Project: R.A.K.E.

New London, PA – May 9, 2005 –- Saturday, May 14, and Sunday, May 15th, Project: R.A.K.E. will be taking 80 students into Nottingham, Oxford, Lincoln University, West Grove, Landenberg, Avondale, Atglen, Parkesburg, and Kennett Square to help several senior citizens & low income families with free repairs to their homes.  An outreach of the Ground Zero Youth Ministry of New London Presbyterian Church, this team of students and adults, through the generous donations of local businesses and individuals, will provide free labor to build a wheelchair ramp, tear down & rebuild a front porch, replace a hot water heater, tear up and replace a trailer floor, install a laundry room, build several new porch landings, repair leaky plumbing, replace water damaged cabinets & floors, and carry out many other needed repairs at various homes along the Route 1 corridor.  The goal is to get teenagers involved in the needs of their community and spread Jesus’ love through Random Acts of Kindness Everywhere.  The teens will be split into 22 crews and sent out to assist 31 different homeowners this weekend.  These 15-21 year olds will be sleeping at the church, showering at Solanco High School and, together with their adult leaders, they will be contributing nearly 2,100 hours of community service to in-need families right in their own backyard. 

The actual inception of the program grew out of one student’s desire to take a summer mission experience she’d had through Ground Zero, into her own community.  Atkins explains, “Two years ago, while we were on our summer mission trip to Rock Hill, SC, Sarah Abel came and told me that she would love to do something like this (helping the community) where we live.  I asked her to call some agencies when we got back home and told her we would see what we could do.  A few days later she had called 8 different agencies and had an interview already set up!” The program’s name is based on a concept that Columbine victim, Rachel Scott, wrote about in her diary a few weeks before she was tragically killed.  Rachel believed that if one person would perform an act of kindness, it would begin a chain reaction of others doing the same.

Now, 3 years later, we have held 13 other work camps involving over 250 teenagers.  Working together with Project: R.A.K.E. leaders, these teens have shared the love of Christ in a real & tangible way, with in-need families in their own communities.  This weekend’s project will be no different.  Atkins said, “We want students to take an active role in their community, but if nothing else, we want those who do not participate [in Project: RAKE] to, at the very least, let this “Project” inspire them to get involved in their community and help someone in a real, tangible way.”

One student in particular has responded to Atkins’ challenge by making a considerable effort to involve several of his friends from Wilmington Christian School, though not in any official school capacity.  Ninth grader, Hunter Barrington, said, “I’ve seen that when teens give their lives to Jesus, even just for a weekend; when they give Him their time and their strength and their heart, He really moves! He really changes their lives! And I want my friends at school to experience His love in that way.”

Project: R.A.K.E. isn’t just limited to Atkins’ own teens and their friends.  Starting last October, he began actively recruiting other youth groups to participate.  This weekend, both Union Presbyterian Church of Kirkwood, PA & Skyline United Methodist Church from Delaware’s Pike Creek area will be bringing several students to the work camp. 

Project: R.A.K.E. is the home repair outreach of the Ground Zero Ministries.  Ground Zero meets weekly at Union Presbyterian Church in Kirkwood, PA on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8:30 pm for 6th-12th grade students and at New London Presbyterian Church on Thursdays from 7:00 to 9:00 pm for middle school age students as well as on Fridays from 7:00 to 10:30 pm for senior high & young adults.  For more information about how you can contribute to this program, get your senior high teens or your church youth group involved, become a corporate sponsor, or to see if you qualify for assistance, please call the Project: R.A.K.E. office at 610/869-7332 or visit www.ProjectRake.com.

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