Members of the Carolina Cross Connection camp work on building a ramp at a Lincoln County home. Will Grube (standing right), Matt Migliore (back kneeling), Giselle Ramadan (left, standing), Hannah Heninger (front kneeling). Chris Dean / LTN Photo

Campers involved in Carolina Cross Connection don’t spend their time playing games and making camp fires. Instead, they spend it working.

In fact, Ben Wallace, camp director, doesn’t even like to refer to the church youth as “campers.”

“It gives this impression of your mom dropping you off at the pool when you’re 5, and that’s not the case,” Wallace said.

Youth involved in Carolina Cross Connection spend their summer hours doing hard labor for the less fortunate. Projects include building wheelchair ramps and porches and doing common yardwork.

There are no strict guidelines for who receives the help. Rather, the Christian outreach ministry serves people who “have a need, can’t pay for it and can’t do it themselves,” said Wallace.

Many of the projects are brought to the ministry’s attention by the Department of Social Services. Private individuals also call in for help.

No matter what, the work the youth does is all free of charge.

“It’s rewarding,” said Tamara Givens, a staff member of Carolina Cross Connection and a former camper. “You learn a lot from it.”

The camp’s goal is “to bring church youth in and then send them out in the community.” Once in the community, they help others and often realize how lucky they are.

“They see things differently when they return home,” Givens said. “They see what they take for granted.”

The poverty youth witness during their time at the camp is often something they’ve never seen before.

“It’s just an opportunity to get these kids exposed,” Wallace said. “It really just opens their eyes to how people live in their own country.”

Despite giving up their free time to work long hours in the heat, many campers are eager to come back.

“They just love the ministry,” Wallace said.

In fact, nearly all of the ministry’s staff members started out as campers. This makes them readily available to give newcomers advice. 

Givens always tells the church youth to talk to clients, “because I think they learn the most from them.”

Carolina Cross Connection has locations all over the southern Piedmont and Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

Camp is already in session and will last until the beginning of August.

The ministry is currently accepting donations.

“Donations are really big,” Wallace said. “We run completely off donations.”

This includes any construction materials.

“If you donate a box of nails, that’s a box of nails we don’t have to buy,” Wallace said.

For more information on Carolina Cross Connection call (704) 735-4257.