Church Youth Sharing Holiday With Islanders

SEBRING - While their families enjoy turkey dinners today, 18 youth from First United Methodist Church are feeding 5,000 people in the Bahamas.

Rick Heilig, youth minister, said the feeding of 5,000 is a reference to the Gospel, in which Jesus blessed five loaves of bread and two fish and it fed 5,000 people.

The youth will be feeding turkey, ham, rice, green beans and fruit cocktail at various churches and sites throughout Freeport, Bahamas.

"This is the first time we have done a feeding, but we felt it was important to focus on food and hunger," Heilig said.

The mission trip is a follow up to a trip a few years ago to help rebuild areas devastated by hurricanes.
The Bahamas may sound like a glamorous vacation getaway, but those who went on the previous trip to the non-touristy areas of the island beg to differ.

"The area we helped is near a cemetery, and one of the kids said he actually saw corpses floating by his door," said Alex Eastman, 17. "The government doesn't have any money to help them rebuild, so we do what we can. It's definitely not the Bahamas you think about."

Kristi Livingstone, 16, said she traveled to the Bahamas on the last mission trip and had been there on vacation a few months prior.

"I went on the vacation and saw all the splendor of the Bahamas, then I went back two months later and thought, 'Is this even the same place?'" she said.

The youth group left Tuesday evening and stayed in Fort Lauderdale before leaving Wednesday morning for the Bahamas.

Although Bahamians do not celebrate Thanksgiving, Linda Freeland, one of the seven adult chaperones on the trip, said she thought the holiday was an appropriate time for the trip.

"What a nice way to spend Thanksgiving," Freeland said. "We have so much here to be thankful for, but unless you see the other ways of life, you don't appreciate what you have as much.

"The people there are so appreciative and loving. The ironic thing is we will come back feeling that we are the ones who are lucky and blessed. The pleasure truly is ours."

It is also a sacrifice for the youth, who give up the opportunity to celebrate the holiday with their family.

"There is a little sadness about missing Thanksgiving because I have been with my family on that holiday for the past 17 years," said Chad Cowan, 18. "But there will be many more Thanksgivings in my future, and this is my one real chance to give something back."

Richard Thompson, of Sebring, said he thinks the previous trip and this trip give his son a lot of perspective.

"Any time you travel someplace like that, you realize there are a multitude of things we have here that they can't even fathom, especially after the hurricanes," Thompson said. "We had damage, but it's nothing compared to the Bahamas. It makes our blue-tarp roofs look like nothing when you see what they are still dealing with."