Green Street United Methodist Youth Group

In 1995, the youth of Green Street United Methodist Church decided to get involved in a mission program that would allow them to provide service to low-income individuals and families in the Appalachian region. Once a year, youth ages 13-17, spend their spring vacation traveling thousands of miles to renovate and repair homes.

This youth group travels to a pre-selected Mission Center or community. For the first year of the program, the kids went to the Red Bird Mission in Beverly, KY, where they painted classrooms, installed a coal burning stove, mowed lawns and washed windows. The following year, they went to Lumberton, NC, where they worked to save the home of an elderly resident from being condemned. The teens replaced the roof and broken floor boards, weatherproofed the windows and doors, replaced the screens in the windows and doors, and built new stairs and a new porch.

This past year, the teens went back to North Carolina, where they installed a roof, repaired kitchen cabinets and built a deck, stairs and ramp for a cancer victim.

Each teen personally raises the funds necessary for travel and room and board. This past year, in addition to the funds for themselves, the teens also decided to raise funds to pay for their chaperones and transportation.