Sun Sentinel Broward Edition

Days designed for giving back

Church designs program of service

- By Brooke Baitinger Staff writer

Summer’s no time for slacking — just ask students participat­ing in the Unleashed Summer Mission Camp. Through the program, teens are volunteeri­ng at the Salvation Army, sprucing up schools and tackling other projects. And for a few of them, what started as a way to rack up community service hours has become a more significan­t experience.

Most teenagers spend their summers on the beach. They catch up on television shows. They go to sleepaway camps and sing songs around a fire.

Students at Unleashed Summer Mission Camp spend their summer a different way: giving to the community.

On Monday, 135 middle and high school students started at the week- long overnight camp, traveling to different schools in Pembroke Pines and scraping gum off desks. On Tuesday, a group of about 16 boys volunteere­d at the Salvation Army in Fort Lauderdale, washing windows and dining room chairs at the shelter.

West Pines Community Church designed the program to use teenagers’ otherwise untapped energy to help 20 nonprofit organizati­ons across Broward County, including homeless shelters, foster care homes, food pantries and schools. The students work about seven hours per day, starting at 8 a.m.

For many of the students, it is a way to get out of the house and do something productive with their time, in- stead of just sitting at home and watching television.

Or in Aaron Curnow’s case, playing video games.

“It feels better to come here,” the 13-year-old said. “Instead of wasting time at home.”

Others focus more on the importance of serving their community.

Danny Iznaga, a 13-year-old student at Pembroke Pines Charter Middle at the Academic Village Campus, said he enjoys volunteeri­ng because he knows other people might not have the same lifestyle as him and may need help.

“Here it feels more rewarding

[than chores at home] because at home I’m just doing things to help out the house, but here I’m helping a lot of people,” he said.

Certain students first saw the program as a way to rack up community service hours at their high schools, but later it would become a more significan­t experience.

“Initially, it was the service hours, because you get 100 of them,” said Gabriel Perez. “But now it’s transformi­ng into a journey.”

Perez said it is a journey to learn more about God and to help people in need.

For Perez’s best friend, Zach Tatman, it is a way to connect with others.

“My favorite part is helping out as a group because you make so many new friends here,” he said. “Last year I didn’t really know anybody, so this was a big step for me.”

Perez and Tatman, both 17, met at West Broward High School last year. After they became best friends, Tatman introduced Perez to Unleashed Summer Mission Camp.

This is the

camp

pro- gram’s second summer. It is also the second summer the camp has served the Salvation Army.

“They met with us and saw our needs, and it was kind of the perfect match,” said Alyse Gossman, the developmen­t and volunteer coordinato­r at the Salvation Army. “It’s a big help because they’re doing stuff we need to have done that we don’t have the time or resources to really do.”

Gossman said the shelter serves over 120 people meals every night, so dining room chairs can become grimy quickly, but it might be months before staff members would have time to scrub them down, if ever.

In addition to washing windows and chairs, the campers folded bags for the organizati­on’s Christmas project, Angel Tree, which provides gifts for impoverish­ed children and senior citizens who may not otherwise receive them.

Unleashed Summer Mission Camp students will volunteer at several other organizati­ons throughout the week.

bbaitinger@tribpub.com

 ?? CARLINE JEAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPH­ER ?? Elias Cordero,13, of Miami, from left, David Vargas, 13, of Pembroke Pines and Danny Iznaga, 13, of Pembroke Pines wash chairs at the Salvation Army in Fort Lauderdale as part of a weeklong summer camp in which local middle and high school students...
CARLINE JEAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPH­ER Elias Cordero,13, of Miami, from left, David Vargas, 13, of Pembroke Pines and Danny Iznaga, 13, of Pembroke Pines wash chairs at the Salvation Army in Fort Lauderdale as part of a weeklong summer camp in which local middle and high school students...
 ?? CARLINE JEAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPH­ER ?? Eric Vendrell,17, of Pembroke Pines cleans windows at the Salvation Army in Fort Lauderdale during summer camp.
CARLINE JEAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPH­ER Eric Vendrell,17, of Pembroke Pines cleans windows at the Salvation Army in Fort Lauderdale during summer camp.

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