Marvell-ous work, Church brings teenage mission teams to Delta
08-12-2009HEATHER HAHN
Editor
MARVELL — On a blistering July afternoon when even the local diner closes early because of the triple-digit heat, dozens of youth brave the relentless sun to engage in some neighborhood revitalization.
Near the town cemetery, ten teens — their faces streaked with sweat — vigorously scrape off the cracked and peeling paint from the exterior of an elderly woman’s clapboard house. A few blocks away, another group offers baseball pointers to local boys in the park.
Still another group of youth takes a break from the heat to lead local children in arts and crafts inside the air-conditioned former high school.
These volunteers are all participants in YouthWorks, a multi-denominational Christian ministry that coordinates mission trips throughout North America. They have each paid at least $198 and traveled from across the country to fix up houses and teach children in this hard-up Phillips County farming town of 1,250 people.
“It makes me feel really good to help people,” said Kortni Isom, 14, United Methodist from Mediapolis, Iowa. The teen is perched atop a ladder, stripping away old paint and preparing a house’s back wall for the next day’s paint job.
“I like seeing how it affects people, like the way the children’s faces light up when you play with them.”
This is the ninth summer YouthWorks teams have come to work amid the quilted patchwork of cotton, soybean and feed-corn fields that blankets the Arkansas Delta. Over nine weeks between June and August, different mission teams of 40 to 80 youth and adult chaperones arrive each Sunday night and depart each Friday morning.
During their stay, residents say, the young volunteers help restore dilapidated neighborhoods and keep community spirit alive even as the local population dwindles.
But YouthWorks wouldn’t be here without the leadership of Marvell United Methodist Church members.
“They are blessings to us,” said James Davenport, YouthWorks’ site manager in Marvell and one of five staff members who spend the full summer in town.
“One of the greatest impressions I take from being here is the love they have for the community and the love they have for each other.”
A rewarding partnership
The congregation hosts a community spaghetti dinner for YouthWorks staff members and mission team volunteers each Thursday night.
In addition, the town’s Civic Club — composed mainly of Marvell UMC members —refurbished and maintains the former school buildings where YouthWorks mission teams sleep, shower and lead a children’s program during the day.
The church also aids YouthWorks staff and volunteers with whatever issues arise during their work. For example, when earlier this summer some volunteers found a stray puppy at one of their work sites, church members found a new home for the pooch.
In turn, YouthWorks staff members participate and sometimes help lead worship at Marvell UMC in the summer.
Barbie Washburn, a Marvell UMC member and YouthWorks’ community contact, said people have joined the United Methodist church in part because they like its involvement in the ministry.
“There are a lot of elderly in our church, and sometimes it’s easy to get in a rut doing things the same way,” she said. “These young people who have come in have pushed us in new directions. We have had praise and worship services for them.”
YouthWorks has more than 60 mission sites in the continental United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. The organization has a second Arkansas site in Booneville, in the Ozark Mountains, where mission teams do much the same work as they do in Marvell.
Initially locals were a bit skeptical of the summertime visitors.
“People were asking, ‘Why are these kids paying money to come to Marvell?’” Washburn recalled. “But then you meet them and spend time with them. We fall in love with each group that comes through here.”
Still, it took some wandering in the (Arkansas) wilderness for the Minneapolis, Minn.,-based ministry and the United Methodist congregation to find each other.
A YouthWorks staff member got lost on the way to Mississippi and ended up in Marvell. She stopped by city hall for directions, where she met Washburn, who was then an assistant to the mayor.
“We say it happened by accident,” Washburn said. “But I know the Lord had a hand in it.”
The two women started talking, and Washburn asked to hear more about the program and invited the staff member to lunch. The next day, Washburn said, another YouthWorks’ representative came to Marvell to begin setting up the program.
Faith lessons
During their stay, mission teams split into smaller groups that take turns doing different aspects of the program.
Groups spend two days fixing up houses and the other two days leading Kids Club, a Vacation Bible School-style program of games, songs, crafts and lessons about Jesus.The volunteers also help lead an afternoon sports camp for preteens that typically includes a Bible lesson. They sometimes do other service projects as time allows.
The week of July 5, the 65 volunteers came from a variety of churches in Iowa, Michigan, Illinois and Florida.
Leesa Hansknecht brought a group of teens from St. Gerald Catholic Church in Farmington Hills, Mich., a Detroit suburb.
“The kids are loving Marvell because we aren’t used to a city that is so small where everybody knows everybody and everybody is grateful to have a conversation with you,” she said.
“We’re used to our big-city life where you have a million people who walk by and don’t speak to you.”
Michael Koziara, a member of her youth group, said his time in Marvell has been a great opportunity to expand his horizons.
The 16-year-old was serving as “foreman” for one house’s paint job, supervising the project and making sure his fellow teens had enough water to stay hydrated.
“It’s strengthened my faith in two different ways,” he said. “It’s made me appreciate that God has given me the chance to help other people, and it’s also deepened my faith because we have chances for worship, chances for prayer and chances to work with other kids who are fellow Christians.”
Dan Petersen, a United Methodist adult chaperone from Mediapolis, Iowa, said the youth from his farming town were eager to help another rural community. The more than 20 kids in the Mediapolis group are part of a multi-denominational youth group jointly operated by Catholic and Protestant churches in town.
“We live along the Mississippi River,” Petersen said. “Last year, the neighboring town got wiped out by the flood, and here comes everybody from across the country to help Iowa. This is our chance to give back. We know what it’s like to need help.”
Eugene Quarles, a Marvell city council member, is among the program’s biggest fans. Each year, he pairs the YouthWorks volunteers with homes that could use a fresh coat of paint.
He said the group’s youthful enthusiasm is contagious. When one house on a block gets a newly painted exterior, neighbors often will step up their own home maintenance.
“They are very nice young people,” Quarles said. “They have been a positive influence on our children who see these young people try to help others.”
Washburn said the program has provided more than neighborhood beautification. Area convenience stores get increased traffic, and the local John Deere Store typically sells out of its T-shirts each Friday before the mission teams leave town.
YouthWorks even has been a boost to local tourism.
One year, two teen volunteers decided after their mission experience to return to town for their Christmas break. The teens worshiped Christmas Eve with the Marvell UMC congregation.
The church also has a new youth and music leader year-round thanks to a sister ministry of YouthWorks called GreaterWorks, which operates after-school programs and completes other service projects during the school year.
Bekki Hagen, originally from the college town of Northfield, Minn., came as a GreaterWorks staff member two years ago.
“I fell in love with the people of the church and the community and decided to come back to serve here,” said Hagen, who also works as an art teacher for the Marvell-Elaine School District.
“Would it be nice to drive to a restaurant or a movie theater in 10 minutes? Yes. But the people make up for that, especially the church. They were so welcoming and loving, it was instantly my second home. I felt like part of the family.”
Washburn said the church looks forward to welcoming mission-minded teens and adults for years to come.
To learn more about YouthWorks, visit www.youthworks.com.
