World Changers descend upon Rockingham County

They came from near and far to make a difference in the lives of Rockingham County residents. They are the World Changers team, and they showed up bright and early at their work sites Monday morning to begin working on houses in need of repair.

“This is the first time I’ve done any type of manual labor,” said Season Hayes of Manassas, Va. By Monday afternoon, the first day of the project, she had done “a lot of nailing” and torn shingles off the roof of a home at 149 Payless Road, just outside Reidsville.

“I love my crew. We all get along really, really well,” said Hayes. “And the lady who lives here is so nice.”

Mozelle Darby, who owns the house at 149 Payless Road, said her roof had been leaking for “a long while,” so she is thrilled to have a World Changers team working this week to install a new one.

“They’re a Godsend,” she said. “They are just so nice and they are so religious.”

Darby said her house was chosen as one of the projects because she had been turned down for insurance because of her roof.

World Changers is a wonderful organization, she said, and she thinks it’s wonderful that teenagers give up their carefree summers to help people “in bad need.”

Daniel Tolodziecki, a recent graduate of Rockingham County High School, said he’s glad he got to be a member of a World Changers team for the second year in a row.

“It’s really been a good experience. I’m really glad I got to come back,” he said. “It’s really different from any of the other mission trips I’ve ever been on. It’s really neat to do this work in my community. It’s really a good witness to the community.”

The World Changers crews, comprised primarily of teenagers, actually paid about $260 to do work for a week during the summer. Tolodziecki said he doesn’t know many teenagers who would sacrifice a week of their summer to do construction projects without pay, but for him, the experience has been worthwhile. He said he has gained so much out of his World Changers experience, including meeting new people and making friends.
Not to mention making an impact on the life of a homeowner in Rockingham County.

Cheryl and John Galloway, owners of a house at 1891 U.S. Highway 158 east of Reidsville, got some help on their home repair projects from a World Changers crew. The crew installed a small deck at the back of the house and did repair work to the front porch. John said the deck will make it easier to go through the back door and come around the side of the house. He said the house is “probably 100 years old” and needs a lot of work. The Galloways moved into the home after John’s mother passed away in 1991. The World Changers crew made a good impression on Cheryl.

“They’re friendly people – really, really nice,” she said.

Some of the crew members working on the Galloways’ home were from Westfield, N.C., but two came all the way from Ottawa, Canada. Ally Lamothe of Ottawa said she decided to do World Changers to “help people out.” She and Nick Brown, a fellow World Changers crew member, go to the same church in Ottawa. Brown said he has previously done World Changers projects in Canada, but this is his first time doing a project here in the U.S.

“You just make lots of good friends and come closer to God,” he said.

Jim Richland, youth pastor of Westfield Baptist Church, said the World Changers trip had strengthened the relationships among his youth group members.

“Our group has gotten very close since we got here,” he said.

Courtney Ramey, a member of the youth group, said she had enjoyed the World Changers project more than past work projects. Last year, she said she worked on a project at an abandoned house in South Carolina in which she mainly pulled up weeds. With the World Changers crew, she learned about construction and even how to mix concrete.

The crew of 267 World Changers worked hard, but it wasn’t all work and no play. The group stayed at Rockingham County High School and participated in activities that helped them get to know each other.

“Me and my friend Emily Anderson, we meet a bunch of people we don’t know and we all play volleyball. We just go out to the court and pick up a game,” said Hayes. She and Anderson go to the same high school in Manassas and are both members of the volleyball team.

When World Changers volunteers come to town, the whole community gets involved. Mary Neal said her church, Grooms Chapel Missionary Baptist, is participating as a host for the first time.

“It’s been a great experience,” she said. “The whole church is participating.”

Neal said her church has a new pastor, Rev. Kevin Sturdivant, who played a role in getting involved.

“He’s really into community outreach,” she said.

As a host, the church invites the volunteers for worship services and provides lunch each day at the work site. The church also took the World Changers team out to eat at Golden Corral on Sunday.

This year marks the second time a World Changers team has come to Rockingham County. World Changers is a ministry of the North American Mission Board (Southern Baptist Convention.) World Changers anticipates meeting its goal of working on more than 20,000 homes by the end of this summer.