ision Faith youth volunteers to help elderly, low income & disabled

WARWICK-A group of 20 young people from the Vision Faith Community in Warwick will participate in a weeklong workcamp mission to the residents of Lockport, N.Y., the site of the Erie Canal. During the week of June 27-July 3, 2004, the junior and senior youth will participate in the Erie Canal Workcamp, sponsored by Group Workcamps in Loveland, Colorado. Workcamp participants provide their own expenses and transportation to the workcamp. The twenty person group of youth and adults from Vision will repair and weatherize family homes for elderly, low-income and disabled people. Several hundred other youth and their adult leaders from locations throughout the United States and Canada, representing many churches, will also participate in the Erie Canal Workcamp. Through their work, the junior and senior youth will gain a life-changing understand about the hardships of poverty. During the week long mission our children will look beyond themselves, their issues, pressures and lives into a world that needs them. They will experience the joy of helping to make a family warmer and drier this winter. The workcamp provides youth and adults a unique opportunity to show their Christian faith by working together to help others. Vision Faith Community, is a new United Methodist Faith Community that meets every Sunday at 10:00 AM at the Warwick Valley Community Center (Doc Fry). In two years, it has grown from ten to over one hundred people. Using innovative worship experiences, Vision is making spiritual connections with those for whom traditional church styles and structures are not working. The children and youth ministries at the church place a strong emphasis on the experiential. "Our consumer culture reinforces a self-centered message that it's all about us," stated Pastor Don Heatley. "This trip is a great way for people to discover a very different lifestyle of service to others." In the coming weeks, Vision will be raising the necessary funds of approximately $8,000 to make the trip possible. Some of the events include the Winslow Duck Derby - May 16th, a Dinner Dance on Friday, June 11th, a Garage Sale and more. "On one Saturday, several workcamp teens and adults collected $1,100 in contributions at Shop Rite", commented Mike Abraham, Project Coordinator. "Many people were impressed and supportive when we explained our workcamp plans. They wished us luck". The historic city of Lockport was founded in the early 1800s to make a home for some of the 1,200 people who built the Erie Canal, which runs through the heart of the city. Because of the area's harsh winters, many homes have been hard hit and are in need of repairs. While this isn't much of a problem for many residents, the elderly and low-income families have found it almost impossible to take on the expense of any kind of home improvement project. The Vision Faith Community workcamp team plans to improve the quality of their lives drastically through the generosity and sacrifice in painting, building wheelchair ramps, repairing walls and more. For more information on ways to support this cause, contact Mike Abraham at 986-4333.