Evening star., 1952-07-06
The Week in RELIGION
Thousands Volunteer to Help
In Summer Work Projects

Thousands of church people,
many Of them college and high
school students, will take part in
work camps this summer under the
auspices of religious groups.
Purpose of the projects is to put
religion into action by meeting
particular human needs in many
parts of the world. At each camp
the volunteers from various coun-
tries will undertake practical con-
Struction work. Their tasks will
range from reinodeling a Belgian
cloister for use as an old folks
home to constructing q reservoir
and digging drainage bitches In
Japan.
The work camps were initiated
in 1948 by the Congregational
Christian Churches of the United
States. The program is now sup
ported by other denominations
and many of the camps are
administered by the Youth De-
partment of the World Council
of Churches. Another group, the
American Jewish Society forI
Service, also has begun sponsoring
work camps.
Is Camps In Europe.
About 1000 young people will
attend 26 camps this month and
next in Europe, Asia and the
United States. Sixteen Of the
camps will be located in Europe.
One Of the most effective Of
the work camp projects Is one
in Greece directed by a f1ve-man
team Of Protestants, four of them
from the United States and the
other from Sweden. The team,
which Is known as Inter-C Church
Service in Greek villages. has just
begun its second summer of work
to aid 33 poverty stricken villages
in northwestern Greece.
In Japan. five camps manned
by $50 college students from the
United States, the Philippines.
Japan, Korea and Nationalist
China are typical of those to be
conducted In the Far East.
The work camps will operate
from July II to August 9. Two
will be located on the main island,
Honshu, where the campers will
build q chidren's playground at
Amagasaki, near Kobe, and lay
the foundation for q tuberculosis
Ganatorium at linda Noboritu, In
Tokyo.
Building Projects.
On Shikoku Island, the campers
will construct q reservoir for Q
Sanatorium and dig drainage
bitches for a high school at Ka-
wakami village, near MatSuyama: Il
on Kyushu they will create a park
and children'S playground at
Kokura, near Fukuoka, and on
Hokkaido they will lay the foun-
dation for a retreat center at
Lake Doya.
A number Of work camps viii
be held in the United States.
Among them are four camps
sponsored by Quakers for high
school students in New England,
the South, Middle West and Far
West. II
At Old Town, Me-, the Junior
campers will work with a small
community of Penobscot Indians
on community and home improve
ment projects and help establish
recreation programs for the
younger children and teen-agers.
Another group will work on the
Cherokee Indian reservation in
North Carolina, assisting needy
families on their farms and in
their homes and aiding In the
construction of q community club
building in the tiny settlement OIL
Soco Valley.
Site in the O1arks.
A third camp viii be conducted
at GLADDEN., Mo-, in the Ozark
Mountains. There the students
will assist in completing a COM
munity craft and hostel building
started by a previous work camp,
build some tool and implement
sheds and work on farms and tim
ber stands.
The fourth camp viii be located
at Cuba, N. M, one Of seven com.
munities in that state to received
help from the New Mexico Health