Helping A Community: Youth Groups From Across The U.S. Travel To Hamilton Co.

HAMILTON CO., Ind. — The sound of hammers, electric saws, and laughter fill a small mobile home park in Noblesville, as a group of teenagers from Nebraska volunteer to help a woman fix up her deck and garden.

“Maria, our resident, is huge on gardening and repurposing for the environment,” said Kora Dykstra, a volunteer from Rejoice Lutheran Church in Omaha. “So, we wanted to help her.”

Dykstra was helping plant tomatoes while others in the group worked on placing new wooden boards on Maria’s deck. Dykstra said when Maria is in her garden she’ll always visit with the volunteers as they work.

“She grows cactuses and she broke off pieces of her cactus so that we could bring it home and remember her,” she said. “I think it’s just so cool that it’s just a full circle of helping each other.”

Dykstra’s group is one of 33 crews working on 26 sites across Hamilton Co. in partnership with Group Mission Trips and CrossRoads Church at Westfield.

For one week around 200 volunteers from 12 youth groups in eight different states participate in workcamps to fix up homes for people in need, like veterans and the elderly. They help construct wheelchair ramps, repair porches and decks, and paint alongside the adults in their groups.

“Usually by Monday afternoon, or Tuesday, they (the residents) are so in love with these kids,” said Director for Group Mission Trips in Westfield, Beth Taylor. “When they find out that the campers have paid to come and do volunteer work it’s really an emotional thing for them. They just can’t believe there are kids in the world, and people that would do something like this.”

The residents don’t pay for the labor or materials. The volunteers do the work, and CrossRoads Church provides funding for the materials used to repair the homes.

Then at the end of each day the crews return to Westfield Middle School to reflect on the day’s successes.

“I love it,” said Dykstra with a smile. “It’s so fun, and I’ll always remember it. I’m definitely coming back for years and years and years.”

Listen to the full interview with Kora Dykstra here: