PRAIRIE GROVE -- More than 200 junior high and high school students will spend a week in Prairie Grove in June, working on home projects to help low-income, disabled and elderly residents in the community.
The students will stay at Prairie Grove High School, sleeping on mattresses on the floor.
Reach Mission Trips is an interdenominational, non-profit organization organized in November 1991. According to its website, the group's mission is to offer a top quality mission trip experience for junior high and high school students and to encourage them to adopt a lifestyle of serving others in their home communities.
Students who participate in a Reach Mission Trip pay their own way. The students come with church youth groups or private Christian schools.
The cost is about $400 and includes all meals (except one), materials to be used in a homeowner's house, accommodations, activities, T-shirt and administrative costs.
The students will be in Prairie Grove from June 12-18.
Mike Jones, executive director and co-founder, said Reach learned about Prairie Grove through Rob Button, who lives in Prairie Grove and has been involved with Reach Mission Trips. Per Button's request, a Reach team came out to Prairie Grove about 1 1/2 years ago to see if it could be a possible future site.
So far, Jones said, 240 participants have signed up for the Prairie Grove mission trip and youth groups are coming from across the United States. States represented include Pennsylvania, Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, Texas and Tennessee.
Jones said there is still room for about 100 more participants in Prairie Grove.
Students on Reach Mission Trips work on home repair projects for existing houses, such as painting inside or outside a house, repairing or replacing roofs, installing wheelchair ramps or building front porches or decks.
Jones said he already has several projects planned for Prairie Grove but said he probably could add others to the list if someone knows of other needs in the community.
During the week, students work on 25 to 55 homes, depending on the number of participants and the projects identified.
Prairie Grove High School will serve as the students' home for the week. Jones said the organization will hire custodians and cooks from the high school to take care of the kids. The school gym will be set up with a stage, lights and sound for a worship program each evening.
Along with work projects, students will read the Bible, pray and talk about having a personal relationship with Jesus and obeying his command to reach out to people in need.
Jeff O'Brien, Prairie Grove police captain, said the police department wants to make sure the students feel welcome in Prairie Grove.
"We want to ask the community to help with donations for snacks and drinks for the kids," O'Brien said.
The police department plans to grill hamburgers and hot dogs one night and is seeking community help in putting this together.
"We want to take good care of them," O'Brien said, adding he is impressed that the students are paying their own way to come here and help others.
Since its first summer mission trip in 1992, the organization has sponsored mission trips in 13 states and Mexico for almost 50,000 students. For more information about the program, go to reachmissiontrips.org.
General News on 05/25/2016