Van Wyck resident’s prayers answered by Salkehatchie campers

The Catawba Salkehatchie Summer Serve Camp is wrapping up a week of repairing homes.

Since 1998, Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church has hosted around 70 campers each June for a work week that has assisted more than 80 homeowners in the Indian Land, Van Wyck and Fort Mill communities.

“We take on some big projects,” said camp director Tony Carnes. “Sometimes it takes us down to the end (to finish repairs).”

The camp aided six families this year – three in Fort Mill, two in Indian Land and one in Van Wyck.

This was Ella Massey’s second year applying to Salkehatchie for help. The camp receives applications each spring and a team assesses damages and makes recommendations. There are always more applications than help available, organizers say.

“I’m just so thankful and grateful for them,” Massey said. “I honestly and truly do realize that they didn’t have to do it. They are so happy to do it for me and I am so blessed to have them to do it. You know, God is good.”

The 78-year-old Van Wyck resident had ceilings replaced in several rooms in her home, due to leaks in the roof. Van Wyck site leader Billy Lybrand said Massey’s home “had a good bit of water damage.”

“When it would rain outside, it was raining inside,” Lybrand said.

Lybrand, an engineer with the SCDOT, has been involved with Salkehatchie since he was 16.

“It’s something I feel I need to do every year,” Lybrand said. “I almost don’t feel complete if I don’t come out and do this every year.”

Bryan Bowers of St. George has been coming to Catawba Salkehatchie with a couple of his friends for the past six years. The relationships formed through the camp are what he treasures most.

“You get a new family every year,” said Bowers, 20. “I have six families now.”

Many homeowners that Salkehatchie helps have “been praying for someone to come and help them,” Carnes said. “It’s always a joy for them that somebody finally heard the call to come help.”

And it goes both ways, he said.

“It’s a joy for (the campers) to see what they’ve accomplished and what joy it brings the homeowners,” Carnes said.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Massey said. “They are God fearing people. I’ll never forget them.”

This story was originally published June 27, 2015 at 6:34 PM with the headline "Van Wyck resident’s prayers answered by Salkehatchie campers."