Teens return with sense of accomplishment
Church group helped to repair residences in Zanesville, Ohio
BY DAVE BENJAMIN Staff Writer

Zach Cregle, Bree Cregle, Noah Carmichael, Kaila Gordon, Ashley Christian, Dave Gibbons, Betty Gibbons and Dana Daly (l-r) represented DeBows United Methodist Church, Jackson, on a summer mission trip to Zanesville, Ohio, to repair and paint homes.

M ission accomplished. A group of young people from DeBows United Methodist Church, Route 537, Jackson, recently returned from a mission to Zanesville, Ohio, where they spent a week helping to repair, paint and upgrade homes.

The Group Workcamp Foundation from Loveland, Colo., sponsored the nationwide work camp experience, and six teenagers from DeBows gave up a part of their summer vacation to make the trip from July 26 to Aug. 2. The ride to Zanesville from Jackson is about eight hours by van.

The local residents joined more than 335 youths from around the country and about 65 counselor staff and chaperones who converged on Zanesville to repair homes belonging to elderly, disabled and low-income individuals.

"This is the fourth mission trip for the youth group from our church," said Betty Gibbons, pastor, who was joined by her husband, Dave, to chaperone the event. "It was a wonderful experience."

The six members of the church youth group who went to Zanesville were Ashley Christian, Kaila Gordon, Zach Cregle, Bree Cregle, Dana Daly and Noah Carmichael. In the end, they all felt a great sense of satisfaction and were fulfilled by knowing that they had completed what they set out to do.

"The trip was amazing," said Kaila, 18, a resident of Tinton Falls. "We helped to rebuild and paint houses. We built porches and ramps for handicapped people who couldn't get outside their houses anymore. We painted, primed, hammered and nailed. All the good stuff."

Kaila said the teens from DeBows ate and slept at Zanesville High School.

"When we first got there, we unpacked, got our rooms and had a program," said Bree, 17, an Allentown High School student who made her fourth mission trip. "Then we got to meet our crews."

The youths from DeBows were placed on crews that included other young people and got to work on various projects.

Bree's group scraped, primed and painted a porch for a woman who could not do the work herself.

"This is so much fun, because you get to meet new people who need your help," the teen said, adding that she enjoyed meeting people from another town and seeing how people live there.

"Zanesville is like the best town I've ever been to," she said. "The people in it are so giving and they opened their arms for us. There was a restaurant about 100 yards from [the house she worked on] and on Wednesday they gave us all free pizza, soda and cookies for lunch because the owner liked what we were doing.""

The owner of an ice cream parlor provided free ice cream.

"They helped us a lot, because we were helping them," Bree said, adding that there were about 40 houses that were worked on by the hundreds of teenagers who converged on Zanesville. The repairs were worth thousands of dollars.

Bree's brother, Zach, 15, said it was nice to be able to help people who were less fortunate. He was glad to be able to meet and bond with new friends. Zach, who is a sophomore at Allentown High School, said he worked on a two-story house.

"The first day we scraped the house and then we painted the whole outside," said Zach, who was making his third mission trip. "We met the people who lived there, and they thought it was very nice that teens would give up their summer time to help people."

Although it was a big house, the crew got the work done as scheduled.

"This was my first trip and we accomplished so much," said Ashley Christian, 15, a sophomore at Freehold Township High School. Ashley helped to paint the house of a woman who had medical problems.

"When the woman saw the paint, she said she loved it," said Ashley, who describedmost of the houses being worked on as older and in need of repair. "I thought it was amazing just to see the smiles on the faces of the residents. We were spreading the word of God while we were helping them. Just doing one thing like this can make a big difference in someone's life."

Dana, 18, an Allentown High School graduate who will be attending Brookdale Community College this fall, said it was a good experience to be put into work crews with people she had never met.

"I like to meet new people. My group came from Iowa, Illinois and Virginia," she said. Dana's crew cleaned the inside and outside of a house and repaired a hole in the ceiling. Painting was also completed. She said the woman who lives there was very grateful to those who helped clean it up.

"In the beginning she wouldn't come outside because the sun bothered her eyes, but on the last day it was cloudy, so she came outside, looked at the house and loved it," said Dana. "We made it a bright red in the back so she could easily see it."

"This was my sixth mission trip," said Noah, 18, a North Hanover resident who will be attending Burlington County College this fall. Noah has made two mission trips with the Allentown United Methodist Church and four trips with DeBows.

"This was one of my favorite ones," the young man said. "The message really related to me, and my relationship with my crew members blossomed very quickly. I was able to take a lot out of it."

Noah said his work crew was like a family, and everything the members set out to do was accomplished. Among the tasks they completed was building a porch, as well as a wheelchair ramp and steps.

Noah said he is proud of what he accomplished in Ohio. He said he had the same feeling of pride after traveling to Louisiana to help with the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

"It's a great feeling of accomplishment," he said.