The Freedom Baptist Association in conjunction with the Kentucky Changers – WMU (Women’s Missionary Union,) came to Albany last week and completed construction at 15 different sites across the county.

In a story published during the first week of June, Keith McWhorter, treasurer of the Freedom Baptist Association, said it would be a great benefit to the homeowners as well as the 178 youth and adults involved in the program. The program has raised more than $20,000 for use in project materials.

“Churches, businesses, the Clinton County Community Foundation has donated $1,000, and some individuals as well,” McWhorter said. “It’s been a real nice community endeavor to bring these funds together.”

Homeowners who were a part of the project started out by filling out an application that was processed through the Freedom Baptist Association at the state level. McWhorter said this was done to ensure no local influence was put into who was accepted into the program.

The program set up a “base camp” at the high school where meals were served as well as a place to sleep at night. It was also considered headquarters for the 15 projects going on simultaneously across the county.

Peggy Murphy, State Coordinator for Kentucky Changers – WMU said the work that is being done on the homes is top quality work. Each location has a site foreman with construction skills. The teenagers are placed in charge of other tasks and in charge of water and snack breaks.

“We do four locations every year and we try to use teenagers, mostly from Baptist churches all across the state,” Murphy said. “We work with the Baptist Associations wherever we are. They are like host churches. They bring us bag lunches and things like that, but the whole purpose of what we are doing is we are reaching out to the homeowners and sharing the love of Jesus. That is the main goal as to why we do what we do. These teenagers, it’s really neat because they learn skills that they can use throughout life. In two years they will be able to rip out their own house. That’s the type of skills they can go and use. The greatest thing they learn is how much of a blessing it is to serve somebody else and come in and help out people they don’t even know. They receive such a blessing from this. It is such blessing to have homeowners to trust you enough to bring a load of teenagers in to put a roof on your house.”

The Kentucky Changers – WMU started out this season in Shelbyville, Kentucky, followed by Harrodsburg, Kentucky, then right here in Albany for the third week and will finish up in Greensburg, Kentucky this week.

“We do all projects in Kentucky,” Murphy said.

One of the reason’s the Kentucky Changers – WMU has been successful is because of the repeat volunteers.

“As far as our adult volunteers, once they sign up, it’s a life sentence because they never quit doing it,” Murphy said. “We asked this time how many years people have been doing this and some have been doing this for 18 to 20 years. They keep coming back because they can use the skills God has given them to pass on to the students, but also they enjoy serving the homeowners and serving the community.”

Murphy said 95 percent of the volunteers come back year after year.

“Most of them come back until they get to the point to where they physically can’t do it,” Murphy said. “They are very skilled and that helps as far as helping the students learn what to do and how to do things right.”

In order to be part of the Kentucky Changers – WMU, a student has to be going into the eighth grade to start with the program.

“They start in the eighth grade and go all through high school, get into college and they are still attending, they are on the ministry team, or become crew chiefs … some of them have become pastors,” Murphy said. “They are bringing their kids back. It is so neat to see that come back full circle.”

Marvin Hereford was the project coordinator for the Albany project. Hereford started out as a crew chief nine years ago and has been a project coordinator for the past three years.

“Four years ago my daughter started coming and she was on a crew and this year she has started on the ministry crew,” Hereford said.

“She started coming with him and she has moved up and he has moved up and people just don’t go away,” Murphy said. “It’s such a blessing people keep coming back and keep getting involved. You would not believe how many salvations we have seen. From the students who come, to the homeowners we help, from the families of the homeowners or even just the people walking by on the street wondering why a bunch of teenagers are up on the roof working on someone’s house. It’s really a blessing.”

Each site has these people in place to ensure the project runs smoothly and without injury. If an injury occurs, there is also a nurse/medic on hand.

“Everybody works together for a common purpose,” Murphy said. “It’s amazing on how well it works. Without any piece of that puzzle it wouldn’t work.”

Along with each project and by being allowed to stay at a school on each project, the Kentucky Changers – WMU provides services for the schools where they are staying.

“We always try to do something at the school to show our appreciation,” Murphy said. “We are going to do some painting here, but we’ve done all kinds of things before. In some places we have taken all the tiles down from the ceilings and replaced them all with new tiles. It saved the school hours of work and the kids just had a ball with it.

Above, several volunteers were on hand at a home on Lynnview Drive in Albany last week as a part of the Kentucky Changers – WMU organization. The group works in conjunction with the Freedom Baptist Association to repair homes in Kentucky for homeowners who aren’t able to afford the needed repairs. Applications are sent in and filtered through the state organization.

Below, Members of the community, spent most of the Wednesday morning at Albany First Baptist Church preparing lunch for the Kentucky Changers – WMU. The effort had 15 construction projects running simultaneously across the county last week helping those in need of home repairs.