"Eat, Sleep, & Serve"

Work Camp 2008
Serves the Community

by: Bobby McDonald

"It's more like 'eat, sleep, and sweat!'" commented one of the student volunteers in Work Camp 2008. "The temperatures certainly have been hot, this week, but the rewards are realized on the smiling faces of the homeowners that we are helping to paint and clean-up their properties!

Work Camp 2008 began with a lock-in, where local youth began on Monday morning painting houses, cleaning properties, and doing light repairs to help homeowners who are unable to make the repairs themselves. "It's definitely a learning experience for the youth and very much appreciated by the elderly and handicapped individuals in our community, who become the benefactors of the work," explained one of the adult sponsors of the program. "It gives us an opportunity to give back to the community and lend a helping hand!"

 

 

Work Camp 2008 will end on Wednesday with a tired group of volunteers, but sense of accomplishment of making a difference in our community.

 

Learning the " finer points" of painting, is this youth volunteer who paints the crevices before the
"roller crew" makes their contribution.

 

 

Twelve crews, made up of adult and youth volunteers, have embarked on a journey of aiding homeowners with general repairs and painting. The youth are members of youth groups at First United Methodist Church, Shannon Oaks Church, Wesley United Methodist, Davis Street Baptist Church, and St. James Catholic Church. The adult volunteers are youth group leaders and members of these churches, who find the program an asset to both the youth and the community.

 

This group of volunteers pose with homeowner, Mrs. Elloise Lee, and share the duty of painting her
house on Freeman Street.

"And we're not really painting the shingles," advised these two volunteers, as they explained that the
eaves were easier to paint from above!

 

The properties range from three on Freeman Street, to another one on W.A. Street, to three properties out in the rural areas of Hopkins County.

 

"We're changing the color of our house," proclaims this group of volunteers on W.A. Street.

"It's an opportunity to help someone else out," expressed newly crowned Hopkins County Dairy Festival Queen, Haley Reynolds, as she dons a paint brush and starts "smearing" blue paint. "It makes you realize just how fortunate you are to be able to do a project like this, and that you have the opportunity to help someone else!"

Newly crowned Hopkins County Dairy Festival Queen, Haley Reynolds, works on a
Work Camp Crew to complete the painting of a local property.

 

"I'd never really painted a house before," allowed another volunteer. "And, even though the temperatures have been hot, it becomes fun when your friends and classmates join you in a project. You feel like you've really made a difference at the end of the day!"

 

"It's hot but rewarding work," acknowledges this group of volunteers, at a house on Freeman Street.

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