Carolina Cross Connection reaches out

Jeremy Via, from Roanoke Va., gets paint out of a can as his group prepares to paint Mary Bailey's porch in Salisbury. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Nevin Gentry, from Yadkinville, uses a hammer to repair a bench at the home of Mary Bailey on Barbour Street in Salisbury. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Joy Lambert, from East Bend, talks with Mary Bailey at her home on Barbour St. in Salisbury. Lambert is one of youth working making improvements to Bailey's home from the Christian youth camp Carolina Cross Connection. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Nevin Gentry, from Yadkinville, uses a hammer to knock down nails that have worked themselves up on the porch of Mary Bailey on Barbour Street in Salisbury. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Joy Lambert, from East Bend, and Daniel Kerr, from Burlington, cut a board to replace a back to a bench at the home of Mary Bailey on Barbour Street in Salisbury. The pair are part of a Christian youth group called Carolina Cross Connection that have been working at various sites making repairs and doing odd jobs to help people. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Amor Anderson (5) chats with Adele Wheeler, from McLean Va., as the group from Carolina Cross Connection, paint and make repairs to Amor's great grandmother's home on Barbour St in Salisbury. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

By Shavonne Potts

spotts@salisburypost.com

These days, Mary Bailey does what she can around her house, but she inevitably tires easily.

Two open heart surgeries and a stomach aneurysm have stolen the energy she once had.

This week, the Salisbury native received a helping hand from a group of young people she had never met before.

A seven-member team from Carolina Cross Connection, a Christian outreach ministry based in Lincolnton, painted Bailey’s front porch and repaired a bench.

Each year, the organization holds four weeklong camps throughout western North Carolina.

Campers volunteer to repair homes and participate in community building projects. Volunteers form five to seven member teams known as Christian Mission Groups.

Volunteers from Joshua Youth Camp in Albemarle worked for much of Thursday at Bailey’s Barbour Street home. Joshua Camp serves a six-county area — Rowan, Stanly, Montgomery, Cabarrus, Union and Anson.

”I appreciate them,“ Bailey said. ”They listen and share their experiences.“

Not only did volunteers share their faith with Bailey, she shared her faith with them.

Bailey’s first surgery was in 1988 and her second in 2002. She had an out-of-body-experience that let her know she still had more to do with her life.

”I went to heaven,“ she said.

Bailey asked God what would happen to her daughters if she died?

”God has something else for me to do,“ she said.

She doesn’t get to participate in church activities like she once did, but she’s still a member of Word of Life Family Worship Center, formerly New Testament Word of Faith.

”I love the Lord and if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here,“ Bailey said.

Bailey said she doesn’t ignore it when her body warns her to slow down.

”Your body tells you that’s enough and to sit down,“ she said.

Bailey feels part of her purpose is to share her testimony of survival with others.

She’s lived in the same home for 33 years and the children have moved out. Bailey’s family used to have cookouts so the repairs to her bench were much needed, she said.

Joy Lambert, 18, of East Bend, heard about Carolina Crosss Connection from her church youth leader. Friends who attended the camp in previous years encouraged her to give it a try.

Lambert decided to try out the camp this year for the first time. She was joined by other youth from her church, Center United Methodist Church in Yadkinville.

”I like it ‘cause it’s different from other mission trips,“ she said. ”They give us time to ourselves with God. Also during the week we get to go to different places.“

She also enjoys learning new skills like sawing, painting and staining wood.

One of the best parts of the camp is getting to meet people and hearing about their lives, she said.

”Hearing their stories has changed my life,“ Lambert said.

She said the experience isn’t all about working at different job sites, but about meeting people.

Volunteers weren’t all business, they played games and talked with Bailey’s 5-year-old great-grandson, Amor Anderson.

Kathy Kendall, an adult volunteer, said it’s all about relationships.

”The work is really important for the people in the community,“ she said. ”A lot of it is forming relationships that have a spiritual base.“

Kendall, who is from northern Virginia, said it’s a delight to see the youth meet people outside of their own community.

”It gives them perspective of where their faith can take them,“ she said. ”It’s a way for young people to be evangelistic in an active way.“

This is Kendall’s second year as an adult volunteer and she admits that the camp is actually a fun way to spend the week helping others.

The other volunteers who worked on Bailey’s house include Nevin Gentry, 16, also with Center United Methodist Church; Adele Wheeler, 15, from Virginia with Trinity United Methodist Church; Jamie Wilson, an adult volunteer, from Boone, with Faith Bridge United Methodist Church; Jeremy Via, also of Virginia, with South Roanoke United Methodist Church; and team field coordinator Daniel Kerr.

This week, volunteers helped 36 families, said Joshua Camp Director Tyler Joyner.

Joyner said next week there are about 56 families to help and with all five camp sites volunteers will have helped more than 900 families.

Campers pay $300 for a week of activities.

All of the work and materials are free. The organization does accept monetary and material donations. Often families donate materials.

Contact Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253.