During their group trip to Altoona, six Meridian Presbyterian Church youths helped to refurbish and organize a garage into a classroom complete with an 8-foot workbench.

With the stroke of a brush, Robyn Freund transformed a rundown garage into a new classroom.

“I wanted to help people in need,” said Robyn, a Butler High School junior, 17. “I work on a farm, so it was nothing new to me.”

During their group trip to Altoona, six Meridian Presbyterian Church youths helped to refurbish and organize a garage into a classroom complete with an 8-foot workbench they constructed themselves in mid-June for the Lionheart Program, a home for disadvantaged young men, ages 18-24.

Joining with another church group from Florida, the 16 youths at the site worked to put new paint on the walls, floor and ceiling, install new lights and landscape the area around a house.

They also worked to prime the floor in case of future spills, Robyn said. She brought along her cousin who is visiting from Guatemala this summer.

“It was awesome,” she said. “I was so happy to help them.”

This is an excerpt from a story in Thursday's Butler Eagle.