Over the last few weeks, you've seen a lot about the Dyersburg-Dyer County Union Mission's New Life Youth Camp and MYC Club.

And while you may not have been able to participate in the 14th annual Mission March, which benefited the two ministries, there are other ways you can help.

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"We need more volunteers desperately" for the MYC Club program, said Greg Beam, the Mission's youth and family-life director. "There's gotta be people with the time and heart to be down here. I just don't know who they are."

MYC Club is an after-school program geared toward first- through 12th-graders. Its mission is that through healthy relationships with positive role models, each child is enabled and encouraged to develop spiritually, academically, socially, physically and economically.

And while there are some specified needs at MYC Club -- providing snacks, helping with homework, teaching first- through fifth-grade Bible lessons, a guitarist and/or pianist to lead praise and worship music -- "what the kids need (from volunteers), I just can't write in a simple job description," Beam said. "They need someone to come and hang with them."

And that "doesn't require special skills, just having fun with them. They'll respond to it," said Jim Ewell, the Mission's director of development, who with his wife Donna works with the high school group. "That's been a real blessing to me -- realizing that kids are responding to me because I'm there and not because of anything I do or say in particular."

And it's that understanding, Beam believes, that kids relate to.

"It's an understanding that you don't have to have special skills to relate -- just be willing to love them enough to spend time with them and be genuine," he said. "I've heard several (people) say that youth migrate to the oldest person who loves and spends time with them. That's so opposite of what our culture thinks. (Kids) desperately want someone to love and spend time with them."

It's the relationship that can make a vital difference.

Ewell gave the example of a young boy who started coming to MYC Club as a first-grader. While he had a lot of personality and energy, he wasn't happy. He didn't think he could do anything right. It was obvious, Ewell said, that he had no confidence and a lot of fear. But as he began developing the relationships he desperately needed -- the kind from adults who cared about him and showed it by spending time with him -- a change could be seen. The young boy is now in fourth grade, marking his fourth year at MYC Club. And while he's beginning to develop a sense of self-worth and hope, he still needs encouragement and guidance -- provided through relationships with caring adults -- to develop his God-given talents to grow into a responsible adult.

"I wish every child could experience that," Ewell said. "Reassurance and consistency turned him around, but we're not done with him. And multiply that by the 100 kids who are here and then the countless others in the community who really need that. That's the importance of relationships -- not the growing of programs but of growing relationships and understanding what that means. And it won't happen without adults being involved."

And for Ewell, that growth hadn't been occurring for the high school group. So, he did something about it.

"Personal development to me was the missing link in the circle of services," he said.

The program, now in its second year, is about planning and preparing for adulthood. It begins with establishing a Christian foundation, understanding what success is and learning how to be successful.

While the high school group of MYC Club is currently small, Beam noted there are many kids coming up the line.

"Our middle and intermediate school programs filled quickly and we have a waiting list," he said. "We really need somebody to come and spend time with the kids. With the middle school group this year, we've divided them into four groups and each has its own counselor."

Adopter opportunities for MYC Club groups are also available.

"We need three groups and/or organizations to volunteer their time to hang out with the kids," Beam said. "They don't need to provide money to sponsor a group; we'll hook them up with another organization that can provide the money but not the volunteers. We are, however, looking for a group to adopt the high school (group)."

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Donations of money and time have been the backbone of the Mission's youth programs since they began in 1990.

"A Christian ministry usually asks for three things -- financial resources, time and prayer," Ewell said. "Prayer is one thing usually everybody can do. We ask people to pray for our children, staff and volunteers who give so much to them, that their needs be met with volunteers and resources."

New Life Youth Camp was a dream of Mission executive director Jerry Edmundson until 1990 when Ewell, who was then on the Mission's board of directors, asked if he had considered establishing a camp. Six months later, the Ewell farm in the Porters Gap community of Lauderdale County became the camp home.

The Mission marked its 15th annual camp this past June when 128 7- to 13-year-olds descended on the Ewell farm for two weeks.

This year's camp theme was "Foundation Blocks of Life." Based on Matthew 7:27-29, it was developed by Beam a few years ago and "indirectly relates back to 'The Purpose Driven Life.' I tried to take that whole purpose-statement idea and put it in terms that a youth group could relate to," he said.

Beam used a cross to illustrate the theme. "While everything is centered on a relationship with God through Jesus, the relationship with God consists of Bible study, prayer and faith, shown in the vertical beam. The relationship with others is shown in the horizontal beam -- sharing that faith and loving friendship and service," he said.

Along with the 100 regular volunteers who make camp happen performing jobs ranging from food organization, preparation and distribution to laundry, this year's first year of camp played host to newcomers.

Members of the Exalt Travel Team, five college-age volunteers from the Tennessee Baptist Convention Collegiate Ministry Missions Program, spent their mornings working with the 7- to 10-year-old campers and their evenings helping with Vacation Bible School at Springhill Baptist Church.

The team consisted of leader Jessica Birdwell, a 20-year-old from Greenbrier who is a junior at East Tennessee State University; Meg Montgomery, a 21-year-old from Elizabethton who is a senior at ETSU; Brian Jones and Ryan Wicher, both 21-year-olds from Sweetwater who are seniors at Tennessee Tech University; and Micah Huebner, an 18-year-old from Springhill who is a sophomore at Bellevue University in Nashville.

Along with leading chapel services, Exalt members assisted wherever needed with camp's regular volunteers. Jones supervised archery. Heubner and Wincher were in charge of music. Birdwell assisted with the horses and orienteering. Montgomery rotated with groups as junior counselor.

"One thing we have at camp is such an outpouring of volunteers and the hours that goes into it," Beam said. "We see a huge number of volunteers who willingly give a huge portion of their day. They contribute in their own individual way. We so desperately need them to come in their own special ways and skills and help (at MYC Club). If camp did it all, they wouldn't have started the youth program in the first place."

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Club traces its roots back to 1992 when there "wasn't much done for at-risk youths," said then-director Greg Langley in a 1999 interview. "By the second year of camp, they realized they needed something year-round."

The Mission put then-youth director Wes Landfear in charge of club programs. When they began, the programs were carried out on an individual basis as Landfear went to different sites offering activities to youngsters. Then, mission directors "realized they needed a central location," Langley said, and club programs became MYC Club when the Mission Youth Center was constructed in 1997.

"All of the Mission's youth programs are different in their scope and the way they're carried out," Ewell said. "But what binds them together are: 1) they have the same goal of giving kids the opportunity to become successful adults and 2) the need for relationships."

For those who are interested in volunteering, Ewell noted that Beam does Power Point presentations to individuals and groups to provide more information on the Mission's youth programs. Potential MYC Club volunteers are also invited to come to the center to observe the club program and talk to staff members about how things work. Ewell noted that MYC staff members are always available to assist volunteers with discipline or questions they may encounter with youth.

"I don't want everybody to think we're the only ministries in town -- some are already involved in important, vital ministries and I'm very thankful they are," Beam said. "But I still believe there is somebody gifted to do this type of ministry and they need to know we're down here praying for them to come."

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For more information, call 285-0886 or 286-KID5 (285-5435).