Published: June 30, 2006 11:28 am         

Camp Hope

Youth offer hope through camp

CRESAPTOWN - It may be raining hard, but that doesn't stop a Camp Hope team from continuing its work on Rosalee Loar's Cresaptown home. After all, they're only here for a week, and they have a wheelchair ramp to finish.

Andrea Bosley and Eric Davis, both 18, are working in the muddy yard with their counselor, Ben Bradley. All three are members of Hunt's Memorial United Methodist Church in Towson. This is their fourth year at Camp Hope, a program that lets teens travel to Western Maryland for a week to fix up houses for elderly, disabled and low-income homeowners.

Loar thought that her house would be a perfect candidate for the program.

"I read in the paper that this group would help people who couldn't afford to fix up their houses, especially senior citizens. Well, I'm also in a wheelchair most of the time. I got the application and sent it in, and they called me last month to say that my house had been chosen."

Loar said that the group assigned to her house was asked to work on her windows, repair her porch and build a wheelchair ramp.

Camp Hope is hosted by Frostburg United Methodist Church. The program, which began in 1977, consists of four consecutive, one-week sessions. During each session, five to eight churches from throughout the mid-Atlantic region send teens from their youth groups to Western Maryland.

"We have between 100 and 120 kids per week," said Charlie Yarnall, the administrative and projects director of Camp Hope. "Each week, the kids help fix up 13 to 15 homes in the area."

The teens participating in Camp Hope pay for just about everything they need - lodging, tools and supplies. Of course, they also supply the labor.

"We raise money throughout the year," said Bradley. Bosley adds pledges, collects donations and holds dinners to raise the money it needs to participate in Camp Hope.

Bradley said that his church only takes 10 kids to the camp each year. "There's actually a waiting list. It's that popular."

Camp Hope is definitely hard work. "On a typical day, we work from 8 a.m. to 4:30 or 5 p.m., but we'll work until dark if we need to," said Bradley.

The camp's participants stay in Frostburg State University dorms. A different local church hosts them for dinner every night.

Once they are done with the day's work, campers get a chance to participate in activities like volleyball, Frisbee, capture the flag and Bible study.

On Wednesdays, participants have the option of working for only half a day. They can spend the rest of the day having fun at Rocky Gap State Park.

The group from Hunt's United Methodist Church hasn't been to Rocky Gap in the past three years. "We'd much rather work and get it done if we need to," said Bosley.

On Friday nights, the day before the campers leave, homeowners are invited to come to dinner and a small communion service. Afterwards, there is a slide show presentation, so the participants and homeowners can see all the projects that were completed during the week.

"It's pretty neat. The kids have the opportunity to speak their minds and talk about what they're grateful for, and they can introduce the homeowners to everybody. The slide show shows before and after pictures of the houses," explains Yarnall, who has worked with Camp Hope for 18 years.

Yarnall said that Camp Hope has a large impact on the teens as well as the homeowners.

"Some of these kids come from pretty nice homes, and this shows them that you don't have to go far to find someone in need," he says. "It's certainly an eye-opening experience for them."

Seventy percent of the campers are repeat participants, said Yarnall.

Loar said that she never could have added a wheelchair ramp to her house without Camp Hope.

She smiles as she talks about the teens who are working so hard to fix up her house.

"They're just the nicest kids, and they're all Christians. I have a bunch of Christian music, so we played it while they worked the other day. They just had such a good time. They really are terrific kids."