Thanks to 154 students at Silverdale Baptist Church, the 3800 block of Clio Avenue in East Lake is looking a bit spiffier this week.
The youth, as part of the congregation’s Global Impact Celebration, partnered with the Nehemiah Project to adopt the block, on which a Habitat for Humanity home is being built, last weekend.
“We thought, ‘Here comes a new home owner. Let’s help them out,'” said Beth Pittman Trussell, executive director of the Nehemiah Project and Front Porch Alliance. “We wanted to give all their neighbors a face-lift, a little freshen-up.”
She said middle- and high-school students painted, cleaned gutters, repaired shutters, hauled off trash and did yard work.
Randy Thomas, student pastor at Silverdale Baptist, said youth of his church have been involved in similar projects around Chattanooga for years. But this year, some 700 to 800 church members, from teenagers to senior adults, scattered across the city to work on various projects as part of the congregation’s missions emphasis.