Volunteers from across U.S. arrive at city’s Workcamp

By Harold Gwin

Some 400 young people are here on a mission to help.

YOUNGSTOWN — A group from Monticello, Ind., bound for Youngstown didn’t let little things like thunderstorms and hail deter it from its mission.

The 10 high schoolers and three adults made the eight-hour drive Saturday to the Mill Creek Group Workcamp going on all this week in the city.

They and about 400 others from around the country are staying at Chaney High School on South Hazelwood Avenue. Their days will be spent making improvements to homes of between 50 and 70 elderly, disabled and low-income Youngstown residents.

The camp is hosted by Western Reserve United Methodist Church in conjunction with Group Workcamps Foundation, a Colorado-based nonprofit, faith-based mission that coordinates dozens of similar camps all across the country and abroad each year.

The Monticello group traveled in three vans, keeping in touch with each other by walkie-talkie, said T.J. Lopez, 14, who manned one of the radios, using the handle “Bean Burrito.”

They encountered hail and thunderstorms, and the weather was so bad at times they had to pull off the road to wait it out, said Betty Passmore, one of the adult supervisors on the tip.

Only one of the group, Debi Dodson, wife of the pastor of Monticello Christian Church, has been to a Group Workcamp project before.

“The others are all newbies,” Dodson said.

“They said that we were helping people that can’t help themselves,” said Brandy Kite, 15, admitting, “I’ve never used a hammer before.”

“I don’t know about the hammering, but I’m good at painting,” offered Heather Williams, 15.

She said she decided to sign up based on her brother Robbie’s good experiences on mission trips in the past. Robbie made this trip as well and was one of the radio men, using the handle “Steel Afro.”

“There’s a reason [for the nickname],” he said, pulling off his hat to reveal a head of very curly, thick hair.

Aslyn Reader, 16, said she originally signed up with a bunch of her Indiana friends, who later all backed out.

“But I’m here with my church friends,” she said, adding, “I wanted to come and help out people.”

Two members of a group that drove six hours from Vienna, Va., to be at the camp brought their music with them.

William Roberts, 15, and Johnny Piescik, 16, said they are part of a rock ’n’ roll trio called “The Hypotheticals.”

To prove it, Roberts pulled an acoustic guitar from its case and began strumming, with Piescik adding the vocals to a song they’ve written.

“It’s a work in progress,” Roberts said, adding that they are a “garage band” in the truest sense. The only place they’ve played so far is in his garage, he said.

Piescik has some experience with Group Workcamp, having participated in a camp project in West Virginia last year. He said he spent his time painting houses.

This is Roberts’ first work camp experience, and he said he’ll do whatever is asked of him.

“I built a fort in my backyard with my dad, so I hope I can help,” he said, jokingly describing his carpentry skills.

The campers will be split up into work crews of four or five, each with one or two adult supervisors.

They will be doing interior and exterior painting, rebuilding porches, building handrails and wheelchair ramps and doing step replacement, spending some six hours a day at designated work sites.

Each camper paid $399 to be a part of the experience of serving others.

Western Reserve United Methodist raised some $40,000 to help buy materials for the camp.

gwin@vindy.com