Students are launching an ASU chapter of a religious club that reaches out to Tempe residents with special needs.

People with special needs have a lot to teach the world, but not enough people take the time to befriend them and see what they have to share, said Mattie Clark, a founding member of the group.

Clark, a special education senior, is one of several students working to build up a Tempe chapter of Capernaum, a subcategory of Young Life geared toward young adults with special needs.

Young Life is an international outreach program focused on bringing God into the daily lives of kids, outside of formal religious settings.

“Young Life isn’t through the church; it’s college-age leaders going in and being part of these kids’ lives and showing them what we believe the truth is,” Clark said. “Capernaum is geared toward the idea of sharing God with kids with disabilities and with kids who wouldn’t normally be noticed.”

Clark has been a Young Life leader for three years and decided to become a Capernaum leader after his first encounter with the organization in the summer of 2008.

“I’ve always been really interested in working with kids with special needs, and when I experienced Capernaum at camp I fell in love,” he said. “I came back and found out there’s no Capernaum or any other ministry for kids with special needs in the East Valley, so I looked into starting one.”

He talked to other Young Life leaders and special education majors about starting a group, and made phone calls to leaders of existing Capernaum groups.

Special education junior Elyssa Urquhart was the other key player in getting the group off the ground.

“Being a special education major, I’ve realized that a lot of things are taken for granted. I want to be part of these kids’ lives because no one ever really reaches out to them, and they are just as in need of friends as everyone else,” she said. “These kids need what Young Life has to offer, and I want to help give them that.”

The pair recruited a third special education major, sophomore Joel Duke, last month, followed by two more Young Life leaders they met at a leadership camp.

“I’ve worked at two camps with [Clark and Urquhart] and they said ‘You should lead with us,’” Duke said. “All of a sudden people came to us, and we had leaders and a place to meet, and then moms and then kids that wanted to be part of it. It’s really taking off.”

The group hosted its first event, a Halloween bowling night, at the end of last month.

The leaders passed out fliers at local schools and Special Olympics events, inviting mentally and physically handicapped students and their parents to dress up and join them for a night of games and bowling.

“It was a lot of fun for us and for them,” Duke said. “We have more people interested after that, and one girl even made friends with me on Facebook to tell me she had so much fun she had dreams about it afterward.”

Starting next semester, the group plans to meet with the high school students and adults in their early 20s every Friday night.

Potential events include a red carpet night, a High School Musical themed party and attending summer and winter camps.

All the leaders said they are excited to see where the group will go and look forward to working with the kids.

The kids are not the only ones that benefit from the program, Clark said.

“I feel like I learn so much more from them than anyone else in my life,” he said. “They show me so much because they are just pure love. I’ve learned to appreciate the small things and love who you are.”

Duke agreed that people with special needs have a lot to share.

“All people have some sort of disability, but people who have special needs have theirs on the outside,” Duke said. “The rest of us hide it on the inside, but these people have no choice but to have it out there. They can teach us more than we can ever teach them.”