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Youths spend spring break helping hurricane victims
By Rebekah Danaher
Daily News staff writer
While many teens returned this month from spring break with sun tans and memories of beautiful beaches, some teens came back to the Stateline Area with renewed priorities and keener sensitivity to suffering.
Five students from Beloit, South Beloit, Milton, Delavan and northern Illinois traveled to the area of Gulfport, Miss. last week to spend their spring break ministering to victims of Hurricane Katrina still struggling to recover their homes and communities.
The students were organized through Rock Valley Youth for Christ - an organization with representation around the world. Mark Erickson and Executive Director Greg Roth led the group, along with intern Dorothea Ittmann from Germany.
The local teens were unfamiliar with each other at first, but became fast friends as they set out on their eight-day mission of mercy. While in the hard-hit Gulf region, the local group connected with about 60 students from other parts of the country. They formed instantaneous bonds with those students as well, working alongside each other in repairing homes, tidying yards and distributing food.
“None of the five youths knew each other before they went down,” Roth said. “They were united in a common cause. I've taken several different trips with kids. I never had a group that's worked so well together.”
John “J.J.” Ping, 22, of South Beloit, doesn't fit the profile of a Christian. He's been criticized for his tattoos, piercings and long hair. But in the devastated Mississippi region he found acceptance among other believers and also discovered something about himself.
“I enjoy serving my fellow man more than myself,” he said.
Because the devastation was so far away from his home, Ping said he didn't feel much of an emotional attachment to the people in Mississippi initially. But after he arrived and began taking part in the clean-up effort,
Ping said he saw a caring spirit among volunteers and hurricane victims that truly affected him.
“When you hear all the stories you begin to fall in love with the people and the place,” he said.
Ping calls himself a “reluctant” Christian, but says his faith was strengthened by the relief effort.
One day the students helped out in God's Katrina Kitchen - a food distribution and soup kitchen that relies on donations to operate.
Ping said he was astonished by the number of people still lining up for aid.
The volunteer projects the students aided were in places such as Gulfport, Long Beach, Biloxi and Pascagoula.
Even so many months later, debris and personal belongings still litter the coastline, said Ashley Belcher, a senior at Milton High School.
“It was amazing seeing people's lives sprawled out everywhere,” she said.
Belcher knows she could have taken a relaxing spring break like so many of her peers, but said this alternative trip gave her the opportunity to share God's love.
Acknowledging that she hardly knows her own neighbors in Milton, Belcher said she was struck by the neighborly community in Mississippi.
Though their lives and homes are still in shambles, Belcher was stunned by the victims' graciousness and happiness.
“It brought neighbors close together,” she said. “You realize how much you really need to be thankful for what you have.”
Belcher said she was blessed by being able to help others and realizes she can do more to help people in small ways. She hopes to return to the Gulf Cost this summer.
Rebecca Widder, a Hononegah High School sophomore, said the pictures on television didn't do justice to the amount of devastation left in the hurricane's wake.
Widder has done mission trips in the past and said she felt God's prompting to go with the group of virtual strangers to Mississippi.
The 60 teens all crammed into tight living quarters but Widder said no one complained. After all, the Mississippi residents were just thankful to be alive.
“It really struck me,” Widder said. “I think of the things I complain about on a regular basis.”
Widder recounted some of the chores they did - from painting to serving food.
The group was offered an opportunity to go on a tour of New Orleans but opted to spend the day helping people repair their homes instead.
The trip was exhausting, Widder admits, but well worth it, she says.
“I calculated it. I have a 36-hour sleep deficit, but it was the best spring break I've ever had.”
Other area teens on the trip included Drake Smith of South Beloit and Jerry Gilliam of Darien.
Daily News staff writer
While many teens returned this month from spring break with sun tans and memories of beautiful beaches, some teens came back to the Stateline Area with renewed priorities and keener sensitivity to suffering.
Five students from Beloit, South Beloit, Milton, Delavan and northern Illinois traveled to the area of Gulfport, Miss. last week to spend their spring break ministering to victims of Hurricane Katrina still struggling to recover their homes and communities.
The students were organized through Rock Valley Youth for Christ - an organization with representation around the world. Mark Erickson and Executive Director Greg Roth led the group, along with intern Dorothea Ittmann from Germany.
The local teens were unfamiliar with each other at first, but became fast friends as they set out on their eight-day mission of mercy. While in the hard-hit Gulf region, the local group connected with about 60 students from other parts of the country. They formed instantaneous bonds with those students as well, working alongside each other in repairing homes, tidying yards and distributing food.
“None of the five youths knew each other before they went down,” Roth said. “They were united in a common cause. I've taken several different trips with kids. I never had a group that's worked so well together.”
John “J.J.” Ping, 22, of South Beloit, doesn't fit the profile of a Christian. He's been criticized for his tattoos, piercings and long hair. But in the devastated Mississippi region he found acceptance among other believers and also discovered something about himself.
“I enjoy serving my fellow man more than myself,” he said.
Because the devastation was so far away from his home, Ping said he didn't feel much of an emotional attachment to the people in Mississippi initially. But after he arrived and began taking part in the clean-up effort,
Ping said he saw a caring spirit among volunteers and hurricane victims that truly affected him.
“When you hear all the stories you begin to fall in love with the people and the place,” he said.
Ping calls himself a “reluctant” Christian, but says his faith was strengthened by the relief effort.
One day the students helped out in God's Katrina Kitchen - a food distribution and soup kitchen that relies on donations to operate.
Ping said he was astonished by the number of people still lining up for aid.
The volunteer projects the students aided were in places such as Gulfport, Long Beach, Biloxi and Pascagoula.
Even so many months later, debris and personal belongings still litter the coastline, said Ashley Belcher, a senior at Milton High School.
“It was amazing seeing people's lives sprawled out everywhere,” she said.
Belcher knows she could have taken a relaxing spring break like so many of her peers, but said this alternative trip gave her the opportunity to share God's love.
Acknowledging that she hardly knows her own neighbors in Milton, Belcher said she was struck by the neighborly community in Mississippi.
Though their lives and homes are still in shambles, Belcher was stunned by the victims' graciousness and happiness.
“It brought neighbors close together,” she said. “You realize how much you really need to be thankful for what you have.”
Belcher said she was blessed by being able to help others and realizes she can do more to help people in small ways. She hopes to return to the Gulf Cost this summer.
Rebecca Widder, a Hononegah High School sophomore, said the pictures on television didn't do justice to the amount of devastation left in the hurricane's wake.
Widder has done mission trips in the past and said she felt God's prompting to go with the group of virtual strangers to Mississippi.
The 60 teens all crammed into tight living quarters but Widder said no one complained. After all, the Mississippi residents were just thankful to be alive.
“It really struck me,” Widder said. “I think of the things I complain about on a regular basis.”
Widder recounted some of the chores they did - from painting to serving food.
The group was offered an opportunity to go on a tour of New Orleans but opted to spend the day helping people repair their homes instead.
The trip was exhausting, Widder admits, but well worth it, she says.
“I calculated it. I have a 36-hour sleep deficit, but it was the best spring break I've ever had.”
Other area teens on the trip included Drake Smith of South Beloit and Jerry Gilliam of Darien.
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