DATE: Friday, August 8, 1997                TAG: 9708070235

SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON   PAGE: 20   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   62 lines

UNITED METHODIST YOUTH GROUPS SPEND DAY HELPING SETON HOUSE

If David Bisset ever runs into a friend who needs help, whether it's about communication problems with parents or trouble at school, David knows just what to suggest - Seton House.

Bisset, 16, found out about the nonprofit Seton House and the free services it provides to adolescents and parents last week during Youth Outreach Week.

``You really learn how fortunate you are,'' said Bisset, a member of Virginia Beach United Methodist Church. ``If I meet anybody who needs help, I'll let them know how this place works.''

Nearly 100 youths from four area United Methodist churches spent the last week of July volunteering their services, manual and mental, to others in need.

Groups from Charity, Virginia Beach and Courthouse United Methodist churches and Sandbridge Community Chapel spent time at Seton House as well as in nursing homes, and picked corn for the needy and weeded, cleaned and cut grass for nonprofit organizations.

Bisset was one of nine teens who spent the last day of the week, Friday, learning about Seton House and its services. Afterwards, Bisset and two others, Ashley Watson, 15, and Bo Purdham, 14, grabbed black trash bags and began weeding the home's flower beds. A couple of hours later, the grounds had been weeded, a recreation room was cleaned, a Ping Pong table fixed and several dozen boxes relocated.

``We know if we need some help, this is a good place to go,'' said Nigel Temple, a 13-year-old member of Courthouse United Methodist Church.

``We're definitely better people for doing it,'' added fellow church member and friend, Bay McLaughlin, also 13.

The youths are a valuable resource to Seton House, said Gina Heidler, a counselor and parent educator. ``This is youth helping other youth,'' she said. ``They can go back and spread the word about Seton House.''

Seton House is a nonprofit, nonsectarian organization that provides crisis counseling to parents and to teens ages 12 to 17.

An on-site facility for in-depth counseling for up to two weeks for girls is available year around. The home currently houses eight teens who have agreed, with their parents, that a break is necessary. Teens and families are provided with free individual and group counseling sessions.

Seton House also offers a parent support group that meets weekly, an out-client counseling service for parents and teens weekly or bi-monthly and a 24-hour hotline. It also serves as a referral service. Ground breaking for another Seton House, for males, will take place in March, Heidler said.

Meanwhile, Seton House staff will continue to welcome youth groups interested in volunteering their services because the gain is twofold.

``Part of the thrust of this is education and letting the kids know what's out there,'' said Cindy Fitzgerald, a parent and chaperone from Virginia Beach United Methodist Church. ``It also gives them a taste for service to their community.'' MEMO: FUND-RAISER

A Walk for the Future of Our Children will be held at 10 a.m. Sept.

20 at Seton House, 642 N. Lynnhaven Road. Registration for the

three-mile walk, which will benefit the nonprofit organization, begins

at 9 a.m. Call 498-4673. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by LORI A. DENNEY

Ashley Watson, from left, Bo Purdham and David Bisset spent a recent

Friday helping to spruce up the Seton House on Lynnhaven Road.

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