Residents in Grundy and Mercer counties will get help with some exterior home repair, thanks to efforts from a youth group that will be in the area in July.
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Residents in Grundy and Mercer counties will get help with some exterior home repair, thanks to efforts from a youth group that will be in the area in July.
The World Changers, a youth organization associated with the Southern Baptist churches, will be in Trenton July 19-26. A total of 250 middle school, high school and college-age youth, along with 50 adult chaperones, will spend four days working on home projects in Trenton, Princeton and Laredo. They will be working on these projects in conjunction with the city of Trenton and the First Baptist Church of Trenton, who organized their trip to the community.
Sara Campbell has been working with the group as a representative of the church, having gotten involved through her daughter, Alissa, who has been involved in several World Changers project.
“She asked that if we could send groups from here to World Changers, why couldn’t we have them come here,” Mrs. Campbell said. “We talked with Jackie (Soptic) and it kind of just went from there.”
Mrs. Soptic, a member of the Trenton City Council, was eager to jump on the opportunity. As chairman of the Building Board Committee of the city council, Mrs. Soptic has been a proponent of making improvements to structures around town and saw this as an opportunity to accomplish some of the board’s goals.
“It’s been a passion of mine to get the community cleaned up and make it a good place to live,” Mrs. Soptic said. “We’re already doing the demolition project and I saw this as a way to make improvements on homes that need some work, but the homeowners don’t really have the resources to do it.”
An application was made to World Changers, asking them to come to the community. In the meantime, Mrs. Soptic met with Assistant City Administrator for Development Rick Childers, who developed a list of potential projects that the group could do. Once selected, a construction manager employed by World Changers came to Trenton and toured the proposed sites to see whether or not they would be doable for the group.
“We’re looking at doing things like painting, roofing, siding, door and window repair, some concrete work,” Childers said. “It has to be exterior work, there will be nothing done on the inside of these homes.”
Participants in the World Changers program pay to participate, each having to come up with $245. This helps pay the expenses of getting them to the community in which they will work as well as expenses incurred once the group arrives at its destination.
“And the group comes from all over,” Mrs. Campbell said. “This year they are coming from Texas, Indiana, Oklahoma, Illinois, New Mexico, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri and South Carolina.”
Trenton is one of 110 communities throughout the United States where World Changers groups will be at this summer. The Trenton contingent will arrive on Saturday, July 19 and will be making their home in the Trenton Middle School/Trenton High School complex throughout the week. The Trenton R-9 School District will be paid for providing living quarters as well as for morning and evening meals that will be prepared by the school cooks. Noon meals will be provided by local churches who have agreed to assist in the efforts.
“We’ve had really good response,” Mrs. Campbell said, noting 19 churches in Trenton, Laredo, Princeton, Modena, Edinburg, Mercer and Gallatin will be providing food during the week.
Participants will be divided into crews and will be assigned specific projects on which to work. Two of the crews will be at Princeton while a third has been assigned to work at Laredo.
On Sunday, July 20, the crews will attend services at the church which is sponsoring their noon meal during the week. That afternoon, they will meet with the property owner of the home on which they will be working during the week. Mrs. Soptic noted that all homes are owned by the occupant and that no rentals were allowed for the project.
Supplies and materials are being provided by the city of Trenton, through funds it has allocated in the city budget as well as with up to $20,000 in grant money the USDA Rural Development has provided to the homeowners for their individual project. Some donations have also been received and Mrs. Soptic said any contribution from the public would be greatly appreciated.
“The projects that we are doing are ones that if we hadn’t taken them on with World Changers would not have gotten done,” Mrs. Soptic said. “These people could not have afforded to do this otherwise.”
Contributions can be sent to Mrs. Soptic in care of the North Missouri Rural Housing Coalition at PO Box 28, Trenton, MO 64683.
In addition to their work during the week, the World Changers will hold church services each evening, which Mrs. Campbell said are open to the public. The services are a key component of their program.
But it won’t be all work for the World Changers, who will have some down time during their stay. In fact, Wednesday night has been designated “free night,” where the participants will get a chance to take advantage of some of the recreational opportunities the area has to offer.
“We’ve suggested swimming, cookouts, visiting Crowder Park, whatever they might like to do,” Mrs. Campbell said.
The group should finish up its work sometime on July 25 and will leave Trenton on July 26. But it won’t be the last time World Changers will be seen here as Mrs. Campbell said the community has already been approved for another project next year. Trenton and St. Louis are the only Missouri communities who have World Changers groups this year and the organization has also had projects in the past at Jefferson City.
“We feel fortunate to have them here and look forward to their visit,” Mrs. Soptic said. “It will be a great thing for the community.”
By Diane Raynes