Homeowners benefit from work of Camp Hope volunteers

From left: Craig Wachter, left, installs a board on a deck that the Camp Hope team has been working on this week at the Mazuran home in Flintstone Lorraine Schneider, Katie Brown, Jody Craven and Kelsey Dunn assist Wachter.

James Rada
Times-News Staffwriter 

FLINTSTONE — Last month, 53 homes got a face-lift free of charge but full of love. 
The homes were painted, repaired and built onto by 386 youth and adults who were part of Camp Hope, a 25-year-old ministry that helps area residents fix up their homes. 
“These kids are great. They have been working in the heat. ... They are the most pleasant group of teens I have met. They don’t complain about anything,” said Helen Mazuran, who was having work done on her house by a group from St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Jefferson on Thursday.
use, scrape and paint windows, and build a new back deck on the Mazuran home. 
“I was overwhelmed when they came out and told me what they would do,” said Mazuran. 
Mazuran learned about Camp Hope from her aunt. She was one of about 110 applicants who contacts Camp Hope annually. The projects are then selected and church groups, who pay to come to Camp Hope, begin coming into the county for a week at a time to work on different projects. 

“They even have to pay to come do this. ... With most kids this age, the last thing they want to do is come work out in this heat,” said Mazuran. 

The groups stay in the dorms at Frostburg State University and eat their meals at different sponsoring churches. 

Jody Craven is an adult adviser for one of two groups from St. Paul’s Lutheran. He has been working with Camp Hope for 12 years. He said there is no problem recruiting students for the project.

“We say we’re going to Camp Hope and we get more youth than we can take,” said Craven. He added that some kids will actually take a week off their summer jobs to work at the camp. 

Katie Brown, 18, has come to Camp Hope four years. This is her last year because she starts college in the fall. “I get a good feeling when I come out and help other people. It’s different than when you just help out your parents.” 

When asked if she will miss coming out to Western Maryland for a week of hard labor each summer, tears roll down her cheeks and mix with her sweat. She nods and wipes away the tears. 

“My friends all think I’m crazy,” said Brown. 

Craig Wachter, 16, said, “My friends all told me to skip it and go to the beach.” Wachter hasn’t. This is his third year at Camp Hope, and he intends to come until he graduates from high school. 

“The friendships you make at the dorm are great. The work gives me something to do rather than sitting on my butt at home,” said Wachter. 

Kelsey Dunn, 16, who was attending Camp Hope for the first time, said, “I’m regretting not being able to come out for the first two years.” 

All of the students also said they enjoyed meeting the different homeowners they did work for. 

The feeling was reciprocated. “I don’t want them to go home,” said Mazuran.

This year marks the 25th anniversary for Camp Hope, which began out of Frostburg United Methodist Church. “In 1977, Reverend Tom Taylor went out of town to do mission work on houses in Kentucky. When he returned, he decided there was a need for the same thing here,” said Cindy Palumbo, executive director of Camp Hope. 

It has grown to the point that churches now send groups from New York, Virginia and Washington. 

“It gives some people pride in their homes to see done what they couldn’t do,” said Palumbo.