TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Volunteer Ministry Program Brings World Changers To Town

Tribune photo by José Patiño Girona

Cody Rhoden, 13, used a weed whacker to spruce up a yard. Rhoden, of Okeechobee, is spending a week volunteering with World Changers.

ADVERTISEMENT

By JOSÉ PATIÑO GIRONA

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 29, 2008

WEST TAMPA - The weed whacker was taller than 13-year-old Cody Rhoden, but once he got it started Rhoden moved swiftly through the yard, cutting the weeds in his way.

"It's fun," the Okeechobee teen said. "We are helping people who can't do it themselves."

He's part of a crew working for the World Changers volunteer ministry program. His crew focused on residential yardwork and was in West Tampa today.

The project brought 130 youth and adult volunteers from Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Florida to Tampa and Hillsborough County this week to paint houses and churches, fix a church roof, mow lawns, clean yards and assist at Bible schools.

Participants say their Christian faith moves them to help the needy.

Wiley Williams III, of Virginia Beach, Va., said he would rather be building a computer with his father than doing yardwork.

"If I wasn't doing this for Jesus, I probably would have already quit," said Williams, 16. "I love my God so much that I am willing to do whatever he asks."

Ashley Clift is a youth minister at First United Methodist Church in Vidalia, Ga. She came to Tampa with her youth group, although she wasn't working with them. She said the program helps teach priorities.

"Kids right now feel a lot of entitlement and are given a lot of things," said Clift, 26. "They are not asked to do much. It shows them the importance of helping other people."

Reporter José Patiño Girona can be reached at (813) 259-7659 or jpatino@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT