Vacation.
For me and many folks, that word inevitably conjures up images of blue skies, azure waters and sparkling white beaches.
Ahhh. Close your eyes, and feel the sun on your face, the sand between your toes, and the relaxation take hold as you begin to slough off the stress and demands of your workplace.
But wait.
What if I told you that you could take a vacation and probably work harder and longer than you do at your day job and yet arrive home holding precious memories in your heart, carrying humility in your soul, and radiating joy and satisfaction from your being?
Oh, and you will probably be dog-tired and sore right down to your bones, but truly, it will have been worth it…
That is the vacation my dear hubbie and I are headed out on at the end of this week. We are going to be what is fondly known as the “Red Shirts” at a Group Workcamps Camp-a home repair mission trip-in Pennsylvania, contributing in a small way to a big adventure, where the 400-ish volunteers will log thousands and thousands of hours of help.
We host these weeklong events through our church about every three years, and I wrote about the last one we had two years ago. I am bringing that post forward to share with you, and to encourage you to consider volunteering, whether as part of your vacation, or as a part of your day to day life. The benefits you will receive are incalculable.
More on Volunteering
My hubbie and I volunteer through our church with a variety of ministries. We have worked with our Food Pantry, which served over 3,500 meals last quarter alone in our small community. We both belong to a group that works on small home projects for folks who are unable to do these things for themselves. The biggest venture for us so far, though has been the culmination of our church’s year long planning for the one-week workcamp, which is done with our co-sponsor through the Group Workcamps Foundation. They describe their mission on their website:
How does a community respond to a tragic flood? In 1977, Loveland, Colorado responded by hosting the very first Home Repair Workcamp and the Group Workcamps Foundation began repairing homes – and in the process helped people in mending their lives.
At each Workcamp, hundreds of teenagers and adult sponsors come to a community like yours for a full week, and spend five days repairing homes for elderly, low-income, and disabled residents.
The preparation for the workcamp is monumental. Our steering committee requests applications from qualified area residents who are in need of work, selects the homes, determine the equipment and material needs, and ultimately welcomes 350 teen volunteers and their youth group leaders, who hail this year from states including Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine and New Hampshire. The vans roll in on Sunday, and out pour hundreds of kids, who bring with them loads of joy, excitement and an abundance of an attitude of service.
They pay to come to camp. Yes, let me say that again: they pay to come to camp, to scrape and paint homes in the heat and humidity, to repair porches, steps and railings, to sleep in sleeping bags in classrooms on the floor of our middle school, to connect with the residents, and especially for the opportunity to serve, grow in their faith, and to show God’s love in a practical way. Cool beans, as one of my friends says.
Scraping wallpaper to prep for paint
Marking the ladders loaned to us for the week
Here are some estimated numbers from this week, as we begin our Workcamp:
Towns served: About 13
Homes readied: About 50
Ladders loaned: Over 100
Volunteers signed up: 350
Goodie bags created: 360
Lunches prepped: Over 1,400
Meals made: Over 3,300
Hours worked: Over 9,000
Miles traveled: Thousands. Filled with many songs, bad jokes, much merriment, lots of junk food and very little sleep
What do they all add up to? Relationships forged. Paradigms shifted. Lives transformed. Really great stuff.
As I noted in my previous post about volunteering, I encourage you again to find a cause, a need in your community, even something so simple as an elderly neighbor who needs help bringing the groceries in from the car. I can’t say it any better than Nike: Just do it.
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