LAWRENCE COUNTY 386 teens to come to area to lend a hand in home repair

There is no cost to the homeowner; campers' fees pay for the supplies.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The logistics are just mind-boggling.
Two-hundred fifty-eight gallons of paint, 484 pounds of nails and screws, 766 pieces of wood -- all to be used in a week's time by hundreds of young people converged on Lawrence County.
A Reach Workcamp is planned here for next Sunday to June 28. The event is a nondenominational Christian camp for junior high and high school pupils that's designed to help low-income people while offering spiritual growth and self-esteem boosts to young people.
During the six days they'll be here, 386 young people will make repairs to 45 homes.
They are coming from Michigan, New Jersey, Maryland, Kentucky, Ohio and other parts of Pennsylvania to participate in one of the largest home repair blitzes in Lawrence County's history.
"I think this will provide some help for people and some encouragement. It shows that young people care," said Bob Stanley, youth pastor of Bethel United Presbyterian Church in Enon Valley.
Stanley, who has taken church youth groups to other Reach work camps, is helping coordinate next week's effort. The youths will help make repairs to homes throughout the county, including New Castle, Pulaski Township and Ellwood City.
Homeowners pay nothing
There is no cost to the homeowner, and supplies are bought with the $340 fee each camper pays to attend, said Paul Richardson of Reach Ministries, a Colorado-based organization. Lawrence County commissioners also committed $20,000 from the county's affordable housing fund to help pay for some costs.
Richardson traveled to Lawrence County twice in the past year and visited all of the homes getting repairs. Work includes painting, roofing, drywall repair, building handicapped-accessible ramps, replacing siding and gutters and repairing porches. Trained adults will supervise the youths at each site.
There are no requirements for the families that Reach serves, but they do look for low-income residents.
"It seems like we will be working with a lot of elderly people. At one point they were doing well and had the funds coming in and it just seems like funds are running low now. They can put food on the table and clothes on their backs, but when it comes to home repairs, there is no money left," Richardson said.
Lawrence County Social Services helped Reach identify those in need.
Long list
Deborah Hennon, director of supportive housing program for LCSS, said each year her organization has a long waiting list of residents who need home repairs. The county gets state and federal money for home repair projects, but it's never enough to help all who need it, she added.
"This will help the most needy people in our area. A large percentage of our houses [in Lawrence County] were built immediately after World War I. We have beautiful old homes, but they need work," Hennon said.
Richardson said all of the supplies, about $20,000 worth, will be bought locally.
The young people will be staying at Mohawk High School and participating in Christian youth programs in the evenings.
Each night there is a slide show of the young people's work that day and dramas with some common theme.
This year the theme is "The Anchor Holds," which includes a replica of a 17th-century ship that will be constructed in the school gymnasium.