Post by admin on Jul 10, 2009 4:53:18 GMT -5
www.app.com/article/20090709/NEWS/907090371/1004/NEWS01/Volunteers+fix+up+homes
Volunteers fix up homes
By Kim Predham and Bill Bowman • STAFF WRITERS • July 9, 2009
William Cobbs' kidneys are failing, he can barely see anymore and he just lost his right foot to the ravages of diabetes.
His wife Rosa, 70, has her own troubles. Like her husband, she too struggles with diabetes. She also has high blood pressure.
"The medical bills are just weighing them down," said the Cobbs' son, Solomon, a beefy former football player for Freehold High School.
With so much going on, little wonder the family hasn't had the time — or money — to fix the badly sagging roof.
This week, a crew of nine young adults lifted that burden from the Cobbses' shoulders.
"This is a great thing that they're doing," Solomon Cobbs, 35, said as volunteers pounded in the shingles that would become his parents' new roof.
The Cobbses' home was one of 35 area projects taken on by the World Changers, a Southern Baptist organization based in Georgia. The organization sends students around the world to work on the homes of those in need.
A total of 320 students from eight states and Ireland arrived at Neptune High School July 4. They fanned out to various homes in Freehold and Neptune Monday, where they have worked long hours each day. One group also installed a basketball court at the Boys and Girls Club of Monmouth County in Asbury Park.
The students, ranging from 11 years old to college age, are expected to finish their work Friday, according to Amy Hays, a World Changers summer staffer.
This week was World Changers' second visit to Monmouth County. The group plans to send about 23,000 students to approximately 90 cities and towns this year, Hays said.
Community Involvement
People in the community have stepped up to make the visitors' stay here a little easier.
In Freehold, the workers' lunches have been donated by area restaurants and distributed by community groups like the borough fire and police departments. In Neptune, lunches have been prepared by several groups, including the host church for the trip, the Colts Neck Community Church.
Neptune High School has provided a place to stay, and use of its cafeteria staff, and the Red Cross has provided cots and bedding, Hays said.
(2 of 2)
Building materials and paint were provided either at a discount or donated by T&K Contractors and Neptune, Colts Neck Community Church pastor George Russ said.
"I've never seen so much community involvement," Hays said.
Eli Crouse was one of a group of students and adults who worked on an Eighth Avenue home in Neptune. The crew painted the house, mowed the lawn, chopped down a tree and replaced some window panes.
This World Changers trip was the first for Crouse, a 17-year-old from Herrin, Ill.
"I've had so much fun, it's ridiculous,"aid Crouse. "It's hard work, no sleep. It's a blast."
A blast, maybe. Hard work? Definitely.
"Absolutely amazing"
Another example of the group's efforts could be seen this week on South Street in Freehold, where two crews took up the arduous task of repainting Marie Carroll's 19th-century white home.
On Wednesday, pale wood shone through the white paint, which the retired schoolteacher said was last applied about eight years ago. Young men and women surrounded the three-story house, scraping off paint chips, layering on broad swaths of white paint and delicately reaching into corners to finish their work. Yellow scaffolding rose up along the front of the home.
"It's kind of like we're letting her (Carroll) start over," said Brittany Hatley, one of the volunteers.
Hatley, 23, from Charlotte, N.C., wore a long-sleeved gray shirt and jeans despite Wednesday's warmth. White paint flecks covered her clothes.
"It (the trip) has been absolutely amazing," Hatley said.
The Cobbs roof crew also worked hard this week, arriving at the couple's one-story Bond Street home early each morning. As the summer sun beat down, the volunteers tore up the rotted plywood covering the roof. They then began laying down the Cobbs' new roof: first a new layer of plywood, then asphalt felt paper and finally black shingles.
The work was long overdue. "It was so bad that you would fall through it," said Hays.
The thud of hammers sounded above Rosa Cobbs Wednesday, as she sat in a living room decorated with colorful religious pictures and photographs of her six children.
A little disbelieving when she was first approached about the project, Cobbs was slowly coming around to the reality of the situation.
"God bless 'em. . . . Something like this ain't never happened to us," she said.
Volunteers fix up homes
By Kim Predham and Bill Bowman • STAFF WRITERS • July 9, 2009
William Cobbs' kidneys are failing, he can barely see anymore and he just lost his right foot to the ravages of diabetes.
His wife Rosa, 70, has her own troubles. Like her husband, she too struggles with diabetes. She also has high blood pressure.
"The medical bills are just weighing them down," said the Cobbs' son, Solomon, a beefy former football player for Freehold High School.
With so much going on, little wonder the family hasn't had the time — or money — to fix the badly sagging roof.
This week, a crew of nine young adults lifted that burden from the Cobbses' shoulders.
"This is a great thing that they're doing," Solomon Cobbs, 35, said as volunteers pounded in the shingles that would become his parents' new roof.
The Cobbses' home was one of 35 area projects taken on by the World Changers, a Southern Baptist organization based in Georgia. The organization sends students around the world to work on the homes of those in need.
A total of 320 students from eight states and Ireland arrived at Neptune High School July 4. They fanned out to various homes in Freehold and Neptune Monday, where they have worked long hours each day. One group also installed a basketball court at the Boys and Girls Club of Monmouth County in Asbury Park.
The students, ranging from 11 years old to college age, are expected to finish their work Friday, according to Amy Hays, a World Changers summer staffer.
This week was World Changers' second visit to Monmouth County. The group plans to send about 23,000 students to approximately 90 cities and towns this year, Hays said.
Community Involvement
People in the community have stepped up to make the visitors' stay here a little easier.
In Freehold, the workers' lunches have been donated by area restaurants and distributed by community groups like the borough fire and police departments. In Neptune, lunches have been prepared by several groups, including the host church for the trip, the Colts Neck Community Church.
Neptune High School has provided a place to stay, and use of its cafeteria staff, and the Red Cross has provided cots and bedding, Hays said.
(2 of 2)
Building materials and paint were provided either at a discount or donated by T&K Contractors and Neptune, Colts Neck Community Church pastor George Russ said.
"I've never seen so much community involvement," Hays said.
Eli Crouse was one of a group of students and adults who worked on an Eighth Avenue home in Neptune. The crew painted the house, mowed the lawn, chopped down a tree and replaced some window panes.
This World Changers trip was the first for Crouse, a 17-year-old from Herrin, Ill.
"I've had so much fun, it's ridiculous,"aid Crouse. "It's hard work, no sleep. It's a blast."
A blast, maybe. Hard work? Definitely.
"Absolutely amazing"
Another example of the group's efforts could be seen this week on South Street in Freehold, where two crews took up the arduous task of repainting Marie Carroll's 19th-century white home.
On Wednesday, pale wood shone through the white paint, which the retired schoolteacher said was last applied about eight years ago. Young men and women surrounded the three-story house, scraping off paint chips, layering on broad swaths of white paint and delicately reaching into corners to finish their work. Yellow scaffolding rose up along the front of the home.
"It's kind of like we're letting her (Carroll) start over," said Brittany Hatley, one of the volunteers.
Hatley, 23, from Charlotte, N.C., wore a long-sleeved gray shirt and jeans despite Wednesday's warmth. White paint flecks covered her clothes.
"It (the trip) has been absolutely amazing," Hatley said.
The Cobbs roof crew also worked hard this week, arriving at the couple's one-story Bond Street home early each morning. As the summer sun beat down, the volunteers tore up the rotted plywood covering the roof. They then began laying down the Cobbs' new roof: first a new layer of plywood, then asphalt felt paper and finally black shingles.
The work was long overdue. "It was so bad that you would fall through it," said Hays.
The thud of hammers sounded above Rosa Cobbs Wednesday, as she sat in a living room decorated with colorful religious pictures and photographs of her six children.
A little disbelieving when she was first approached about the project, Cobbs was slowly coming around to the reality of the situation.
"God bless 'em. . . . Something like this ain't never happened to us," she said.
