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United Methodist 'Nomads' park in Estero

Volunteers converge to help church clear old orange grove

By LIANE SMITH (Contact)

Saturday, January 20, 2007

A group of nomads purposefully traveling the country have found friendship in one of the last remaining orange groves on U.S. 41 in Southwest Florida.

For the past two weeks, 11 United Methodist NOMADS (Nomads On a Mission Active in Divine Service) have called Estero their home, parking their RVs for free. In return, the volunteers are free hands for the Estero United Methodist Church, on the corner of U.S. 41 and East Broadway, four days a week, seven hours each day, for a total of three weeks.

The volunteers are mostly retired couples in their 50s and 60s — although 8-year-old Matt Snyder is also traveling with the group alongside his grandparents, David and Patricia Snyder, who home-school him.

United Methodist NOMADS are an arm of the United Methodist Church, and the group is filled with members, and non-members alike, with recreational vehicles who share their time and skills in United Methodist projects, including churches, camps, mission agencies, and local neighborhoods.

The group in Estero right now, all Christians, have varied backgrounds and come from Ohio, Michigan, Alabama and Arkansas. NOMADS usually travel in married pairs and meet other NOMADS for the first time at their destined project. United Methodist NOMADS travel mostly to places within the United States, including areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina, but have also traveled to Mexico for missionary projects.

"When we leave, we all go in different directions," said NOMAD group leader David Snyder, said.

Some will travel to a new project in a new city, state, or country, while others may travel back home for a stint, before heading to another mission.

"Ninety-eight percent of the NOMADS are retirees," NOMAD Lee Steverson said.

One of the volunteers also described the group as "Northern Old Methodists Avoiding Deep Snow" during a short break Thursday morning where the volunteers feasted on oranges.

According to Estero United Methodist Church Rev. David Harris, the missionary volunteers are helping with several maintenance projects around the church, as well as helping to clear the land that once held the orange grove.

"We're the best-kept secret in the United Methodist Church," Snyder said.

Thursday morning, the group was filling in holes where many orange trees have already been cleared. Harris said the church hopes to hold events in the old grove that will draw the community together.

"A winter festival," Harris said, "or an Easter Egg hunt... Our goal is to have an attractive facility that lends to the whole of Estero."

With the help of NOMADS, plans have already begun for various projects around the church, such as moving the playground to the back of the church, knocking down the old real estate building in front of the church, fixing up and moving sheds, painting and repainting around the church, and more.

"We put in the backs, the legs, the muscles — the exhaustion," said NOMAD member Steverson.

A new group of NOMADS, who will also stay three weeks, will arrive shortly after the current group leaves in a week, and they will take over the projects the first group started.

"We're pretty excited about what they've accomplished for us," Harris said.

In the long-term, Estero United Methodist Church plans to move its thrift store to the back of the property, to open up the front that abuts to U.S. 41, and landscape it. Landscaping plans have already been approved by the Estero Council of Community Leaders' Design Review Committee, Harris said.

They moved the playground equipment in the back to have it closer to where Sunday school is, and are refurbishing the teeter-totter and other play items.

"It's an incredible amount of hours they put in," Harris said. "They're a tremendous blessing."

To find out more about the work of United Methodist NOMADS, visit www.nomadsumc.org.

Estero United Methodist Church is located on the corner of U.S. 41 and East Broadway in Estero, at 8088 Lord's Way, just north of Corkscrew Road. For more information about Estero United Methodist Church call 992-5516.