ORANGE CITY—How often do MOC-Floyd Valley Middle School students get to build wheelchairs for children with disabilities? This spring, it’s been about once a month, through a new volunteer activity that makes volunteer service a reward.
Students who want to volunteer in the community drop their names in a box, and at the end of each month, staff connect each student with a service opportunity. Often, the opportunity is going to Hope Haven in Orange City to build wheelchairs.
“It’s a life-changer. These wheelchairs mean that kids who have been carried or who have had to drag themselves through the dirt can move freely,” said Gene Veltkamp.
Veltkamp describes himself as “chief gopher” at Hope Haven in Orange City.
Hope Haven is a nonprofit based in Rock Valley. One of its biggest initiatives, the wheelchair ministry, distributes wheelchairs across the United States and internationally.
The Orange City branch assembles wheelchairs for children and often partners with MOC-Floyd Valley.
Working there sparks new ideas in students’ minds.
“There are great opportunities for our students to see the global impact they can have, develop a sense of empathy, and create connections and relationships with community members,” said Adam Boone, an instructional coach at the middle school.
Boone frequently sees students connect with adult volunteers, who mostly come from Orange City and Sioux Center churches.
“That’s neat to watch. They have a lot of fun conversations about ‘I know your parents’ or ‘I used to play that instrument in the band too,’” Boone said. “We have community members making connections with our middle school students.”
As Hope Haven receives donations of wheelchair materials, volunteers work together to assemble them. The volunteer work takes place in Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota.
“When we’re helping people and don’t expect anything in return, we’re making a difference in making someone more mobile than ever,” Veltkamp said. “That’s why we come back week after week.”
He said the work not only benefits those receiving help but also profoundly affects the volunteers involved.
Hope Haven ships the wheelchairs across the globe wherever they are needed. Recipients might be aging Rock Valley residents, children with disabilities in Africa or amputees in Eastern Europe.
Hope Haven originally opened its Orange City location in 2019, but the organization began in 1959 when Rock Valley residents hatched a plan to help children with disabilities in their community.
Now, it’s a global network seeking to connect people with disabilities with the services they need.
“If someone needs a wheelchair, whether it be El Salvador, Uganda or Vietnam, we get it to them at no cost,” Veltkamp said.
For MOC-Floyd Valley students, this service project connects them to the community in a concrete way.
After the adult volunteers coach the students through some techniques and safety precautions, Boone often reflects on the value the students gain through this type of service.
“Many kids begin to realize that they become the best version of themselves when they serve others,” Boone said. “They become really fulfilled taking on that servant attitude.”
Part of MOC-Floyd Valley’s mission is “to create learning spaces outside of the classroom,” and the students’ time at Hope Haven blends tangible service — screwing parts together and stapling upholstery to frames — with what they are learning in the classroom.
For students who only know about Third World countries from class, time at Hope Haven shows them the difference they can make globally.
“Sometimes the kids ask, ‘How many people did we help today?’ and they’re so excited to see the pictures of kids we help,” Veltkamp said.
Boone and his colleagues chose to make the program voluntary so that the students who participated would make more of it.
After the trips, Boone often hears his students talking about what they have just been doing.
“Some are struck and awed by the impact that one pad they created is going to have on a child who before had to be carried around,” Boone said. “And now that one part is going to be turned into a wheelchair that can help that child become mobile.”