Barnabas Youth Center Work Day…  Saturday, September 30, 2006

Presbytery of Detroit

 

Many people in the Presbytery are probably not aware of what a terrific job the Barnabas Youth Center does in mentoring children of Detroit.  It has been doing that for 22 years with the prayerful guidance of Stan Edwards.  His approach of teaching kids useful skills like making things in their wood shop and using computers provides a “place to hang out” for kids after school.  “If you can save one lost sheep it is worth it.”  says Stan Edwards.

 

25 adult members from 4 churches (First of Farmington, Drayton Avenue, Northbrook, Orchard Lake) came together on this day to help the center spruce up the building that our Presbytery owns.  Our primary task was to prepare the rooms on the third floor so they could be rented out.  This would allow them to have a small amount of income to supplement the center’s financial needs.  At 9:15 AM after an initial “Alleluia” chorus (With apologies to Handel) we took a tour of the building to understand the nature of work for the day and see how vast the old bank building was as a home for center activities.

 

In the wood shop we replaced damaged ceiling tiles and light bulbs.  As we finished up some of the youth pitched in to clean up the place.  Stan commented it was much brighter and would really help the kids see what they were doing.  He uses some of the wood stripping and staining as a teaching opportunity.  There is ample opportunity to do that throughout the building.

 

Thanks to a private donation we had all the supplies and lunch provided for the volunteers so they could do their job.  The Orchard Lake crew took a room patched, painted the walls, ceiling and floor so it was ready to rent.  Our Drayton Avenue crew had the toughest task… removing the carpet from a few rooms and scraping off the glue residue.  That was real strenuous work!  Thank goodness they were able to preserver and do the job.  Jim Hothem from Northbrook did he-man chores on the electrical work.  In many rooms he restored the light.  It sure was valuable to have a man of his talents.  The Farmington and Northbrook crew completed a couple of large rooms patching and painting all needed walls and ceilings.  They also built a covering over a broken window in the main stairwell.

 

Work wrapped up by 4:00 PM so everyone could get home to rest after a hard day’s work.  Stan was over-joyed by how much got done.  Most youth mission groups normally don’t accomplish as much as this focused adult crew did.  To learn how you can help Barnabas Youth Center contact Stan Edwards at barnabasyou@aol.com.  For help on other Hands-On Mission projects contact Rev. Karen Carl at ldypchr@comcast.net.