wfn.org | ELCA Youth Help Build Home for Habitat for Humanity

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

July 10, 2000

ELCA YOUTH HELP BUILD HOME FOR HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
00-YG17-MH*

     ST. LOUIS (ELCA)  Hundreds of youth from congregations of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) helped build a home in
East St. Louis, Ill., July 6, for Habitat For Humanity.  The project
was one of dozens of community service projects performed by
participants at the ELCA Youth Gathering.
     The Youth Gathering met June 28-July 2 and July 5-9 at the
America's Center here.  The two events brought together some 40,000
Lutheran young people and adults who engaged in worship, Bible study,
community service and fun under the theme "Dancing at the
Crossroads."
     Participants performed a variety of tasks ranging from painting
and building walls to carrying lumber and digging.
     Jim Lemke, ELCA Youth Gathering volunteer and chair for the
gathering's home-building for Habitat for Humanity, gave the young
builders a message before they went to work.  "Jesus loves you and
you love him, or else you wouldn't be here," he told the group.
"When it comes to our love for Christ, we express it in service to
others."
     Lemke said his passion for serving others was in the form of
helping to build new homes.  "If not through home-building, find
another way to serve God and others," Lemke said.
     Jon Lewis, Calvary Lutheran Church, Hillsboro, Ore., was one of
many hard at work.  "I like building stuff.  This makes me feel good,
because I know I'm helping out the community," he said.
     Lemke's wife, Marcine, was a volunteer helping to distribute
drinks and treats to the workers.  "The kids are eager and interested
to help.  No one says 'no.'  It shows us that not all teenagers are
bad.  They're good citizens learning how to be better citizens," she
said.
     As one group of participants was leaving to make way for
another, Ron Harper, an ELCA Youth Gathering volunteer, told the
youth how proud he is of the work everyone is doing.
     "Before you and the other participants from last week came, the
spaces where these houses are being built were just holes in the
ground," he said.  Now they're well on their way to being homes, he
said.
     "We're trying to rebuild this community one house at a time,"
Jim Lemke said.

[*Michael N. Hoffman is a junior at the University of Kansas,
Lawrence. This summer is an intern with ELCA News and
Information.]

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