ANDERSON — Wasps circled around Kansas resident Sara Stacey, 17, as she continued to paint a two-story house at 1215 W. Third St.
With the help of 14-year-old Nick Meier, from Georgia, Stacey was finishing the first day of missionary work of the weeklong Catholic HEART Workcamp. The camp will help pre-selected homeowners around the city with odd jobs, such as repainting houses, mowing unkempt yards and other necessary tasks.
Julia Blanchard, 16, and Lorrin Ochs, 14, started painting the two-story house at 231 Jackson St. at 8:30 a.m. Monday. They were halfway finished as the clock hit 3 p.m. signaling the end of the work day.
“I’ve never been to a big city like this before,” said Ochs, of Emporia, Kan., when asked about what she thought of Anderson.
Anderson resident Laura Soverns, coordinator of the camp in Anderson, said about 250 campers and 50 chaperones will be in the city all week to work at about 60 places, including private homes and social service organizations.
Soverns said 11 churches have traveled to Anderson for the camp. The largest group, which consists of 68 campers and chaperones, is from Kansas, she said.
Soverns started with the group in 2000, when her then-16-year-old son went on a mission trip and she chaperoned.
“What I didn’t expect is that I would become so drawn in by whole experience myself,” she said. “So it became a passion, and I decided to start a camp here.”
The first camp in Anderson was in 2005, Soverns said.
Blanchard, of Twinsburg, Ohio, went on a similar trip last year to Saginaw, Mich., where she performed very similar tasks. Some day, Blanchard said, she wants to do mission work in another country.
“I think people outside the United States need us more,” she said. “But I think people here need help too.”
That rang true for Leanne King and her family, residents of the home at 1215 W. Third St. where campers painted trim.
“We had a notice from our homeowners insurance company saying they were going to drop our insurance if we didn’t do something,” King said as she watched her 3-year-old daughter, Timie, swim in a blow-up pool.
“My dad died seven years ago, and things just kept getting worse,” she said. “It’s good people like this that give me hope.”
Soverns said the teens involved in the camp come from as far as Apopka, Fla., to work on tasks in the area. However, teens from St. Mary’s, where Soverns is a member, were not allowed to participate in the camp in Anderson.
Instead, they went to Minneapolis in June.
According to the Web site for Catholic HEART Workcamp, children who are entering eighth grade and older can participate in the weeklong camps. Every day of the trip, participants help with painting, yard work, indoor and outdoor cleanup, home maintenance and repair on existing homes, neighborhood revitalization and other tasks. Anderson is one of 37 places where the camp will send workers this summer.
While the youth are visiting Indiana, they will go see the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indianapolis Zoo and Circle Centre Mall, as well as go canoeing on the White River.
Catholic HEART (Helping Everyone Attain Repairs Today) Workcamp in Anderson July 13-19
By the numbers:
306: Campers including teens ages 13 to 20 and chaperones
60: Places where teens are working including private homes and social service organizations
11: Churches with workers who traveled o Anderson
36: Teens from Florida, the furthest location
68: Tens from Kansas, the largest group
2005: The year the camp started in Anderson
1993: The first year Catholic HEART workcamp was held in Orlando, Fla.
Source: Laura Soverns, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Anderson
