Scarves can be used to represent fashion, religion, and, of course, warmth.  To residents of the Clarksburg City Mission, they have come to represent the kindness of strangers.  About 20 members of the Bridgeport United Methodist Church Youth Group gathered together for two Sundays to create 99 scarves for the mission in order to ensure the residents stay warm this winter.

 

It was the brainchild of Austin Randolph, a member of the Senior High Youth at BUMC.  He came up with the idea of making fleece scarves to hand out when the youth group served dinner at the mission.  The church serves meals at the mission every third Sunday and the youth does all the serving for one meal per year.  January 19 is the target date for 2014, and the scarves will be given to all residents in attendance that night. 

 

The serving of the meal is only one of the youth group’s project throughout the year.  They are dedicated to helping those in need, both locally and internationally.  Many members have done mission trips to South Carolina, New Orleans, and many other locations and continue to help out in natural and man-made disasters such as the recent chemical spill in our state. With nearly 100 participants, the youth has made an impact on environmental and humanitarian causes across the United States.

 

For the scarves, the group cut bolts of fleece fabric into strips at a remarkable rate.  With their assembly line, they were able to cut all 99 scarves in less than 30 minutes, giving them to some of the church ladies to seam together.  Next, they fringed the scarves and packed them up to distribute on Sunday.  “It was a lot of fun to assemble the scarves and it is even more rewarding to help others in the process,” said participant Meredith Garner. 

 

On Sunday, the students will be serving hot dogs, hamburgers and a heaping helping of kindness to the residents of the mission, but the members of the BUMC youth will also be blessed with the opportunity to help serve others.