Camp Joy 2001

Youth Group Invades Berkeley Springs, West Virginia

That's the way it felt. We were all over that place. For the sixth consecutive year, St. John's was represented at Camp Joy in the Appalachian Mountains. The 28 youth, young adults, and parents associated with our Youth Group was the largest group sent by St. John's as missionaries to this region. With the skill and work ethic of our group, we would finish one project quicker than anticipated and request more work. By the end of the week, we felt as though we had been in every nook and cranny of Berkley Springs.

For those of you not familiar with Camp Joy, allow me to tell you what it is. Camp Joy is a two week work camp with the purpose of reaching out to the poor, elderly, and disabled residents of the Hancock, Maryland and Berkley Springs, West Virginia corridor of Appalachia. Each summer in July, church members, including youth and retirees, from Washington, DC, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia participate in one week of the work camp. Each church works on anywhere from one to six (in our case seven) work sites during the week and uses materials provided by donations raised by those groups. Free meals for the workers are provided by members of local churches. Luxury accommodations are tents we bring to Camp Harmison, a campground owned by the United Methodist Church.

Our initial tasks were two major and two minor work sites. We ended up with three major and four minor ones. The major ones were the homes of Ms. Appleby, Mr. and Mrs. "Indubitably" O'Donnell, and Mr. Calvert. At Ms. Appleby's we screened, latticed, and hung a door for her back porch, replaced another door in one of her storage units, attached a motion sensor light, painted, replaced a window, and performed about 12 other small repairs through out her home. She also just needed people to talk to and our kids did a great job of providing her with emotional support. The O'Donnells' home required the most labor intensive jobs for us this year: primarily cementing the basement. That was a chore and took about three days total of non stop mixing and laying. A few youth even stayed there until 9 PM because another group needed the mixer the following day. Also at the O'Donnells' were the jobs of scraping and painting (twice) the wrap-around deck, changing bathroom spigots, and rewiring the entire electrical layout of the basement. The third major project was thrown at us because we had enough youth and we finished some of the minor projects earlier than expected. The third house required major renovations that were underway by another group not affiliated with Camp Joy because "it was too big of a project." We replaced windows, put up new doors, sanded and painted walls, and prepared the exterior for aluminum siding. Several other tasks were undertaken at this house as well. As for the minor work sites, we did things such as painting, repairing roofs, replacing gutters and facia board, replacing posts that hold the roof up, and replacing garage doors.

By now you might be thinking, "those kids did a lot." Well, you're right, but our group ASKED FOR IT! After the third day, we had many sites finished or nearly finished. These young men and women of our church begged for more work. And the Camp Joy chiefs, knowing St. John's Youth Group's reputation for excellent craftsmanship and eagerness to work, made sure we stayed busy.

We should all be proud of these fine young men and women of our church. I know I am. When you see them at church on Sunday, ask them about Camp Joy and what they did and let them know you are proud of them. Our soldiers in the war against poverty and despair - another mission well done!

Camp Joy Class of 2001:
Jim, Jeff, Ricky, and Chris Bradley, Brenden, Jeremy, and Erin McDougal, Laura and David Gutowski, Charlie and Henry Upton, Doug Jones, Cory Refshauge-Jones, John Wainwright, Emily Gallivan, Tristan Kessler, Ward Schaefer, Jen Jaskiewicz, Victoria Hewitt, Catriona Whitehead, Angie Royall-Kahin, Cynthia Grimes, John Stewart, Kate Nolfi, Liz Corrazine, Ian Chyun, Gage Ullman, and Wendy.

- Edwin L. Hill, Youth Director