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Jenna Kraynak works on a wheelchair ramp for a Frederick County family at Arlington Diocese's WorkCamp.
Catholic teens Tori Pullen and Kyle Jackson nail boards to the ramp while an adult supervises the project. |
WINCHESTER
--Some 500 Catholic youth spent this week performing hard labor in the summer sun.And while WorkCamp might sound like the ideal name for a gulag, there was no penance involved.
"I always get questions like, 'What did these kids do wrong?' like it's a chain gang or something," said Kevin Bohli, director of the Arlington Diocese's annual WorkCamp. "But, actually, these kids want to be here. They pay to be here and they prepare all year for this."
High-school-age youth from all over the Arlington Diocese of the Catholic Church--including teens from Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania and Stafford--participate in the annual camp.
This year, the 500 teens worked on 100 houses in the Winchester area.
The camp always picks an area within the diocese, "so youth learn charity begins at home," Bohli said. The diocese stretches from Northern Virginia to Spotsylvania County and west to Shenandoah County.
The teens attend a monthly class and raise $450 each for the privilege of hammering nails, mixing cement, fixing roofs and painting during one week of the summer.
"Every year, the whole time before WorkCamp, I think of what I could be doing that week: going to the pool, hanging out with my friends, watching movies, sleeping in," said Kim Collins, an 18-year old from Alexandria who just finished her third stint at camp. "But as soon as I get in the parking lot with my friends from the parish, I think, 'Yeah, this is why I do it.'"
Collins loves hanging out with friends who share her faith. But she also enjoys the daily 7 a.m. Mass, the hours spent fixing houses and the evening worship services.
"It's a great balance between nurturing my faith and helping others," she said.
The weeklong mission and worship camp started in 1989 with 15 youths. It now has a waiting list, said Bohli, who directs the program for the Arlington Diocese.
But with 500 youth and 300 adult volunteers, the program couldn't get any bigger. The 800 Catholics barely fit into the auditorium of Millbrook High School in Frederick County.
WorkCamp typically takes over a local high school as its base, using classrooms as dorm rooms, auditoriums as chapels and cafeterias for dining halls.
For the past three years, the camp worked in Orange County. But after a few years of nearly 100 projects each, the project always moves on to find new ground, Bohli said.
Participants from the Fredericksburg area didn't mind going farther to offer their services this year.
Grace Clemente, who attends St. William of York Catholic Church in Stafford County, said her only regret is that this is her last year of WorkCamp.
She first chose to attend after seeing her older brother and sister come back from camp inspired.
"I decided to give it a shot four years ago, and I absolutely loved it," said Clemente, who will go to college in the fall and hopes to come back in two years as an adult volunteer. The WorkCamp program asks participants to skip a year before coming back as a chaperon.
Clemente said the week of service and worship strengthens her faith and keeps her going through the year to come.
Most youth said the experience makes them feel closer to Catholic faith.
Nine-year-old Robert Chilson got something different out of the camp. A crew of five teens and three chaperons built a wheelchair ramp for his family's home.
He said the addition will help his mom, who just had knee surgery and can't walk very well.
But he got more than a ramp, he said. He made eight new friends.
"I'm going to miss everyone who is here this week," Robert said. "They're really nice people."
Amy Flowers Umble: 540/735-1973
Email: aumble@freelancestar.com
