THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 18, 1996 TAG: 9602180059
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
In July, more than 400 volunteers from across the country will swarm into town to fix folks' houses for free.
Arriving by bus, van and car, high school students and adult supervisors will go into disadvantaged neighborhoods and work on up to 70 homes that need improvements such as painting, porches and roof repair.
Sleeping on the floors of Northeastern High School, participants in this Christian-based Group Workcamps will pound, paint and build for a week - then vanish as quickly as they came, leaving an improved community behind.
The students, who will pay $315 each to be part of the national Group Workcamps experience, will provide their own transportation and food. The national organization will foot the bill for half of the estimated $30,000 in building materials needed for the project.
All that's required from the community is the other half of the construction costs, some preparation and an enthusiastic welcome, local organizers say.
``I thought this would be a really wonderful tool to bring our community together behind one initiative,'' said Lenora Jarvis-Mackey, president and CEO of the River City Community Development Corp., the non-profit agency coordinating the project locally.
``We've been working on it for a year now,'' Jarvis-Mackey said. ``We've pretty much done all the pre-planning. It's now time to get the community involved.''
A local steering committee is being put together to prepare for the students' summer visit. Subcommittees will identify homes to be repaired, prepare work descriptions, raise matching funds and work on public relations and delivery of building materials.
Everyone will benefit from the project, Jarvis-Mackey said - from the homeowners whose dwellings are made safer and drier, to the merchants who supply materials, to the school support staff who get a week of summer pay at Northeastern.
``We were just talking about what a big boost it's going to be for the community,'' Jarvis-Mackey said.
Group Workcamps, a part of Group Publishing Inc., is a Colorado-based organization that channels church youth groups from around the country to needy communities in the United States and Mexico. The effort began in 1977 when students were rallied to help victims of flooding in Colorado.
Volunteers are divided into teams of six - usually five students to one adult. Each team spends the week renovating a single house. Officials look for projects that are meaningful to residents but can be accomplished by a largely unskilled labor force.
Volunteers take part to enrich their lives by helping others, officials said.
``Across the board, most of the people that come are seeking the opportunity to get beyond some of the things they experience on a day-to-day basis,'' said Stephen Major, a work camp developer who is supervising six of Group Workcamps' 24 projects this summer - including Elizabeth City's.
``They see that as an opportunity to put their Christian faith into action,'' he said, ``to show compassion and kindness to other people who have needs.''
There's a precedent of success for Group Workcamps in the Albemarle. Chowan County hosted the project in July 1992, and the camps have twice worked in Ahoskie.
``It was some of the most fabulous organizing I've ever seen in my life,'' said Gil Johnson, housing director for the 10-county Economic Improvement Council, which oversaw the Edenton-area project. ``How they got that work done in a week is unbelievable.''
``It really hit an area where these people have never had anything done for them,'' Johnson said. ``We had a good reception from the people. . . . These kids are still coming back visiting these families.''
Jarvis-Mackey hopes a warm reception from Elizabeth City will help spread the city's reputation as students return to their homes and churches in regions like the Midwest and Northeast. She'd like the students to be greeted by numerous marquee messages and T-shirts they can take with them.
``There's a lot of small things that we can do, I think,'' she said. ``We're excited about it.''
After the homes that will be repaired are identified - by city officials, nonprofit groups and local churches - a group of experts will be needed to visit each home and prepare work orders.
Other advance work includes rounding up key construction tools, such as ladders and wheelbarrows. Organizers need help filling these gaps, Jarvis-Mackey said.
Those who have experienced the Group Workcamps say the reward will be worth the effort.
As the student volunteers left Edenton in 1992, ``They thanked us for having them,'' Johnson said. ``And I said, `No, it's the other way around.'
``It was well worth it. I'm hoping that they have the success that we had. by CNB