Serving others often takes missionaries to the far side of the world. Sometimes, though, it takes them only as far as the other side of the county.
For about the last decade the Local Mission Project, a ministry of First United Methodist Church in Springdale, has been sending its youth and youngsters from other Methodist congregations in the state to build wheelchair ramps at locations throughout Northwest Arkansas. The students, who have completed grades six through 12, are accompanied by adult volunteers for the weeklong stay at the Springdale church.
The ministry has grown every year, said Allen Franco, coordinator for the last two summers, and more projects were added this year to accommodate the 200 youth and adults who volunteered. In addition to building wheelchair ramps, volunteers also put siding on four homes and built a fence at sites in Springdale, Rogers, Hindsville and Prairie Grove, he said.
“It’s a way we can give back to families in our community who don’t have the ways or means to get what they need,” said Riley Harris, 19, of Springdale.
Harris, a 2012 graduate of Har-Ber High School and a pre-dental student at the University of Arkansas, will join the staff at First United Methodist next month and will coordinate the project next summer.
Leading the project is a dream job, said Harris, a lifelong member of the church. He has worked on it for the last eight summers, seven as a student and one as an adult volunteer.
“It’s a great way to connect with our community, let them know we care and let them know they can always have the church to lean on,” he said.
This summer some in the group connected with Pamela Heye of Hindsville, who needed a wheelchair ramp.
Heye, 50, suff ers from peripheral neuropathy and multiple sclerosis, both diseases of the nervous system, which cause her to lose her balance and feeling in her limbs.
“My brain doesn’t send signals to my legs to work, and at times my legs will just disappear and I fall. When that happens, I injure myself a lot,” Heye said.
Her most recent fall resulted in an ankle broken in two places and a subsequent surgery.
She has fallen fi ve times since she recovered from the surgery, she said.
Heye’s condition has deteriorated so that her doctor recommended she use a wheelchair in addition to the walker she’s been counting on for the last year and a half.
She’s had the wheelchair for about a month.
Heye spends weekdays at the home of her mother, who helps care for her. On weekends, she spends time at her son’s home, which she accesses with a portable wheelchair ramp. Heye is recently divorced and has been out of work since November. She was a case worker for the Division of Children and Family Services, she said.
Heye contacted Sources, an organization based in Fayetteville that helps people with disabilities, about getting a wheelchair ramp at her mother’s home.
She said she knew about the organization because she’d recommended its services to some of her former clients. Heye said Sources contacted the church group.
The young people spent the week of June 24 building the ramp. The home has had three or four other ramps, but they all rotted out every couple of years, Heye said, and the family hasn’t had the money to build a new ramp since she got her wheelchair.
The previous ramps were damaged because the house doesn’t have gutters and rain pours down on the ramp, she said. The home is still in need of gutters.
“I’m hoping this one will last a lot longer,” Heye said of the ramp. “They concreted it in and used treated lumber.”
Heye said she enjoyed talking with the teens and sharing lunch with them. Some of the girls even helped her make jewelry. Heye is making jewelry to sell so she can pay for her medicine, she said.
“It means a lot to me that they were able to come out and help when we can’t do it for ourselves.”
Even though Harris has worked on the project for the last eight summers, he said he is still in awe of what can be accomplished.
“It amazes me how we can get 150-200 students out in the sun all week, serving people and still having the best week of the summer,” Harris said. “It’s a big deal in our church and our community.”
The church also takes mission trips to other states and other countries, but Harris said the mission projects in Northwest Arkansas can be more of an eye-opening experience.
“Kids don’t realize there’s also a need in our area,” he said. “It shines a different light on things. They know these are our neighbors.”
Heye said the week is about more than just building a wooden ramp for someone in need.
“I think this is going to benefit them more than it will me,” Heye said.
“They get to have this experience and feel the excitement and appreciation, and know that doing something for others helps, even if it’s just a little bit. It changes the world. It changes people’s thoughts.”