Talk about a handyman on call. Almost 150 of them from five states descended on Chattanooga this week to help low-income home owners and churches in the area with repairs and upkeep.
Although this week’s volunteer group was the largest to date, work crews of 40 to 50 people are working in the area for eight weeks this summer through Hope for the Inner City.
“With the economy the way it is, many low-income homeowners don’t have the luxury of picking up the phone and calling the landlord,” said Robert Blevins, leaderships development coordinator for the organization.
The Urban Ministry Teams began under the guidance of New City Fellowship Church in the 1980s, then continued under the church-launched Hope for Chattanooga 13 years ago and under the merger of Hope for Chattanooga and Inner City Ministries in 2007.
The summer work crews, from Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia this week, are mostly junior high and high school students. The majority of the work is being done — throughout the eight weeks — for elderly or widowed residents in the East Chattanooga area who have applied for help through their neighborhood associations.
This week’s teams painted, hung Sheetrock, repaired exterior siding, installed carpet, built a wheelchair ramp, erected a safety barrier and did yard work.
Typically, Mr. Blevins said, the Urban Ministry Teams will come in contact with 20 to 25 home owners per summer.
While similar groups take on a little bit of work at a lot of houses for a week, he said, the Hope for Inner City teams concentrate on doing more extensive work in a concentrated area over a longer period of time.
This summer’s crews also have worked on the homes of Powerhouse Ministries and Rock Island Baptist Church in East Chattanooga and Life Transforming Ministries Church of God in St. Elmo.
Pastor Dervin Brown of Life Transforming Ministries (the former Wilson Street Community Church) said his small congregation has occupied its building only 10 months, so much work needed to be done.
He said the Hope for Inner City crews have painted, done minor renovations and erected a barrier to protect people from the ledge of a nearby creek.
“It’s just awesome to see young people learning the value of service, the importance of giving to the community, of representing Christ’s hands extended,” he said. “The kids have had a good attitude — toward the work and the service.”
Jim DeRuischer said he and his wife have brought senior high youth groups from Harvest Church in Grand Rapids, Mich. (in the Orthodox Presbyterian denomination), to Chattanooga for nine straight years.
He said he and his wife wanted a project in which their youth would get more than simply a labor-intensive mission trip.
“We wanted something to really stretch our kids in thinking about their faith,” Mr. DeRuischer said, “for them to understand how and why they do those projects.”
This year, in addition to cleaning some buildings at the Harriet Tubman Development and doing roofing, painting, flooring and plumbing work in Glenwood, they have offered one-hour neighborhood Bible clubs during the evenings.
The youth, Mr. DeRuischer said, spread out a blue tarpaulin, sing, tell a story, offer a salvation message, work on a craft with the children and have a snack with them.
“It all ties together,” he said. “We talk about Jesus to these kids and give them hope in Christ.”
The Urban Ministry Teams self-finance their trips and the work they do, according to Mr. Blevins, and stay during the week at Hope for Inner City’s bunkhouses in East Chattanooga.
“(The) program allows school and church groups to experience inner-city life first hand for a week,” he said, “while offering a helping hand.”