Families affected by cancer return favor to landowners

The old barn will be used as a woodworking shop.
MORRAL, Ohio (AP) -- Families touched by childhood cancer are returning the favor to a couple who has allowed them to walk the trails, dig for worms and spot wildlife on their 71 acres in a wooded area.
For three hours on Saturday, about 30 people stood, knelt, sat, squatted and climbed as they packed, poked and stuck mud in holes to chink the logs of the 1700s barn Larry and Annie Joseph bought and moved to the property.
When finished, it will house a primitive shop where Larry Joseph plans to share his woodworking talents with the sick children who stay there.
What's behind this
Nearly every weekend for the past year, the isolated cabin has been used by families placed there by Columbus-based Kids 'n Kamp, a group devoted to the social, educational and emotional needs of children with cancer.
The couple expects nothing in return, but the families always ask, Annie Joseph said.
"This is our chance to give them something, not the other way around," she said.
More than a dozen families helped Saturday.
"I spray and then I stick," said Jessica Roberts, an 8-year-old who has had cancer for six years and is now doing fine in her fight against leukemia. "Then I do it all over again. It's a whole lot of fun."
"When you have someone who does so much for so many people, when they need help themselves, you're glad to do it," said Jessica's mother, Tracy Roberts. "There are some wonderful people in this world, and the Josephs are two of them."
The couple often thought of renovating a log home and decided three years ago, after Larry was diagnosed with cancer and retired from his 30-year job as an art teacher, that the time was right. The land they picked is about 60 miles northwest of Columbus.
"We had a new purpose," Annie Joseph said. "Making this property something special for these kids and their families has been a blessing."