Workcamp for Lincoln provides 120,000 hours of service to the community

 

[July 07, 2024] 

On Monday, July 1st, Todd Henry representing Workcamp for Lincoln offered up some closing information to the Lincoln City Council.

He noted that the 2024 Workcamp for Lincoln was now it the books, with the kids having been in Lincoln and Logan County in the third week of June. He said that there were 230 youth workers and adult staff. They represented 13 churches and other groups from nine states. Kids came to Logan County from as far away as Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa, Nebraska and South Carolina.

He said in the bigger scheme of the project, the 230 youth were only a portion of all the people that were involved in the week long home repair program. He began with Open Arms Church. He said the previous visit from the Mission Group Trips, Lincoln Christian University had provided a dorm for the kids. This year, with Open Arms being the owners of the university property, the church had also opened its dorm building to the kids and the staff. He said he was grateful for this contribution because the youth are typically house in school gymnasiums on inflatable mattresses with no air conditioning. He said having comfortable rooms and beds for their nights’ rest had been a great asset to the entire workforce.

He said what had been lacking at Open arms was a kitchen, but food had been catered in primarily by Heather at Flossie & Delzena’s, but there were many others who also contributed including Sorrento’s, Daphnes, Stuffed Aria, Culvers, Happy Wok, Boomers Barbecue, Deep Roots, Nut Hatch Barbecue, Top Hat Creamery, Guzzardo’s, and Guest House Coffee and Pastries. He said that everyone had just come together and pitched it to make it all happen.

He said locally, there were about 50 volunteers who filled various roles including helping with food delivery and just doing whatever needed to be done. He added that there were 12 men who came to be called the “Green Shirt Guys” who were local that had work experience in home improvement and carpentry who were on hand at the sights to make sure that projects were done correctly, and also offer instruction as needed. Henry said that the green shirts had been invaluable because a lot of the kids had no experience in this type of work, but the green shirts were their teachers and encouragers.

He said there were many sponsors, donors, contributors of money, materials and more and he was grateful for each one.

Statistically he said this year there were 35 teams who completed 34 home projects. He said there were eight wheelchair ramps built. Other projects included dry wall installation, porches, painting and roofing.

He said that all the projects made a big difference in the life of the recipient homeowners. He said he wanted to share two in particular. The first was a lady who had mobility issues to the point that she was unable to leave her home. He said it was even to the point where that 9-1-1 had to be called from time to time to help her out of the house to go to medical appointments. For this home, the youth build a new wheel chair ramp that will take the lady from her back door all the way down to where the car is parked, making it possible for her to not only go to doctors appointments, but also to just get out of the house from time to time.

He said the second person, was one whom under normal circumstances would have been handy enough and very well capable of doing his own home improvements. However, health issues had put this resident in a situation where he could no longer do that kind of physical labor. Henry said it was a hard thing for this particular person to accept help because he is the kind who would normally been giving the help. But he had, and the group had done an excellent job painting the home as well as building a new front porch on the home. He said that at the time the work was underway, the homeowner was in the hospital, and Henry joked with some that he was afraid the homeowner may drive right by the house when he came home, not recognizing it as his own.

Henry also mentioned Chicago Street Rentals who donated equipment. He said that in building the ramps and other projects, it was necessary to dig post holes. He said yes there is that old fashioned hand model that can build great character, but he felt like surely they could find other ways to build character, so they got a driller from Chicago Street Rentals. He said the tool was not only easier and quicker, it was very popular with the kids.

RP Lumber was also great to work with on supplies as well as Sherwin Williams in Lincoln.

As Henry began to wrap up he told the council that having done workcamps for the past 26 years all around the country, he knew that it was typical to say at the end of the week that all the assigned projects were at least 95 percent completed, but most of the time, not fully completed.

He said he was happy to share that of the 34 projects taken on in Lincoln and Logan County not one was left unfinished. He said to have a 100 percent completion rate was pretty incredible.

Nearing his conclusion Henry said he had done the math. With the youth and volunteers, 21,200-manhours had been donated to home repair projects in the community. He said even calculating those hours at minimum wage, the figure was impressive.

He finished saying that he had also appreciated the community support for the kids. He said that it was not uncommon for folks driving by to wave out their windows, shout out greetings, and thank the kids for coming to Lincoln and Logan County.

Henry thanked the city for its support of the project as well as the entire community, saying that it had been a very good experience, and was good for the homeowners and the community on the whole.

[Nila Smith]