Local youths take missionary trip to Chicago’s inner city

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers GOOD SAMARITANS—These young people are part of a group of 45 from Westminster Presbyterian Church in Westlake Village going on an annual mission. This year they’re in Chicago to help the underprivileged, working in homeless shelters, preparing meals for invalids and leading kids in summer camps. Back row, left to right: Scott Bradley, Kyle Richmond, Jeff Robertson, Sarah Harrison, Katie Booser, Joey Wolhaupter, Renee Amador, Chelsea Snow and Michelle Lindorth. Front row: Stina Bjurstorm, Emily Sadler, Holly Cameron, Tricia Booser, Shannon Gruelich and Jenica Seabury. A group of local teens will soon be in an environment completely different from their comfortable homes in the Conejo Valley.

The youth group, from Westminster Presbyterian Church in Westlake Village, is embarking on their annual summer mission trip with the goal of helping others. Each year the students, all high school residents from area towns, travel to a new destination.

This year 45 students representing every high school in the Conejo and 10 adult chaperones were to spend July 30 to Aug. 7 in Chicago’s inner city helping the homeless, primarily children.

“Certainly in our area the poorest of us are still pretty fortunate,” said Rob Douglas, director of student ministries for the church. “Through the mission trips our kids get to see another side of our country and that people don’t all live as well as we do.”

Several training sessions were held prior to the trip to educate the students about the people and the area they will be visiting. Through team-building activities, the teens got to know one another better.

“They’re together 24 hours a day for eight days. Relationships develop that last a lifetime,” Douglas said.

The church has been coordinating summer youth mission trips since 1986. That first year the students didn’t go too far from home, assisting a neighborhood in northwest Pasadena. Subsequent projects have included helping impoverished communities in the Appalachian Mountains, Pennsylvania and Mexico. Last year’s destination was an Indian reservation in Yakima, Wash.

“A lot of adults send the message to kids that someday when they’re adults they will make a difference. But that’s not true. They can make a difference now,” Douglas said. “We all have skills and gifts we can use to make a difference in people’s lives.”

Douglas tries to choose a variety of locations to give his youth group different experiences.

“It gives them a well-rounded view of things happening in this country and the struggles people go through,” Douglas said.

Tricia Booser, 16, of Westlake Village agreed with Douglas. A senior at La Reina High School in Thousand Oaks, Booser will be participating in her fourth mission trip this year.

“I really like how the trip takes us apart from our everyday life,” Booser said. “It helps you put your life in better perspective.”

To help cover the $1,000 cost of the trip, which goes toward airfare, food and housing, participants held car washes and garage sales and provided babysitting, petsitting and gardening services.

Oak Park resident Jeff Robertson, 15, who went on the Yakima, Wash. trip last year, said the trip is a lot of fun despite the work involved. He’s looking forward to being in a big city.

“It will be a different experience than last year,” Jeff said. “I’ve already met some friends and gotten to know everybody in the group better.”

Douglas uses the resources of several national organizations when coordinating the mission trip. This year, he chose the Center for Student Missions (CSM), a California-based group that provides mission experiences in cities throughout the United States and in Canada. Douglas has worked with CSM before and knows the group will provide his teens with an excellent experience in Chicago.

“This organization understands the needs of the community and will connect us with good, meaningful work that can be done,” Douglas said.