Green Country Youth Find Ways To Help Others Over Summer

Some people might think teenagers sit around being unproductive during the summer, but that isn't the case. Some of Oklahoma's Own have found a good way to spend their summer vacation helping others.

Jamie Willis is the Youth Director at Claremore's First Methodist Church. The church is hosting more than 200 middle and high school students from here and around the state. They are working on 16 projects helping others.

"We have two crews here, one crew is fence building and clearing brush at the back or the yard and the other crew is doing home repairs," Willis said.

Joseph is one of a couple of dozen kids working on cleanup projects over the summer. He was assessing the chances of getting all his work done in one day.

"If they need a lot of help here we might come back tomorrow and help," he said.

Perry Johnson, who has a fence company in Oklahoma City, brought his church group up to work on the fence. The adult experts' job is to help answer questions and keep everyone focused and moving forward.

"Adults see the kids working and being able to see students accomplish so much in one week. It's pretty gratifying."

The adults come away with a new regard for the kids, and the students doing the work, they discover the joy in doing for others.

"I think it's pretty great for the family that we are helping them today," one helper said.

The project runs Sunday through Friday, so they have a lot to do to get finished. Any work left over after Friday, the adults will come back and finish.