SYW 2004 News

Youth in the Sun

by KENDAL KELLY World Staff Writer
07/14/2004
Tulsa World (Final Home Edition), Page A11 of News

When Tulsan Ophelia Browning shuffled into the small white room at the Center for Individuals with Physical Challenges, some high school students helped seat her in a chair against the wall, then took her walker over to a tarp duct-taped to the carpet and began scrubbing it.

Browning, a stroke victim who has been a member at the center for four years, said her husband, Wayne, usually washes her walker for her every few months.

This time, Group No. 5 of the Presbyterian Synod Youth Workshop completed the task and returned a shiny green walker to Browning only minutes later.

"Oh, it looks so nice!" she exclaimed, smiling. "Thank you."

The newly washed walker would make it hard for her husband to recognize her, Browning said.

"Wayne won't know me when I come out with that stroller in the parking lot," she said.

"He'll say,   'Oh, she got a new (walker).' "

The 10 high school students and three adults that made up Group No. 5 spent several hours at the center Tuesday.

They were part of a larger effort of 27 groups that make up the Presbyterian Synod Youth Work shop, an annual weeklong senior high school youth camp held at the University of Tulsa. About 300 students and 81 adults participate in the camp.

All 27 groups ventured into various places around the community Tuesday to volunteer their time and work to help others.

"It's the way that we incorporate Jesus' message in these kids' lives," said Jennifer Rudolph, the service project coordinator for the camp.

Group No. 5's main task at the center was washing and detailing wheelchairs, scooters and walkers for members.

"It's a great idea because the wheelchairs and scooters -- it's more than like a car," said Betsy Whitmarsh, program director at the center.

People with disabilities might spend 16 hours a day in their scooter or wheelchair, she said.

The group also cleaned the kitchen and equipment in the gym, as well as facility vehicles that transport members to and from events.

While cleaning members' different modes of transportation, the group would make up stories about the scooters' or wheelchairs' occupants, said Konne Bawden of Houston, an adult sponsor for the camp.

"One (scooter) had lots of mud and grass, so he's been four-wheeling," Bawden said.

Group member Zubair Ali, a high school junior from Richmond, Texas, said he likes helping people.

"It's the right thing to do," Ali said. "There's a lot of people thanking everybody for cleaning wheelchairs and being here."

The other 26 groups of campers spent Tuesday in the community working with children, landscaping, painting a park and feeding the homeless, Rudolph said.

"These kids love Tulsa, and they want to give back to Tulsa," she said.

Copyright © 2004, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved.

How to Get Back Copies of the Tulsa World:
Only available for 90 days (Oct. 14, 2004 for Synod Youth Workshop story)

If you would like a complete copy of the Tulsa World printed newspaper, please fill out the form below and submit with credit card payment information. You may also print this form and attach it to a personal check and mail it to: Tulsa World Back Copies, 315 S. Boulder, Tulsa, OK 74103. For questions, please call (918) 581-8584.