Volunteers to help repair homes in Huntsville
Kristin Edwards
Staff Reporter
Armed with hammers, paintbrushes and spiritual tools, a division of the national
United Methodist Action Reach-out Mission by Youth, known as U.M. ARMY, will
spend one week helping the less fortunate in Huntsville.
“From June 3 through June 9, approximately 80 high school youth, college-age
assistants and adults will go out and work on people’s homes,” said Vicki
Pruitt, administrative coordinator at Atascosita United Methodist Church in
Humble. “The kids do all of the work with adult supervision, and they work very
hard.”
The participants not only volunteer to do the work, but they also pay almost
$200 each to attend the mission camp, which is used for the tools and materials
needed to make the improvements.
Volunteers will focus on the homes of handicapped or elderly citizens, or any
other family that is financially unable to pay for needed repairs.
“We’ll build wheelchair ramps, replace screens and repair broken window panes,”
said Henry Pruitt, camp director. “We’ll also do painting, some Sheetrock and
minor roofing repair, mow yards and weed flowerbeds.”
Scott Atnip and Shannon Atnip, the youth minister from Wesley Memorial UMC, have
worked as the coordinators for the week.
Wesley Memorial UMC will be the home church for the volunteers who travel to
Huntsville.
“They’ve been really helpful,” Henry Pruitt said. “Scott works with Huntsville’s
Promise, and he’s the one that’s gotten us all of our projects to do. We’ll
probably repair and maintain 30 to 35 homes.”
Groups will come to Wesley Memorial UMC from four different churches, each from
different Texas cities.
“Our church is Atascosita UMC from Humble,” Henry Pruitt said. “We will also
have participants from Tomball UMC in Tomball, Aldersgate UMC from Sante Fe and
Cokesbury UMC from Houston.”
According to Henry Pruitt, the week will be as much of a spiritual experience as
it will be a work week.
The volunteers will start each day with a morning devotional, will hold a
lunchtime devotional with the clients whose homes receive attention and will
finish the day with an evening devotional and activities.
“Part of the focus of the mission is for them to witness, and it’s also pretty
amazing how many of the people they go to work for end up witnessing back to
them,” Vicki Pruitt said. “It’s a great experience, and it’s a win-win situation
for everyone involved.”
Henry Pruitt said that as an adult leader of the camp, he has also seen and
experienced aspects of the camp that are spiritually rewarding.
“It’s really encouraging, because with all you see on television, you get
discouraged about youth and the directions they’re going,” he said. “But when
you go to U.M. ARMY and see the witnessing and testimonies of some of these
youth, it’s pretty amazing.”
This summer, U.M. ARMY as a whole will include more than 4,000 participants in
48 different cities, who all together will assist an estimated 1,500 families.
For more information, visit www.umarmy.org.
Huntsville Item, 06.01.07
Huntsville's Promise