UCC Youth volunteers lend a hand at Tampa General Synod 28

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

> Youth volunteers lend a hand in Tampa

> Written by Rebecca Bowman Woods
> June 30, 2011

> Push to Play

Maria Restivo, 17, stands knee deep atop a pile
of golden sand ? not an unusual sight in Florida,
except the sand pile is in the Tampa Convention
Center. Around her, dozens of volunteers
construct an elaborate desert scene, complete
with a tent of meeting and starry skies ? setting
the stage for General Synod 28. Laughing as she
climbs down the sand pile, Restivo joins Corey
Tanaka, 17, spreading more sand in front of the stage.

Restivo, of First Congregational UCC of Murphys,
Calif., and Tanaka, of Iao Congregational UCC in
Wailuku, Hawaii, lent a hand Thursday as part of
the Youth @ General Synod program, joining with
more than 200 UCC teens in making a positive impact in the Tampa area.

In addition to helping at the convention center,
UCC youth are serving with several community
organizations around the city. Projects include
caring for animals at the Humane Society of Tampa
Bay, packaging food and preparing it for
distribution at Feeding America Tampa Bay, and
learning about environmental justice with Keep
Hillsborough County Beautiful by doing clean up
and beautification work at a local park.

Over at Metropolitan Ministries Tampa, Malcolm
Wells, 16, of St. Petersburg, loads a cart with
canned goods from the food pantry shelves, then
bags the items for a female patron. Metropolitan
Ministries is one of Tampa?s largest social
services providers, offering everything from GED
classes to homelessness prevention. About 50 UCC
youth served there on Thursday.

Lisa Ward, a local AARP volunteer who runs the
food pantry at Metropolitan Ministries most
mornings, often works with young people who come
to help out. As the morning?s work came to a
close, Ward expressed gratitude for the UCC teens
and adults who spent the morning following her
instructions ? organizing shelves, entering
information into the computer, and serving patrons.

One of those volunteers was Roselyn Cruthis, 76,
of Sun City Center, Fla. For the first time, the
service projects have youth working side-by-side
with UCC seniors from Florida, says Waltrina
Middleton, the UCC?s Minister for Youth Advocacy
and Leadership Formation. Middleton is the
coordinator of Youth @ General Synod. She  hopes
the intergenerational pre-Synod service will
become ?a new tradition? and is thankful for the
UCC Florida Conference?s assistance in mobilizing
its 6080 UCC Network of ?60 and better? adults to
come and serve alongside the UCC youth.
Working with Lisa Ward (center right) in the food
pantry at Metropolitan Ministries Tampa on
Thursday morning were (from left) Taylor Steele
of Sarasota, Fla., Malcolm Wells, of St.
Petersburg, Emily Bowe, of Rochester, Minn.,
Jayne Clouser, of Quincy, Ill., and Roselyn
Cruthis, of Sun City Center, Fla. (photo Rebecca Bowman Woods)

> The service projects benefit both the Tampa
> community and the people who serve, says
> Middleton. She encourages the teens to embrace
> these projects as an opportunity to ?see the
> humanity in everybody we meet,? she says. ?It?s
> not just a day to check this off the list and say
> we served.? Because the youth are among the first
> UCC representatives to arrive in Tampa, being
> visible in the community is a chance to extend
> hospitality as well as receiving it, Middleton says.

Youth and their adult chaperones will come

together this evening to debrief ? sharing
stories of what they saw and learned. The Brooke
brothers, two UCC teens who traveled the country
experiencing and documenting how UCC volunteer
ministries are impacting lives in many
communities in the United States, will lead the
debriefing and help the teens to consider how to
take what they have learned and put it into action when they go home.

Youth @ General Synod began Wednesday evening,
and includes meals, learning opportunities, and
after-hours social events. The service projects
continue through Friday mid-day. Some teens will
also serve Friday at Trinity Café of Tampa,
preparing and serving lunch for the homeless and needy.

One UCC teen, Angileece Williams, is using her
video production skills to bring the stories of
the UCC youth service projects to Synod delegates
and others. Williams is the youth intern with the
UCC?s Publishing, Identity and Communication
team, and is helping to create a video that will
be presented during the closing worship service
on Tuesday evening, Middleton says.

Tanaka, one of the youth working at the

convention center, sees the day?s work ?
transforming a plenary hall into a desert scene ?
as an example of the ?Imagine What?s Possible?
theme of General Synod 28. ?Doing what can?t be
done ? that?s what the UCC represents,? he says.