Group's mission: To help fix homes

Members are still searching for people in need of home repairs.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- It will be the largest home-repair blitz Lawrence County has ever seen, a county community development official says.
About 400 young people and adults will take part in a Group Workcamps Foundation mission camp in the county from July 29 through Aug. 4.
Lawrence County Community Action Partnership, part of Lawrence County Social Services, is coordinating the program. It is expected to help 60 to 70 homeowners that week with free practical home repairs, including installing handicap ramps, interior and exterior painting, weatherization and other repairs.
Jennifer Elliott, the agency's community development coordinator, said the county's high population of needy elderly is what made this work camp attractive.
She said the community action partnership has a housing rehabilitation program, but there is typically a five-year waiting list. Currently there are 129 people on that list.
Another program that primarily provides handicap-accessible ramps to the needy has a waiting list with 102 people on it.
And even a local yearly work camp, His Hands Ministry, operated by area churches has a waiting list of 95 homes needing repairs, she said.
So the blitz of young people next summer should go a long way toward helping the community, Elliott said.
Started in 1977
Joel Fay, president of Group Workcamps Foundation, said the organization got its start in 1977 after more than 12 inches of rain fell on Loveland, Colo., destroying homes, washing away roads and killing 140 people.
Group Publishing, a Christian book publishing company, called on 300 local youths and their church leaders to help rebuild those homes.
Since then the program has grown with more than 250,000 youths taking part over the years. Next summer, there will be more than 250 work camps across the United States and Canada.
The youths will be staying at Union High School during the week, where they will get some nondenominational spiritual guidance before going to work and in the evenings, Fay said.
Fay said they will be split into groups of four or five with at least one adult. The groups expect to spend the entire week at one home making repairs.
Group Workcamps provide opportunities for youths as young as 12, but the Lawrence County camp will be for youths 14 and older, he said. The cost per camper is 419, and about 30 of that will go toward supplies. The rest will pay for the coordination efforts, food and other necessities.
The rest of the money for supplies will come from the county's Affordable Trust Fund -- money derived from a fee paid for every deed recorded in the county, Elliott said.
Phone number
Elliott said they are still seeking elderly people in need of home repairs. Anyone interested can call Lawrence County Community Action at (724) 658-7258.
And while the homeowners are getting some valuable home repairs, those making the repairs will be getting something as well.
"It give the kids an opportunity to help people and, at the same time, they grow closer to God," Fay said.
cioffi@vindy.com