Youth mission team gives local residents a hand

Friday, June 20, 2008
Workers from the Arbor Long United Methodist Church in Fort Worth, Texas prepare the posts for a wheelchair ramp at Alice Smith's residence on East Vernon. Members from the church -- 50 high school students and 30 adult advisors -- are in the area completing a list of projects around the area. The group is staying in the United Methodist Church during their time in Nevada. --Photo by Steve Moyer/Daily Mail

There are a lot of Texans in town this week -- mostly teenagers, all from the Arbor Long United Methodist Church, in Fort Worth. The Texans have split up into small work groups and have a list of chores they are doing for Vernon County residents. While they're here, the group is staying at the United Methodist Church, on College Street, in Nevada.

The 80 congregants -- 50 high school students and 30 adult advisors -- are putting in six wheelchair ramps, painting a house, repairing kitchen cabinets and other chores for those who need a little help, according to Abby Flukes, who is leading the effort.

"This is something we're doing through our conference, it's the Central Texas Conference Youth Mission," Flukes said. "The area it covers is from Fort Smith, Ark., north to about here." We have a list of things that need to get done and we're doing what we can. I've heard from some that say they didn't know about this and didn't get a request in but we're adding them to the list and we'll try to get all the projects finished before we have to leave."

Wednesday a group was at the home of Alice Smith, who needed a wheelchair ramp. Smith sat on the porch of her house and chatted with the group and thanked them for their help.

"I really appreciate what these young people are doing," Smith said. "It will really help out."

The group at Smith's house included two adults, Kris Hamilton and Cindy Merritt. The students included Chance Newman, Ben Cody, Hailey Rubin, Abby Sieverling, Paige Campbell and Andrew Hindle.

"Kris is our guru," Merritt said. "The kids do a lot of the work but they need Kris to show them how."

The group was in the process of putting wooden posts in holes then adding cement as Hamilton oversaw the operation.

"Put a little cement on one side, then the other," Hamilton advised the workers. "If you put in cement on just one side it is heavy enough to move the post out of line."

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