Changing the world

Starting with a North Carolina-style barbecue dinner Saturday at Rockingham County High School, a host of local volunteers and supporters welcome more than 300 youths and adults from across the U.S. and Canada to Rockingham County.
That dinner serves as the prelude to eight days of hard work for this year’s group of World Changers volunteers.
“They’ll help a lot of folks in Jesus’ name that week,” said the Rev. Randy Jessup, pastor of First Baptist Church of Mayodan, one of 26 local churches hosting World Changers from July 27 through July 4.
This is the second consecutive year World Changers has come to Rockingham County. The faith-based project involves middle school, high school and college students in service opportunities across the United States. This year, more than 23,000 participants will be involved in about 1,700 community work projects at nearly 100 locations.
Sponsored by the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, the project’s primary purpose is to provide renovation and remodeling of housing for low-income individuals and families. The approach involves helping participating youths increase their faith and develop mission-minded lifestyles, while providing a valuable service to communities nationwide.
“While providing labor and assistance in renovation projects for substandard homes owned by low-income homeowners, these young people will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience Rockingham County during this week,” said Janet Rakestraw.
Rakestraw, the associational coordinator for World Changers of Rockingham County, said the 310 young people headed to Rockingham County would pay $260 apiece for the privilege of working 26 projects in homes across the county.
“These young men and women give up a week of their time and a lot of money just to come here and help others,” she said. “We even have a group of 30 young people coming from Canada among this year’s group. I know they’ll love our accents as much as we will theirs.”
Rakestraw knows the hard work and feeling of accomplishment first hand. She has been involved with World Changers for the past 14 years.
“I started with the program when my kids were in middle school,” Rakestraw said. “They aged out of the program, but I didn’t.”
While the students have to cover the cost of their travel and some housing, the cost of building materials for the projects is usually covered by donations from individuals, businesses or corporate partners. But this year’s projects will be funded through a $50,000 Rural Development grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Since the grant only funds projects in rural communities, a lot of this year’s work sites will be in the western part of the county,” Rakestraw said. “Housing in the city limits of Eden or Reidsville wouldn’t qualify. So the grant funds will go for projects in the county or more rural communities.”
The youth volunteers will stay at Rockingham County High School during the week, with the boys sleeping on the math hall and the girls on the English hall.
“We don’t mix the pink and blue,” said Rakestraw.
Although there will be time for rest and relaxation, the week’s schedule requires a lot more dedication and discipline than most summer vacations. Breakfast is served each morning at 6:15 a.m. and the crews roll out to their work sites at 7 a.m. A worship service is held each evening at 7:30 p.m. and the lights are out at 11 p.m.
“It’s a lot of hard work, but the rewards are amazing for everyone involved,” Rakestraw said. “The young people leave here with a lot of new friends and a new respect for missions.”
One of the first exciting times during the week occurs Sunday when the young people discover to which team they are assigned. Rakestraw said that youths from the same church or region are usually placed in different teams to provide more interaction with the entire group.
“We try to place youths from the same church in pairs on teams, so a 10-person team would be made up of two each from five different churches,” she said.
With 24 initial projects, there will be 25 teams of 8 to 15 members depending on the scope of the work. The work ranges from painting and house repair, to construction of handicapped ramps or roofing.
Each team will have an adult crew chief experienced in the area of construction needed for the project. Each team will also have a sponsoring church in the area of the project to provide support and lunch for the work crew.
“This provides the church an opportunity for service and the young people with a chance to interact with members of the local community,” Rakestraw said.
Next week’s visit to Rockingham County is one of five World Changers projects in North Carolina this summer and one of 101 across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.