On Thursday morning, one of the breakaway small groups — there are 238 total campers this year — was completing a deck project at the residence of an eternally grateful Marylou Gutting, who resides on Vine Avenue east of town and has been battling cancer. She made sure to note that she’d hosted a pizza party for the workers and their supervisors, Dan O’Brien and Patty Flana of Calmar, on Wednesday, and they prayed before the meal.

Gutting became emotional as she expressed her gratitude.

“I’m just writing a whole paper so they can read it in the church. I’m not only thankful. I’m grateful, and I love every one of them with my heart. Look what they’re doing,” she said.

O’Brien has a background in the construction industry and was happy to lend his expertise to the project.

Several groups of campers, who are pictured in front of the headquarters at 1921 Taylor Ave., put in work at the Animal Rescue League of Marshalltown.

“The old deck that was here was rotten. It was not safe for anybody, even a 100 pound woman, to walk on. We tore it all down, and it’s a little unusual. But we rebuilt it all as best we could,” O’Brien said.

Within that single small group, there were campers from places like Springfield, Ill. and Appleton, Wis., some of whom were visiting Iowa for the first time and learning valuable hands-on lessons in the process. When asked if they’d had a positive experience working here, the teens responded with a resounding “Definitely.”

Bethany Jablonski of Marshalltown is the co-manager of the local camp along with CJ and Kenzy Scales, and she’s been happy to welcome the group to Iowa for three straight summers — and the last one for now, the Iowa location for next year’s camp will be Britt. Although Midwesterners may have a reputation as rugged individualists who believe they can do everything on their own, Jablonski feels that the camp illustrates how much of an impact a little help can make. Generally by word of mouth, they find out about possible projects big and small, private and public, and proceed from there.

“I think as Iowans, we don’t always like to say we need help, and we need residents and agencies to say ‘Yes, we’ll take strangers. We’ll have strangers come into our homes and let them do work on our house.’ It’s a great combination of those things,” she said.

As Friday marks the six-year anniversary of the July 19, 2018 EF-3 tornado — and Marshalltown was subsequently battered by the derecho two years later — the community became a prime candidate for the kind of work Catholic Heart campers do.

“I think there’s always gonna be (a) need here, and I think it’s still a little lingering. I was surprised at how long term recovery is on stuff like that,” Jablonski said. “It doesn’t look like it, necessarily, but the recovery is still there. You get tired. You just get tired after going through that, and it just takes longer than what any of us realize.”

Several groups of campers also congregated at the Animal Rescue League headquarters located just northeast of Marshalltown on Thursday, and a first-year adult chaperone named Kelly from Memphis, Tenn. explained that they had painted, cleaned out dog pools, tore apart pallets, bagged and sorted dog food and treats, moved donated materials, dug up plaques and weeded in the pet cemetery and cut down branches and cleaned up where the storms had knocked trees and limbs down — a little bit of everything, as she put it.

“And then we like to try to be able to play with the animals for about an hour in the afternoon,” she said.

ARL Executive Director Austin Gillis, who has been very public about some of the struggles the organization has faced in recent months as they have been overwhelmed with surrendered animals, couldn’t be thankful enough for the assistance from a group of strangers, many of whom traveled a long distance to lend a hand.

“Oh my goodness, hands. Hands. Many hands make light work, as they say,” Gillis said. “When I’m in here running the budget, paying the bills, keeping the lights turned on and the staff is out there trying to get the animals cared for to the best of their ability, also getting them fed and taken care of, it leaves little time for us to get some of the nitpicky side quests done, in a sense. So having those extra hands has been amazing.”

And they made plenty of time to have fun along the way: after gathering for a group photo in front of the ARL building, an impromptu push-up contest broke out, which Gillis fully endorsed.

“I told them, I said the number one rule while you’re here is don’t get hurt. I said the number two rule is have fun, and I think so far, we flirted with the first rule a little bit the other day, but the second one, I think everybody’s doing pretty good on,” he said.

In addition to the kids, who arrived on Sunday and worked from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday while staying overnight at Miller Middle School, Jablonski was quick to shout out the adult chaperones willing to work alongside them and teach them important skills. The camp also serves as a crucial reminder of the value of service.

“I think part of it, yes, our community is getting served, but the whole goal is to teach these kids that they’re called to serve. Marshalltown’s not any more than their town back home, and I think it gives them the confidence that ‘Wow, I can help people. I’m called to help people,’ and so they need to go home and do this in their own hometowns,” she said. “And they are capable. The youngest campers are 13. They’re called. They need to go home and do this for their own communities, neighbors, agencies, so that’s a lot of this camp is just getting that service mindset in these kids.”

Other agencies Catholic Heart worked with in the area included the Salvation Army, Second Chance Thrift Store, the Iowa Veterans Home, CIRSI, Pilgrim Heights, Iowa River Hospice, Marshall County Conservation, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 839, Wolfe Ranch, Rapha Reins and CAPS (Child, Adolescent, and Parent Support), and Jablonski commended Kwik Star, Hy-Vee, Fareway, AAA Septic, Smokin’ G’s, Flying Elbow, the Community Foundation of Marshall County (CFMC), Jake Rowley, Iowa Pork Producers, JBS, Moler Sanitation, and MCSD/Miller Middle School Staff for their support.

The campers enjoyed a wrap up program and dance party at Miller on Thursday night before heading back to the places from which they came, and, next summer at least, the Iowa iteration of the camp (it’s also happening simultaneously in several other states) won’t be back in Marshalltown. But the memories the kids, adults and the beneficiaries of their labor made together won’t be dissipating anytime soon.

“It is about doing the work. We do the work, but so much of it, too, is just making connections and getting to know people. It just raises everybody’s spirits both on the team and the residents and the agencies. It’s just a really happy week,” Jablonski said. “And we’ve had beautiful weather.”

To learn more about Catholic Heart Workcamp, visit https://heartworkcamp.com/.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.