Home improvement

By Dan Irwin
NEW CASTLE NEWS (NEW CASTLE, Pa.)

NEW CASTLE, Pa. August 01, 2007 04:01 pm

— Eleven times, Fran Bundt has spent a week helping people fix up their homes.
The Long Island, N.Y., resident is an annual participant in the Group Workcamps Foundation, a Colorado-based group that sends thousands of teens and adults around the U.S. and Canada to assist elderly and low-income homeowners.
This week, Work Camp No. 12 has taken Bundt, 61, to the Mahoning Township home of Jim and Ruth Arnold, where she and four teen-agers she’d never met are painting a garage and basement. By now, Bundt’s become an old hand at getting to know people and handling a variety of jobs. Still, each new work camp does offer its own unique experience.
“The school is wonderful; it’s spotless,” Bundt said of Union High, where she and 400 other volunteers are sleeping on floors, eating in the cafeteria and attending evening programs in the gym. “But the whole group showering thing — that takes a little getting used to.”
Bundt’s not the only one trying to deal with unusual circumstances. The Arnolds also are plowing new ground. “This means everything to us,” Ruth Arnold said. “I thank God that there are still young people today who love the Lord enough that they’re willing to reach out and help people.
“But this is a new thing for us; we’ve always been on the giving end, not the receiving. We were youth directors (at the former First Church of the Nazarene), and we were the ones doing like Frannie’s doing now, being out with the kids. We went to the Dominican Republic twice ourselves. So we know what this means.”
THE PROGRAM
This year, Group Workcamps Foundation will send about 30,000 young people and adults to 64 work camps throughout the summer.
Participants come in bunches — generally, from church youth groups — who not only must drive to their assigned camp, but also pay for the privilege of doing a week’s worth of manual labor. Each person, Bundt explained, must raise about $450 to cover personal expenses as well as the cost of materials needed for the projects.
Volunteers also must bring their own tools, not to mention an ability to befriend and work with complete strangers. Although groups arrive together, they don’t work that way — members are assigned to teams with volunteers from other areas, both as a way to get to know new people and to match workers and their skills to particular job sites.
“It’s fun to meet new people,” said Matt Clemens, a 19-year-old Roscoe, Ill., resident on his second work camp go-around. “At first, it’s kind of hard if you’re quiet and shy, but by the end of the week, you warm up to people.”
And, four-year veteran Emily Herbst added, it gets easier every year. “I remember my first year,” the 18-year-old Cedar Rapids, Iowa, resident said. “The night before going, I couldn’t even sleep, because I didn’t know what to expect. “This time, it was like, ‘Oh, yeah, going to work camp tomorrow. No big deal.’ ”
THE DAYS
About 80 county residents are benefiting from this week’s visit by the Group Workcamp volunteers, who work an 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift than includes an on-site lunch and devotional around noon. At the close of the workday, it’s back to the school, where one of the first items of business, Bundt said, is waiting in line for a shower for about an hour.
“There are five shower heads, and about 200 women.” The evening meal is in the cafeteria, and a program of praise music follows in the gym. Before lights-out at 11 p.m., individual youth groups may have devotions on the own, and there’s also free time to chat, play cards or go outside and toss a Frisbee.
One day, the volunteers get a half-day off in order to relax or visit local attractions. Andy Tretow, 17, of Milwaukee said that his group planned on spending the afternoon at Moraine State Park. By Friday, the work will wind down, and the groups will head back home — but they’ll take with them far more than what they had brought.
“I’m still friends with someone I met at my first work camp four years ago,” Herbst said. “He’s from Virginia, but we keep in touch on the phone and the Internet.”
And even if the friendships fade, the memories never do. “It’s one of those experiences that can’t be explained,” Tretow said. “It’s really a special thing that we get to end up with so many people with so many different backgrounds and faiths. “We all connect on so many levels.”

Dan Irwin writes for the New Castle (Pa.) News.

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