43
Churches’ members improve woman’s home
YOUNGSTOWN
Members of a Virginia and a Cornersburg church spent the week helping improve the house of a city woman who physically is unable to do the work herself.
Ten parishioners of the Cornersburg Baptist Church and 10 from the Amissville Baptist Church in Amissville, Va., painted the house and garage on Stratmore Avenue on the city’s Southwest side. They also put down mulch, planted and landscaped. The church group also installed new exterior steps to the home.
Mayor Charles Sammarone gave proclamations Friday to pastors of both churches thanking them for their efforts. The work was done between Monday and Friday.
“What you did is what we’re trying to get the community to do,” Sammarone said. “This is what we’re looking for. We need the help of the community to better the city.”
The woman, who owns the Stratmore house, lives alone and has cancer, said Maureen O’Neil, the city’s neighborhood improvement coordinator.
The city contacted the woman because her house violated the city’s housing code about not being properly painted, O’Neil said.
“She couldn’t do it herself because of her condition,” she said.
But O’Neil said she was pleased to put the woman in contact with the two church groups.
Other groups that want to help city residents in need of making improvements to their homes and are unable to do the work themselves can call O’Neil at 330-742-9762.
The Amissville church has traveled to numerous cities over the past 12 years doing similar work, said Ed Taylor, its pastor.
“We do this because we desire to give a tangible expression of God’s love,” he said. “By putting our sweat into projects like this, we help people realize God loves them and we love them and that their lives can be changed.”
The Cornersburg church got involved after hearing a guest speaker a few months ago talk about his work helping to improve the properties of the less fortunate, said Pastor Randy Langham.
“It’s a way to make a big change in the community,” he said.