There was a saying that, "those who are happiest are those who do the most for others."
This week there are about 100 young people and adults who are among the happiest in Henryetta.
house-paintingYouth Force 2015 came to town with some 20 projects lined up to make life a little easier or a little prettier. At the same time they were helping others, they were finding a lot of joy and happiness in their own lives.
The project is backed by the United Methodist Church in Oklahoma with the Henryetta First United Methodist church as local sponsor.
The participants come from communities across the state including Vinita, Grove, Guymon, Poteau and others. Those teens pay $200 each to be part of the week-long project. Local businesses, individuals and organizations donate to pay for materials, food and other expenses.
For that $200, the students get to be out in the hot sun painting, scraping old windows, pouring concrete and building access ramps for six days.
Projects tackled in Henryetta included clearing out old, thickly grown bushes, painting entire houses, striping the parking lot for the senior citizens center and repairing gutters. In front of the project homes were signs marking the site as a Youth Force project.
In two cases, the teams designed and built special access ramps for senior citizens. One of those seniors was so pleased with the work that she joined the teens in the Happy Dance when the job was finished.ramp-building
It wasn't all just work, eat and sleep. Each evening the teens gathered for some fellowship and worship time. After that, they enjoyed a hot meal and shared stories about their projects as well as make new friends.
Thursday night was a special time for them as they really kicked back and beat the heat with a special game of slip and slide kick ball then cleaned up under the spray from the fire department hose.
birthdayThat same evening, local pastor Kyle Kiner and his wife, Jennie, were singled out for a special honor. They each received the "Silver Slavedriver" award, plates with silver-painted garden tools commemorating the work that had gone on. Jennie had also been the guest of honor at the start of the evening when a birthday cake, complete with candles was rolled out.



More photos of the work around town:

birthday
gutter-painting
house-painting
IMG_1946
IMG_1996
IMG_2001
IMG_2004
IMG_2010
porch-work
ramp-building
scraping-paint
special-guests
sr-citizens
01/13 
start stop bwd fwd

Click here to see video of the various projects.