Published: February 15, 2008 07:54 pm            

Ideas percolate: Teens changing their world a cup at a time

JOPLIN, Mo. — Rather than hit the snooze button one more time, Camille Cragin pulls herself out of bed early every Thursday morning to meet her friends at Starbucks at 7:15 a.m.

The 15-year-old Thomas Jefferson Independent Day School sophomore is among a group of local teens sacrificing some sleep in an effort to transform their community for the better.

Following a strong cup of coffee, Cragin and nine of her friends from other area schools brainstorm about community service projects. Their latest focus is the Bikes-4-Tykes fund-raiser to gather new and used bicycles to hand out to low-income area children.

Some of the group’s past projects included traditional drives like collecting coats and toys. But this year, Cragin said, the group was moved by the number of children in the neighborhood around their church, First United Methodist Church at Fourth Street and Byers Avenue, who had to walk to school.

“Our neighborhood isn’t exactly the best neighborhood in Joplin, and we thought these kids could use bikes,” Cragin said.

More than two wheels and a gear shift, Cragin and her friends said, a bicycle is not just a way for youngsters to get around, it is a symbol of maturity and freedom.

“It’s kind of like a big step for a kid,” she said. “When you get your first bike, it’s like you’re a big kid now. You’re free.”

On any given Thursday morning, there are between three and 10 area high school students meeting with First United Methodist youth leader Barry Sanborn. He said he learned at a young age the importance of helping other people. Sanborn also facilitates a handful of similar groups that meet at different locations throughout the week. He said the groups are student formed and student led, with the members choosing the meeting place and time and the various service projects.

“Because this is something created by the group, they have ownership of it,” Sanborn said. “If you know you have a role to play, you’re more likely to be involved.”

Sanborn said he had a youth leader when he was in high school who similarly encouraged him to give back to the community as a teenager.

“The idea is that mission trips are really good, we do them, but let’s also do something the other 11 months of the year,” he said.

Because it’s student led, Cragin said, the Thursday morning coffee group is fairly informal but still gets a lot of work done. An average morning consists of coffee, conversation about homecoming weekend or the upcoming chemistry test, then 15 minutes of committee discussion about different aspects of the fund-raising project. After a short Bible study and a group prayer, the students head off to their various schools.

Neither Cragin, nor her friends James Anderson, 17, a junior at Joplin High School, or Brian Hiatt, 15, a sophomore at Joplin, can really explain their desire to get up early and spend their time before school thinking up ways to help other people. They just keep showing up and enjoying themselves.

In fact, the students are having so much fun changing the world in 45-minute intervals that the group is welcoming other area high school students who don’t go to their church to join.

“This is just fun because high school is really an exciting time,” Sanborn said. “By partnering with other churches, you broaden what you can do to include people who want to help but don’t know how to.”

The Bikes-4-Tykes group is heading into high gear now. The church is accepting new and used bicycles throughout the week, and Cragin said the students are starting to make contact with other churches, families and civic groups and asking for donations.

The fund-raising effort is something everyone, regardless of age, can participate in, Sanborn said.

“If you have little brothers or sisters, you probably have a kid’s bike or two in the garage that nobody is using,” he said. “And for somebody with no bike, a used bike is like the world.”



Melissa Dunson writes for The Joplin (Mo.) Globe.

        

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