BYU Gymnastics and Y-Serve Refugee make a difference

On the first weekend of September, the BYU Gymnastics team set out for its first outing together prior to the start of the 2020 season. A night spent camping in the woods ended with the weaving of mats for refugees around the world. 

Head Coach Guard Young wanted to unite the team with an activity that would be new for some of his athletes. 

“We decided to take these girls real camping for the first time in some of the girls’ lives,” Young said. “When we got up there, we split them into teams and said, ‘OK here’s your tent, go figure it out.’’

After setting up camp, the team spent quality time together in efforts to build team unity. All-American senior Shannon Evans commented on the growth she witnessed. 

“We just got to sit around the campfire for hours and tell our most embarrassing moments and stories about our past and really get to know each other,” Evans said. “I think the more you know someone, the more you learn to love them.”

After a less than ideal night’s rest in their tents, the team headed back to BYU campus for a surprise service project. Upon walking into the gym, the Y-Serve Refugee program greeted the team with hundreds of recyclable grocery bags in hand. The program started back in 2016 and focuses on making sleeping mats, quilts, dolls, and bags for refugees in other countries.

The project of the day focused on creating sleeping mats. Asia Whoolery, executive director for Y-Serve Refugee, commented on the need for this item.

“The sleeping mats make it 40 degrees warmer,” Whoolery said. “A lot of refugees don’t usually make it into the camps, so they’re typically outside in the desert. It gets very cold at night and the separation between them and the sand makes them a lot warmer.”

To make the mats, the gymnasts cut the top and bottom of each bag and weaved mats using their handmade tubes. 

“It was so fitting because here we came off of a night of sleeping on the ground with nice comfortable sleeping bags to making mats for someone who does that all the time,” Young said. “It gave us more sympathy and a little more of an understanding of what those people go through.”

In order to get these mats to the refugees, Y-Serve Refugee works directly with Lifting Hands International and Stitching Hearts Worldwide before a Muslim organization, Helping Hands International, takes over in the areas of need. 

For those students who are interested, BYU’s refugee program meets every Wednesday from 7-9 p.m. in the Wilkinson Center.

“People can just walk in and serve for however long and anyone is welcome,” Whoolery said. “Right now, we’re making drawstring bags for people on the U.S and Mexico border.”

For further information or questions, contact refugee@byu.edu.