Program to help young men in need
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.”
Before, the garage was in rough condition, said Mike Barton, the Meridian Presbyterian Church assistant pastor and youth director.
The bench area increases the opportunities for the instructor to teach lessons in carpentry, wiring, electricity and car maintenance, Barton said.
For young men who are not criminals or drug users who were kicked out of their homes or do not have a place to go, the home is there for them, he said.Each student will have his own tool bench and a set of tools that he will take with him once he exits the program.The church youths walked away with life lessons as they saw another culture and how people live, Barton said.“Oftentimes our kids are well taken care of and grew up in good homes and not with a lot of needs in life. To go to another community and see people that have needs or don't have two cars and two working parents and to see their struggles is an eye opener,” he said.Children from sixth grade to 12th grade are at a time when they are learning about their own identity and their place in society, Barton said, adding the trip contributed to their development.“It's good for them to see that and experience being able to provide for other people,” he said. “Their faith is challenged a little and world view gets challenged.”Traditionally, the youths take a mission trip during the summer, said Barton, who took the position in October. He also tries to do a group mission project once a month during the school year.
One example of their mission work is every third Sunday, the youths along with other area churches help provide a community lunch to the homeless population in downtown Butler and a community dinner.Faith and good works are connected, Barton said.“Providing for our community is what we're told in the Bible to do,” he said. “We're supposed to reach out to those in need.”Volunteering means doing God's work, Robyn said.“They don't just volunteer to get something out of it,” she said. “They want to help people and not just take for themselves.”Robyn encouraged others to volunteer.“It would be great idea to have more teens volunteer and help the community,” she said. “Even if it's a little thing that they're doing in the town or if it's a bigger mission trip to help people.”
