Kids on a mission

During the week of June 22 - 26 teenagers from all over the state met in Siloam Springs to lend a helping hand to the community.

The Ozark Mission Project (OMP) collected 36 teenagers, who paid $250 each, to landscape, paint, clean and do carpentry work. The OMP collected these teens from different churches from all over Arkansas: City Heights United Methodist of Van Buren, Piney Grove United Methodist, Hot Springs First United Methodist, and Trinity United Methodist of Fayetteville. The missionaries were hosted by the Siloam Springs United Methodist Church.

OMP refers to their volunteers as campers. The work the campers did was not too complicated, but still too difficult for the property owner to do themselves, according to a press release from OMP. For example, on this trip the group painted porches, pulled weeds, and built handrails and wheelchair ramps.

The campers made a stop at Paula Mason's house where they upgraded the hand rails on her wheelchair ramp and built another ramp on the other side of her porch. The original ramp was constructed by the OMP campers of 2012, Mason said.

Paula and her husband Jerry have not had the best of luck when it comes to health. On the same day Jerry had triple bypass surgery in September 2014, Paula was having a pacemaker put in. This day was also very close to the couple's anniversary and two days away from Jerry's birthday, Paula said.

"They (campers) came in and redid the top (of the ramp) and made a handle where I could walk on it and hold it, before it was just straight board and if you moved the wrong way you got a splinter," Paula said. "I am glad because now I can take my walker down the ramp they made here and set on the porch here with my husband."

Before the heavy lifting is done on the campers' projects they are trained by professionals, said Evan Koleszar, OMP camp coordinator. The campers are taught to use power tools by professionals and the projects are planned and selected by the same professionals. This way the campers have no fear as they follow the instructions to complete their task.

"They are all relatively young, but we have staff who knows what they are doing," Koleszar said. "All these kids give up a week of their summer to come and work for people that they don't know. In this group I don't think any of them know each other. On the first day they all got to know each other and ... by the end of the first day they are all friends."

The campers not only take time to complete the labor, but also to get to know the person, or family, they are doing the work for. They call the people who are benefiting from their labor their neighbors.

"I really like what it means and how we get to meet our neighbors and different things like that," said Rebecca Watkins. Watkins is a four-year veteran of OMP with red hair and an excellent sense of humor. She was helping with the work at the Mason residence. While working she was often singing, dancing, or referencing pop culture to help lighten the load for the other campers and get some laughs in the process. She intends to volunteer for OMP again next year.

"They always have a special place in your heart because they all have really cool stories to tell you and every project is special no matter what it is," Watkins said. "OMP is really important and we are able to do this because of the church and the community. You have to have people backing you so that you can do this and afford to do this because it is an expensive thing to do."

One day later across town a group of OMP campers were repairing lattice work, painting and landscaping for Ginni Darlington, who recently underwent chemotherapy treatments for cancer.

"They just started and I think they are doing great, they are really helping me a lot," Darlington said. "They have just been here a couple hours and they have already done a bunch of work. I had a (OMP) team come out here a couple years ago and they built my front deck and they did good work."

Katie Barnwell was helping the group at the Darlington residence. It was her first year at OMP.

"I like the fact that it is helping people and I like the fact that it is a church camp where you do work and you help people . . rather than just worship, but we do that too," Barnwell said. "I like that it teaches people not to be afraid to help people and not to be afraid to get dirty, because you may think, oh it is too hot or it is to hard, but the rewards are much greater."

Now the OMP camp has ended and the campers are going back to their homes. Though they may be gone they are not forgotten by the residents they have helped.