Thanks to the hard work of the Columbus Baptist Church, nearly 400 teen and adult volunteers from all over the United States — and 40 from Japan — spent a week in northern Burlington County building wheelchair ramps, painting, and making other repairs to over 50 area homes.
Andrew Bermudez, the church’s youth pastor, organized the week-long service project, along with the help of many members of the church. They coordinated the event through Group Cares (groupcares.org), an international organization that matches service project hosts with volunteers.
In Bordentown Township, a volunteer team lead by Jerry Gehman of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, built a wheelchair ramp.
”The gentleman who lives here hasn’t been out of the house in three months,” explained Mr. Gehman, “but he’ll use this ramp to come to the program at church tonight,” celebrating the end of the week of service, which ran from July 29 to Aug. 4.
”It’s a blessing,” said Susan McIntyre of Bordentown City. A member of Columbus Baptist Church, Mrs. McIntyre was working on fundraising for the project when organizers asked if they could assign a team to do some work at her home. She first declined, saying “there were other people that needed it more, but God knew better!”
While repairing a side porch, volunteers noticed some serious damage. They called on the expertise of a Group Cares “site coach” who evaluated the situation and brought in some volunteers who were experienced carpenters to repair the problem.
At each work site, there is at least one adult youth leader to supervise the work of five to eight teens. Rachel Zarrilli, a youth leader from Connecticut, has led several groups on these mission trips. “The Holy Spirit moves me to do so,” she said with a smile.
Kim Hannah, a teen volunteer from Lancaster, was on her first mission trip. When asked if she’d recommend the experience to other teens, she replied, “They should do it, because it’s fun helping people.”
”It would be my pleasure,” said Chris Choi from Long Island, to come back to New Jersey again. This was his fifth mission trip.
Youth groups looking to volunteer can choose a destination from the list on Group Cares’ website. Quite a lot of groups chose the project hosted by the Columbus Baptist Church because New Jersey is such a central location. Volunteers have a half-day off in the middle of the week. Some went to Philadelphia, others to New York City or Hurricane Harbor.
The teen volunteers and their adult chaperones camped at Tabernacle Baptist Church and St. Paul’s Church, both in Burlington City, for the week. Members of Columbus Baptist Church spent many months raising funds, identifying work sites, and planning all aspects of the project.