YOUNGSTOWN Volunteers will come to aid the disadvantaged

The teenagers will complete home repairs and entertain children at parks.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- More than 100 volunteers from six states will repair roofs and porches for city residents, and operate sports camps and other activities for inner-city kids during a weeklong community service project that starts Saturday.
The volunteers are from World Changers, an initiative of the North American Mission Board, which has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of help to senior citizens and low-income families in Youngstown since 1998.
The group will bring between 130 and 175 teenagers from Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Ohio to Youngstown.
The 13-to-19-year-olds will complete repairs for homeowners unable to complete the tasks themselves, and entertain children with games, puppet shows and stories at four parks: Wick, Fosterville, Sheridan and Schenley, said Joe McGeorge, a coordinator for the project.
Donated materials
Sponsored by the Steel Valley Southern Baptist Association, the teenagers will repair the homes using some $10,000 worth of donated materials, McGeorge said.
Since World Changers began doing community service projects in Youngstown, the group has used more than $70,000 worth of construction materials to repair homes, McGeorge said, but it is the time and labor that the kids invest that is most valuable.
This year, participants will repair at least six homes and two nursing homes.
Project sites are selected based on owners' incomes and abilities to complete the repairs.
Jubilee Urban Renewal Corp., which rebuilds deteriorated neighborhoods, and several area churches are partners in the project.
Churches offer lunch
Among the churches that will provide lunches to volunteers at the work sites and provide participants with transportation to Sunday worship services are Prince of Peace Evangelical Lutheran, Berean Fellowship, Alpha & amp; Omega First Baptist, Mount Zion Baptist, New Life Assembly of God, Rising Star Baptist and Metro Assembly of God.
The teen-agers will begin checking in at Eagle Heights Academy, where they will stay, Saturday afternoon.
Since 1990, some 100,000 World Changers volunteers have rehabilitated 7,000 homes in 350 communities worldwide.
kubik@vindy.com