Cleaning up Walker County
High school students volunteer to help needy
ROSSVILLE, Ga. — Some high school youngsters from South Carolina and the Atlanta area came to the northern end of Walker County last week to cut grass, trim trees, tear down rickety porches and build stairs.
In partnership with Project52, a Christian service group that helps clean up local neighborhoods, the students came to the region on a mission trip. They traveled from Myrtle Beach and Columbia, S.C., and Roswell, Ga. Others came from Signal Mountain.
The groups went to homes and yards that had slumped into disrepair: four on Salem Road, as well as some on Wilson Road, LaFayette Drive and Fear Lane. Project52 Director Chris Robinson received the list of suggested houses from the Walker County codes department.
Stricter codes enforcement was a key tenet of Commissioner Shannon Whitfield’s election campaign last year. And since he took office, codes officers have become more aggressive. A county spokesman said officers found 219 violations in April and 318 more in May, a 974 percent increase from the same twomonth period in 2016.
The code officers began this year with strict enforcement in the north end of the county. They will work their way south over time. During door-to-door visits, the
officers told homeowners and renters specific problems that needed to be fixed.
Planning Director David Brown said some of the people the officers met with were unable to fix their yards. They talked with a 43-year-old man who just had open-heart surgery and a single mother making minimum wage who couldn’t afford some heavy-duty fixes to the house.
Brown gave a list of people in need to Robinson, an assistant professor of sociology at Covenant College. Robinson then connected with groups looking for opportunities to help. About 66 students came to Rossville.
“This provides a conduit where we can build relationships with both believers and unbelievers as we serve them,” Robinson said in a news release. “As a local pastor, I’ve participated in overseas mission trips, but mission is right here in our backyard.”
Another group of students will come to the area this week, from Monday through Thursday. Brown said partnerships like this build a bridge between the county officers and the community: It can show that enforcing codes doesn’t have to be confrontational.
“We’re taking an open-minded approach to get everyone on the same page,” he said.
Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at 423757-6476 or tjett@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @LetsJett.