are currently staying at Campbell Junior High School.
“This middle school has been absolutely wonderful,” Sollars said. “ … [Campers] bring their air mattresses and their sleeping bags, and we put them in the classrooms and you sleep on the floor. The local cafeteria folks are working an extra week or so. And so they’ve just been absolutely wonderful group … Custodial staff has been great. Administration has been wonderful.”
Rebecca Lowry, director of food services at Clark County Public Schools, said her team will have put in about 450 hours of food service by the time the camp is over.
Her staff members volunteered to come in on their summer vacation because they wanted to help the cause, Lowry said. Though, CCPS is receiving reimbursement for the cost of food service, Lowry said.
Lowry’s crew provides breakfast and dinner service and has individually packed nearly 500 lunches every day for campers. Lowry said CCPS custodial staff has also adjusted shifts and picked up extra work this week to help the camp.
Campers work on houses from about 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. each weekday, except Wednesday as campers had a partial day off to explore local attractions.
Aside from helping local residents, there is a financial impact from the work camp as the group has a whole is expected to spend about $65,000 in the community while they are in Clark County, Shannon Cox, who helped bring the camp to Winchester, previously told The Sun.
Sollars said camps like Group’s brings the community together.
“It’s great for campers,” he said. “They get to show what young people are all about, and they’re able to go out and let God work through them and show His love through [the campers]. And the relationships that they develop with those people, what we call the residents that week; that bond that they make is so important to the residents as well as it is to the young people who get to know them …
We purchase a lot of materials here locally when we do it. We have 460 people this week here that normally wouldn’t be here. And they’re spending money … So it’s just it’s a win-win situation all around.”
Hannah Rogge, a 14-year-old camper from Ohio, said the weeklong camp has given her a closer relationship to God and has given her friendships with the people she has met at camp. She said she’s also a fan of Duchess, the resident dog at her work site.
Olivia Schulte, a 19-year-old camper from Des Moines, Iowa, mirrored Rogge’s statements. She this camp was her fifth and final camp, and she’s enjoyed strengthening her relationships with people who are fairly like-minded.
“It’s nice to have people you can talk to,” Schulte said.
Ryan Mack, a 13-year-old from Hermitage, Pennsylvania, said this camp was his first camp, and he had been inspired to join from going on previous mission trips. And the camp hasn’t let him down. It’s been fun, and he’s gained a stronger faith, he said.
Sollars said Group is already considering returning to Winchester next year.
“The community has been wonderful to us,” he said. “The people are wonderful. And I think we’re coming back here again next year.”
About Lashana Harney
Lashana Harney is a reporter for The Winchester Sun. Her beats include schools and education, business and commerce, Winchester Municipal Utilities and other news. To contact her, email lashana.harney@winchestersun.com or call 859-759-0015.
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