Lending a hand

Members of Wesley United Methodist Church of Macomb arent going far for this weeks mission trip.

Volunteers are continuing the churchs annual efforts to provide construction and home repair services for area residents suffering from physical or financial difficulties through a program called Streaming Waters Work Week.

Carolyn Grove, an organizer for the program, said, We take one week out of the year to donate time to people who arent capable, either physically or financially, to do repair work on their homes.

She added that the church typically handles 19 to 21 projects each year, and has served 71 McDonough County residents in the past four years. The church has projects planned for 11 different homes this year.

Weve been helping an elderly couple with roof repairs, Grove said. Roof repairs are a difficult project, and they werent able to do it on their own. Were also helping a young man whos physically handicapped weve got a group building a wheelchair ramp at his house. Thats one of the big ones were really pleased to be able to do.

That man, Aaron Chapin, said that hes grateful for the help.

Ive had this medical problem for a while, he said. Its hard for me to get up and down stairs.

Without the ramp, Chapin said he would be confined to his house.

I wouldnt be able to get in and out of the house, he said. Im just really happy they came in here and did this for me. Im really struggling right now, but this has made my life a lot easier, just having a way to get in and out of my house without getting hurt.

The program began four years ago as an alternative to traditional mission trips.

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Lending a hand