Youth workcamps repair homes, build spirit of God

Intermountain Catholic

+ Enlarge

Christian youth and adult volunteers paint and repair a home in Ogden. They also built a wheelchair ramp and a deck. The Benedictine Sisters and St. Benedict's Foundation sponsored the home by bringing treats each day. IC photo by Christine Young

OGDEN — "I get so much out of these projects. There is nothing like helping people, and there is nothing better than the work we do for others," said Amelie Lanning, 19, from Concordia Lutheran Church in Lakewood, Colo.

One hundred fifty-six Christian youth and adult volunteers came from church groups across the United States to Ogden June 15-21, to participate in group workcamps. The workcamps are rigorous, one-week programs designed to help Christian youth grow closer to God through service to others.

During this week of work and spiritual growth, workcamp crews of five high school and college aged youth perform hands-on home repair projects such as exterior and interior painting, porch and step replacement, and wheelchair ramp construction. They repaired the homes of 26 low-income residents. The homeowners included 19 senior citizens, five disabled adults, and two single parents.

"Many community groups sponsored these young people including St. Benedict’s Foundation and Mount Benedict Monastery, who are financial sponsors as well as hosts for this event," said Benedictine Prioress Sister Danile Knight. Before the workcamps began, a team of workers came in ahead of time to meet with the sponsors to find homes that were in need of repair.

"Every day during the week of the workcamp for the10 a.m. break, sponsors took treats to the workers at the sites they were sponsoring."

"I served as the local volunteer coordinator for the 26 organizations who provided mid-morning snacks to the workcampers," said Yvonne Ulloa Coiner, executive director of St. Benedict’s Foundation. "The theme for this years workcamp is "Let us not merely say that we love each other, let us show the truth by our actions, (1 John 3-18)."

Coiner said the Ogden parishes of Saint James, Saint Mary, and Saint Joseph have people who signed up to host a home and bring a snack during the break each day. They also agreed to provide ladders, as did Saint Benedict’s Foundation, the Benedictine Sisters, various businesses, churches, service clubs, and local organizations.

Home Depot’s Ogden store provided the critical volunteer labor to write specifications for more than 80 homes from which 26 final homes were selected. In all, more than 150 local volunteers participated in this week-long event.

"These young people are from all different religious denominations, and are really great lovers of the Lord," said Sr. Danile. "They pray in the morning before they go to their various project sites, and all 156 of them pray as a group in the evening. Each day they share with each other where they found Christ in others during the day."

The workcampers stayed at South Ogden Junior High School, where they slept on the floor in sleeping bags, ate, and showered. They also participated in lively and spiritually enriching evening programs every night at the school. The activities were filled with music, inspiration, and fun. After leaving Utah they will travel to two other workcamps before returning home.

"They have one week to complete each job, and it is amazing what they can get done," said Coiner. "When they make up the teams, they mix up the youth so they make new friends and bond with new people."

"Most of the leaders were once part of the working team in the workcamps," said Sr. Danile. "They have been involved in this whole process for six or seven years. They are so enthused about these projects and helping other people."

The Workcamp Foundation is based out of Loveland, Colo., and exists as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. It was established in 1976 after the Big Thompson Flood outside Estes Park. The group publishing owners advertised for help and 300 people responded and it grew from there. There are now nearly 100 workcamps every summer. Group workcamp volunteers pay $400 per volunteer for the privilege of this service, some of which covers the cost of materials. The balance of material costs were raised through a consortium of contributors coordinated by Ogden City and United Way of Northern Utah.

"This project takes 18 months to plan to get the residents in need in place and lodging for the workcampers," said Nicole Bird, workcamp director. "This year we have youth from Colorado, Kansas, Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska, and California.

"Our focus is to encourage spiritual growth through service projects," said Bird. "That happens when the youth get into the camps and step out of their comfort zones and into new groups, and do something they would not normally do by working with new people, on a resident’s home whom they have never met."

Matthew Stawarz, 19, from Omaha, Neb., said his youth group goes on a different trip every year to a workcamp. Stawarz is from Divine Shepherd Lutheran Church. He loved the mountains in Utah, which he said are completely different from Nebraska.

"The residents have been great, and I have met a lot of great people," said Stawarz.

Kate Johnson, 17, from Castle Rock, Colo., is a member of Saint Francis of Assisi Parish.

"This has been one of the most spiritual experiences I have had," said Johnson. "Every time I go to a workcamp, I become so connected with God. It is incredible how much I can get out of coming and working for somebody else. Our residents this year have been so welcoming and accepting of us. Usually the residents have stayed in their houses and not made much contact with us. This is my third workcamp, and I plan to do more workcamps as the years go by.

"Utah is so beautiful with the mountains so close," said Johnson. "The mountains in Colorado are so far away."

"It is the fact that you get to change the lives of the residents by fixing up their homes that I like," said Lanning. "They do not realize they change our lives as well. I love everyone that I have met in the workcamp. I was 15 the first year I came to a workcamp, and this is my fourth workcamp. Every year it gets better. Everyone is so wonderful. We are all here for the same reason, we all want to help."a