Covenant News

Teen Power Accelerates Camp Building Project

DEWITTVILLE, NY (June 14, 2000) - Teen power took on a whole new meaning at Mission Meadows Bible Camp during the past year as a group of area high school students helped speed up a building process for the camp's summer activities.

Four cabins are being built at Mission Meadows in time for the first summer camp June 25. The new buildings will house up to 80 campers and staff during summer events, which continue through Labor Day. The added facilities will also allow 20 more students to attend camp than in previous years.

Young people working through a vocational program sponsored by a local high school district provided most of the labor for the cabins. Camp manager Mark Yeversky headed the overall building project and Michael Brake provided the instruction for the teens as they constructed walls for the cabins at high school facilities.

Camp director Karen Yeversky is grateful for the high school students who donated their time (they received high school credits), so that the camp had to pay only for construction materials. A local lumber company donated the time and vehicles that transported some of the walls that the camp will use. Mission Meadows also received volunteer assistance from numerous individuals from area Covenant churches.

"We had talked about doing two cabins one year and two more the next," said Yeversky. "But, knowing that we were going to get help allowed us to build all four this summer. I think there is mutual benefit for the camp and the kids," she continued. "For the kids, they really felt good about building something that would benefit other people. For the camp, we'll be able to take more female campers this summer and minister to more kids."

The high school students came from a variety of schools for carpentry training. Few students had ever been at Mission Meadows before beginning their construction project under Brake, the son-in-law of camp maintenance employee Barclay Potts and a frequent volunteer for camp construction projects.

Students started building the cabin walls in late January and finished in mid-May. In the meantime, volunteers at the camp built the foundations. Once the camp received the walls, on-site volunteers helped raise the walls (usually taking less than a day for each cabin). The camp then added trusses and roofing.

An auto mechanics class was also helpful to Mission Meadows, fixing the camp's Ford tractor free of charge. "The neat thing is the kids are learning - it's part of their education," Karen Yeversky said. "It's not a practice project where they tear away the project at the end. The other benefit is in building relationships with the carpentry kids," she continued. "They've shown some interest in coming back and helping in other ways. It opens the door to more cooperative efforts in the future."

The camp's cabin construction is part of a three-phase building project expected to cost $500,000. Phase two involves construction of a year-round retreat center - a project slated to start this fall. The final phase will include general upgrading of support facilities, including the camp kitchen.

Mission Meadows is beginning its 53rd summer of Christian camping ministry. About 4,000 people annually attend Mission Meadows, including 1,000 summer campers. The camp is located on Chautauqua Lake, about 12 miles west of Jamestown, New York. For more information about the projects or Mission Meadows, contact Yeversky by telephone at 716-386-5932 or by e-mail at camping@madbbs.com. For a look at the current construction project, check the Mission Meadows web site at www.missionmeadows.org.

Printable version of this page.