Building Perspective: Ohio Teenagers Help Corbin Homeowners With Mission Trip
By Samantha Swindler, The Times-Tribune, Corbin, Ky.
Jun. 18–There’s more Buckeyes than Wildcats sitting in the pews of Woodbine Christian Church this week.
Don’t worry, it’s for a good cause.
Eleven teens, ages 12-18, from Urbana, Ohio’s First Christian Church are visiting Corbin this week to work on projects at two local residences. It’s the second time in three years the group has come to the Corbin area for their annual mission trip to help some of the area’s less fortunate families.
“What they get out of this is, number one, they get to serve other people,” said Mike Stewart, pastor at First Christian. “They are coming, for the most part, into areas… where people don’t have as much as they have, so that’s a good perspective builder.”
The boys and girls are spending most of this week repairing houses. The boys worked on an outside project, finishing some yard work, painting and roof trim work on a house on Barton Mill Road. The girls worked inside, painting the interior of another Corbin home whose owners didn’t have the resources to do the work themselves.
Nic Bishop, 16, said he is enjoying, “helping people that need help.
“Everything I have, I know sometimes I want more, but looking at these places, I just thank God for what I have,” he said.
“It kind of makes you feel glad for what you have,” agreed 13-year-old Wiatt Hanlin.
This was student Emlyn Bowles’ second trip to the area, and she said she was glad the impact they made two years ago can still be seen in Corbin.
“It’s a good experience for me,” added Kyesha Gregory. “I’ll always remember this woman (the homeowner) … You could just see it in her eyes, she’s just happy we’re here to help.”
Woodbine church members opened their homes for the teens to stay during the trip, and the teens themselves raised the money for their travel and the home improvement needs.
“It’s great to see what you’ve done after all this,” said student Aaron Townsend. “You see the before pictures and the after pictures, and you just say, ‘wow.’”
Woodbine Christian Church’s former pastor served as an intern for First Christian-Urbana, which led to the youth group’s first mission to Corbin two years ago.
Now, they are back, under the direction of Woodbine’s new pastor Brian Abney.
Want even more strange, family ties? Mike Stewart is the nephew of Woodbine church goer Harold Romines, who helped pick out the families who would be served by the mission project.
“It’s great to see people who are helping each other,” Romines said of the teenagers. “It shows there are some good people in the world.”
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