Highlighting Fayetteville Ozone

Fayetteville Ozone, led by Ricky Shade and Emily Bankhead, is full of excitement, energy and great relationships! Let’s take a deeper look at our southernmost Ozone chapter.

Ricky Shade

I grew up in Gore, Oklahoma along with three brothers and my mom. I attended Gore Public Schools from Pre-K to my senior year, graduating with 54 students in my class.  Sports were a huge passion of mine, playing in every sport that was offered.  It’s hard not to be passionate about sports in a small town like Gore, population 973.  In college, it was this same passion that led me to apply for the Christian sports adventure camp you might know as Camp War Eagle.

Emily Bankhead

I was born in Nurenburg, Germany and moved many times as a young girl due to my dad being in the Army.  I have a younger brother named Chance and a younger sister named Abby.  I loved babysitting, playing sports and selling lemonade and Kool-Aid in my Boise, ID neighborhood as a kid.  I went onto college at Ouachita Baptist University where I got my business degree and then worked for Dillard’s Corporate in Little Rock for four years.  I moved to Fayetteville with my sweet pup, Jeb, in 2007 to do Fayetteville Ozone.  I met my soon-to-be hubs at Camp War Eagle in the summer of 2009.  We are getting married four days before I turn 30 and then moving away to start our adventure together!  We can’t wait!

What is your favorite Camp or Ozone memory?

RS: I was working at camp’s fishing pond, while Scott Richards was teaching kids his method of preparing the bait (worms) for catching fish.  He placed a live worm in his mouth to cool down the worm’s body temperature to “make them more lively.”  This was just the beginning.  Another form of bait we had at the fishing pond was stink bait (not worms).  So a kid, only following the camp director’s lead, put the whole piece of stink bait in his mouth.  This didn’t turn out well, as one would expect.

EB: So many great memories over these past four years!  It is really hard to narrow down to a favorite.  I have absolutely loved inviting the Ozone girls and Ozone leaders over to my house on a consistent basis.  I love cooking with the girls, painting nails, baking cookies, watching movies, doing crafts and allowing a safe and loving place for them to come and spend time.  I love it when girls randomly stop by my house because they are in the neighborhood or when they call and ask if we can make cookies together.  It’s awesome to know that these girls feel comfortable enough to come to me.  I love it!

What originally attracted you to working for Ozone?

RS: Before working with Ozone, I had been a part of camp for three summers as a counselor and on counselor leadership.  I love working with kids and teaching them about the importance of Jesus Christ in our lives.

EB: Getting to do what I’m passionate about – spending time with students and making them feel loved and cared for.  Making sure these beautiful students see how sweet a relationship with Christ is…and then walking alongside them in their new journey!

If you could create any huge Ozone event, what would it be?

RS: A huge water balloon fight! 

EB: A big mission trip to a very poor and underserved place for an entire week.  Our kids love to serve, but they need to get out of NWA and see that there are so many people in need in this world.

Using only 5 words, describe Fayetteville Ozone.

RS: Community, Relational, Inviting, Fun, Memorable!

EB: Intentional. Family. Loving. Consistent. Home.

What's the best thing about Lifeline, Primetime, and Ozone in Fayetteville?

The best thing about all of our programs in Fayetteville is that we are such a close-knit family that everyone who attends walks away knowing they are cared for…not only from the leaders and directors, but they hear about Jesus’ deep love for them as well.

Is there anything new happening in Fayetteville Ozone this semester?

Small groups are a new entity that we have created for Fayetteville this year.  We break the group by gender and grade and meet for about 20 minutes to discuss the talks and how the Lord is moving in our lives right now.  It has been so cool to connect with a smaller group of girls this year.  We’ve already had a little 7th grade small group slumber party and it was so fun! Some of the groups are even teaming up to perform in our Great Pretenders lip-sync competition where the winner will receive $100. The parent involvement this year is phenomenal.  We have seen that just by asking parents to help, they are more than willing.  Numerous parents have stepped up to help with snacks, transportation, construction work, speaking to our kids, etc. Very awesome stuff.

If someone wanted to become involved in Ozone, what would you tell them?

COME!  Do not be anxious or nervous or not show up because it’s the middle of the semester or you don’t know anyone.  We have new people coming all of the time and I guarantee that you will feel loved and cared for.  It is such a sweet and fun time!  Bring friends!  It really is like being a part of a family!! We hope to see you soon!

Check out some photos from this year at Fayetteville Ozone!

There are so many ways in which someone could get involved with Ozone.  Whether that’s for our students, parents, or college volunteers, we have something for everyone.  For more information about Ozone, go to our website www.cwe365.org.