Atlantic Baptist Church Youth Group builds handicapped ramps in hot conditions

Pictured: The youth of Atlantic Baptist Church with adult volunteers worked with volunteers from the ESVA Housing Mission to build four wheelchair ramps in four days last week. Pictured are: front row, left to right – Paige Via, Nova Richardson, Alaya Bowden, Thomas Staub , John McCall, Caleb Barfield. Second row – Ethan Ruba, Henry Higginbotham, Carly Roughton, Phoenix Schworm, Charles Whitelock, Sarah Taylor, Bob Hickman, Mike Justice. Nancy Hulsey, Sandy Hickman. Third row – Pastor William Cathell, Abigail Richardson, Eddie Mears, Anna Taylor, Adam Hamilton, Ed Taylor. Derrick Tull, son of ramp recipient Carla Tull, Pastor John Higginbotham, Wyatte McGoldrick, Herby Watson, Sawyer Erich, Scott Stitely,Taylor Watson, Brad Watson. (Not pictured: Willow Higginbotham and Don Taylor.)

By Bill Sterling

“Some people see youth and say they are tomorrow’s leaders, but we look at them as today’s leaders. Give them the responsibility, and they will respond and grow right before your eyes.”

They were the words of Pastor John Higginbotham as he looked upon some of the 17 Atlantic Baptist Church youth who were putting the finishing touches on the last of four wooden wheelchair ramps built in four days for handicapped residents.

Two of the ramps were built last Thursday and Friday near Atlantic, one just south of the church and the other about two miles away. On Tuesday and Wednesday the youth group built two ramps in the Greenbush and Parksley areas.

Don Taylor, board advisor for the ESVA Housing Mission, which provided supervision for the building of the ramps, said. “It’s about neighbors helping neighbors. These youth will see the two ramps in the Atlantic area for years to come and think, ‘I had something to do with helping that resident have a better life.'”

Charles Whitelock, a rising senior at Arcadia High School, summed up the week by saying, “It was hot, tiring and well worth it when you saw the reaction of the homeowners after the ramp was completed.”

Rev. Higginbotham said students met at the church each morning at 6:15 a.m. for prayer and to review the work for that day and were on the job site by 7 a.m.

Talking to Alaya, Paige, Thomas, Anna and Abigail, ranging in ages from 11 to 13, the youngest of the youth sixth through 12th grades, they all agreed that waking at 5 a.m., which they did for four straight days, was way earlier than their usual wakeup time during summer vacation.

But they all said it was rewarding to help someone in need and were looking forward to their reward — a bus trip to Busch Gardens on Saturday that would be capped by a Christian concert in the amusement park that evening.

Brad and Taylor Watson, a couple in their 20s, teach Sunday school and started the youth group at Atlantic Baptist Church three years ago. They have watched it grow, thanks to the church’s craft bazaar held in November at the Atlantic Fire Station that raises approximately $15,000 with much of it going to youth missions.

“Church members and people in the neighborhood make craft items all year, everything from decoys to quilts, and people are generous when buying them,” said Taylor.

Taylor adds that every Wednesday night is Youth Night at the church, when the church feeds the entire family and then the youth break up in groups for Bible study and fun activities. Adults also participate in Bible discussions.

Pastor Higginbotham adds that no offering is asked or taken for Youth Night. “We want families to come, have a meal and enjoy the fellowship without feeling the need to contribute. We hope they do that on Sunday.”

Pastor Higginbotham, whose first sermon was on New Year’s Day in 2023, says church attendance is approximately 130 with 52 baptisms and 79 new members added to the church enrollment in the two and half years he has been at the church..

Ed Taylor, whose two daughters were on site helping to build the ramps, said his family joined the church last year because of the youth program.

Bob Hickman, who attends Atlantic Baptist Church, knew Don Taylor from their Atlantic High School days, connected the two groups.

ESVA Housing Mission is a new nonprofit, Christian-based organization on the Eastern Shore of Virginia that provides critical home repairs for those in need. Taylor had directed a similar group in lower Maryland for 12 years and oversaw the completion of 1,000 projects before starting a similar group in his native area.

A major grant by Perdue Foods help kickstart the organization in the fall of 2024, and a $30,000 donation by Taylor Bank helped ESVA Housing Mission to fund the cost of the building repairs and purchase tools and equipment.

Rev. William Cathell, part of a core of ESVA Housing Mission volunteers who are on every building site to supervise volunteers from the community, said the group was apprehensive about the challenges of building four wheelchair ramps in four days because for the first time they would be splitting the ESVA volunteers among two sites where ramps were being built on the same day.

“I soon realized we had no worries because these kids learned everything so quickly and worked so hard,” said Cathell. “They worked through the oppressive heat, the rain and did not let up until the job was finished. I was very impressed with their diligence and attitude.”

Not only did the Atlantic Baptist Youth and adult volunteers work four days building the four wheelchair ramps, with the longest being 55 feet to compensate for a high floor level, they contributed $8,000 from the youth mission fund toward the expenses for the ramps, a huge help to the ESVA Housing Mission with the increasing cost of lumber.

Adults from Atlantic Baptist Church consisted of six who assisted the building project and six who kept the crew fed and hydrated during the day.

Brad Watson was using the last of his vacation days from a job that was soon ending because his division had been transferred from Wallops to NASA Langley.

Jerry Williams, 74, of Atlantic, confined to a wheelchair and extremely weak due to medical issues, said the wheelchair ramp was a “blessing” and he really couldn’t put in words how thankful he was for now being able to leave his house more easily.

Margaret Frenier, who has heart issues from strep in her blood, was the other Atlantic recipient of a ramp and invited all the youth in her small house on Thursday when it started raining very hard. “It was crowded, but it was nice getting to meet the youth up close. They were just remarkable and so upbeat.”

Pastor Higginbotham, a native of Orange, Va., who had previously spent 11 years at a Christian school and was a youth minister before taking his first charge as the lead minister at Atlantic Baptist Church, said the lesson he hoped the youth would learn during the week was the basis of the Bible verse from Matthew 25:40, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me”

If interested in participating in a home repair project, contact Donna Smith, chairwoman of ESVA Housing Board, at dsmith@esaaacaa.org, phone 757-442-9652, or Jennifer Shelton Barnes at jennifer.barnes@rivhs.com or call the voice mailbox at 757-709-5468.