The group arrived in Springfield on Sunday to start the projects that will take place through Friday. The work includes interior and exterior painting, cleaning, staining decks, building porches, building wheelchair ramps and more.
“Youth grow in their faith while serving, and gain and learn valuable life skills,” said community volunteer Kim Fitzgerald. “The community residents we are serving are elderly, disabled, low income or veterans. They get much-needed home repairs for free.”
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church youth group members have been going on missions with Group Mission Trips for the past nine years, except for 2020 during COVID-19.
“As chaperones for our youth group, we all agreed that the mission trip seemed like a good fit for the Springfield area,” Fitzgerald said. “The community has supported us wholeheartedly from the very start.”
Last year, the group reached out to Group Mission Trips to consider Springfield as one of the locations. The criteria in order to be considered included having a local sponsor, lodging for the kids and raising at least $20,000 locally for project supplies.
The kids are lodging at Springfield High School, the local sponsor is the Nehemiah Foundation and several donors— including the Springfield VFW Post 1031, the Crabill Family Foundation, Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church and Covenant Presbyterian Church, as well as several individual and families — helped raise more than $30,000.
The teens and their chaperones are staying in a designated wing of Springfield High School, which was selected because of its size, amenities and central location.
“We’re glad to open our doors to this group as they selflessly serve the greater Springfield community,” said Amy Stacy, executive director of strategic initiatives for the school district.
The local church started taking applications last fall from residents and received more than 60 applications. To complete the camp goal of all 60 projects, it would have required about 400 kids. Since 250 kids are able to help with this mission, they are scheduled to do 30 of those projects in the area.
At four of the house selected for work, the projects the students will be doing include painting the entire exterior, repairing, scraping and staining a deck; removing and replacing the railing on a deck, painting the outside of a garage and shed and painting the interior of a sunroom; removing a makeshift wheelchair ramp that was constructed by a husband-and-wife team using scraps, pallets and a broken-down bunk bed, and building a new porch and wheelchair ramp to code; and painting the exterior of a house.
Work started on Monday and will continue through Friday. The group also holds worship at 7 p.m. each day, and all Springfield residents the group served this week will be invited on Friday.
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