THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507210223
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Faces and Places
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Susie Stoughton
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Bea Parker knows about snowballs in the summer and staying dry in a monsoon.
Last summer, she spent a week's vacation on the Eastern Shore during a soggy season, managing to keep from getting wet though everything she did depended on good weather.
``It happened to be the rainiest week of July,'' she said. ``We could look around and see it raining all around.''
Parker, a social work assistant at Obici Hospital, was part of a weeklong mission effort with low-income and migrant families on the Eastern Shore.
She and her fellow travelers, who donated their vacation time, led Vacation Bible Schools for the two groups in the rural area.
She enjoyed the trip so much that she was back again last week, hoping for better weather. This year, Parker, a member of Southside Baptist Church, was leading a team for the Blackwater Baptist Association.
They were working alongside a team sponsored by the Portsmouth Baptist Association in the 75-member mission effort.
Each morning, they gathered at two trailer parks where many residents work at low-income jobs in chicken processing plants. The children have little to do during the day, Parker said, and they are eager to attend the sessions.
Then in the evenings, they held similar sessions for the migrant families. Their children attend school year-round, Parker said, so they hold the Bible School program in the evenings for them.
``Each age group - preschool through adult - gathers on a blanket,'' she said.
Most of the mission workers were Baptists, though other denominations were also represented.
``It's real exciting because it's crossing lines,'' she said. ``It's not just Baptists. It's everyone who wants to be involved.''
The summer program has snowballed, growing each year with new groups participating.
There are 149 migrant camps on the Eastern Shore so the need for volunteer helpers is great, Parker said. The workers - between 5,000 and 7,000 each year - harvest crops for the farmers.
``We try to reach them and tell them about the Lord,'' Parker said.
Gary Williams, a member of Suffolk Presbyterian Church, recently heard about the mission.
Williams, who works for an insurance company and volunteers as a literacy program tutor, attended a church supper with the man he teaches to read. When he heard about the program, he volunteered to go along.
``I just happened to be in the right place at the right time,'' said Williams, who is also Smiley, the Clown.
He had already agreed to help when he found out there would be a session on puppetry and one on clowning.
``So they also have a professional clown,'' he said.
Numerous area churches helped with gathering supplies, baking cookies and donating money. The volunteers - who pay for their motel rooms and other expenses - gave out personal health kits filled with toiletry articles to the participants.
Each team had a Spanish-speaking volunteer to lead Bible study groups for the adults. And the volunteers also distributed clothes to those who needed them and cut hair for the workers who needed a trim.
Parker got involved in the mission effort four years ago through a friend, Brenda Smith, who lives in Chesapeake and teaches home economics at Lakeland High School.
Smith had first started with a group from Richmond and later recruited Parker.
``Last year, she started a team from Portsmouth and I went with them,'' Parker said. ``This year, I started a team over here. We're hoping it will catch on more.
``The needs are so high and there is so much over there that you can do.''
The families who attend appreciate what is done for them, Parker said.
``We gave one migrant a Bible last year,'' she said. ``He was so excited that he started crying. He kissed it.''
Some of the migrant workers write to the volunteers.
``We try to keep up with them through the year,'' Parker said. ``A lot are overwhelmed because they just can't believe someone would give up their time to come and share with them.''
For some of the volunteers, the week they donate is their only vacation of the year.
``They're spending their whole time with this,'' Parker said. ``That's true commitment, I tell you.'' by CNB