Christian carpentry group set to return to Woonsocket
WOONSOCKET – For the second time in as many years, a Colorado-based Christian group will send several hundred teen-aged volunteers to the city this summer to do free home repairs for veterans, senior citizens, the disabled and low-income households.
Last summer, Group Mission Trips dispatched more than 400 teens who completed 54 projects about the city, including exterior painting, staircase improvements, light carpentry and weatherization.
Group Mission Trips is hoping to do at least as many projects with a similar contingent during the week of July 2428, according to Meghan Rego, spokeswoman for NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley, a partner in the venture.
“It was really well received last year and we’ve had fantastic feedback,” said Rego. “Even a year later we still have people reflecting positively on the program and the impact it’s had on them and their homes.”
The reaction was so positive that NeighborWorks already has a backlog of applicant homeowners who will have to wait until a 2018 installment of the Thundermist Woonsocket mission camp before they’ll be able to get any work done through the program.
After opening the application period earlier this month, Rego said, it took only about 15 days for NeighborWorks to max out its labor capacity for the week.
“We’ve already received about 125 applications and we’ve had to shut down applications for this year,” she said. “Last year we were going door to door to tell people about the program and asking them to apply. This year I think the reputation preceded it.”
As long as applicants meet eligibility requirements and the requested repairs
are within the scope of expertise of the Group Mission Trips’ work crews, projects will be done in the order in which applications were received, according to Rego.
“It’s kind of a first-come, first-serve basis, but ultimately it will be up to Group Mission Trips to cut a final list of the projects we’re able to work on,” she said. “Ideally, it’s going to be the people who are most in need.”
NeighborWorks is committed to arranging a visit from Group Mission Trips every year, so this summer’s installment will be followed by others in 2018 and beyond if all goes according to plan, Rego said.
One lesson from last year’s inaugural experience is that participants in Group Mission Trips, for safety reasons, aren’t allowed to climb ladders higher than 28 feet. NeighborWorks had to hire out pri- vate contractors to finish painting the top stories of some multi-families, taking on an unforeseen expense. So volunteers will eschew such projects this year – unless homeowners hire private contractors to finish painting above the benchmark.
As they did last year, the youngsters from Group Mission Trips will camp out in sleeping bags on floors of the Woonsocket Middle School at Hamlet while they’re in the city under an arrangement that was approved by the School Committee.
“They will be staying at the middle school, except for one day when some of them will be staying at our church,” said School Committeewoman Valerie Gonzalez, pastor of Calvary Worship Center and wife of Bishop Herson Gonzalez.
While the Group Mission Trips contingent is here, its schedule is pretty much booked – breakfast in the school cafeteria is followed by a religious service, a pep-talk or some other group activity before participants fan out to job sites in neighborhoods until mid-afternoon
Project crews generally consist of six youths – the average age is about 15 years old – who work under the supervision of an adult leader, although more hands are sometimes deployed for certain labor-intensive jobs.
Group Mission Trips was founded over 40 years ago after a Christian group assembled volunteers to pitch in after a devastating flood in Colorado. The organization now serves as a clearinghouse to assemble young do-gooders from myriad church groups to perform faith-based community service work around the globe – about 20,000 volunteers a year in all.
Volunteers for the Thundermist Woonsocket mission camp actually pay nearly $500 each for the privilege of participating in the local event.