Community Changers volunteers (left to right) Jakob Whitfield, Taylor Greene, Jerry Faile, Jordan Dority, Harry Mims, Myra Mims, Landen Allen, Deonte Wright, Noah Webb, and Vince Soto. Photo by Samantha Lyles
A team of youth volunteers worked with skilled adult supervisors to renew the appearance of a Darlington home last week.
Through the Community Changers program, staged each summer by the Welsh Neck Baptist Association and hosted at Mechanicsville Baptist Church, teen volunteers from churches around the state visit Darlington County for two weeks and take on a variety of home improvement projects to help sick, elderly, and disadvantaged persons.
Vince Soto, a painter with fifty-four years of experience, served as the team leader for one project, which pressure washed and painted a home on Cannon Drive in Darlington. Soto began volunteering with Community Changers nine years ago and has seen the program grow from a few small teams to over 100 volunteers each year.
“The concept is for unskilled labor – the teenagers – to work with skilled supervision,” says Soto. “This concept is a good thing for the community. People see what you’re doing and they want to find out what’s going on and who’s paying for it. We tell them that God is paying for it; we’re going this for the love of the Lord. It teaches the teenagers that if you do God’s work, he will bless you abundantly.”
To learn more about Community Changers, visit them on Facebook or call Mechanicsville Baptist Church at 843-393-1029.
