Community Relations Office
August 21st, 2003 -- New London Church's Ground Zero Youth Ministry continues to aid low income homeowners with Project: R.A.K.E.
Imagine sacrificing a summer weekend to repair the roof of a home or replace a rusting oil tank or rebuild a kitchen at the home of a total stranger. Some 40 teenagers and 20 adults from New London Church's Project R.A.K.E. do just that, several times a year. On the weekend of Aug. 16, fourteen homeowners, from West Grove to Oxford, were the fortunate recipients of the fruits of their labor.
Project: R.A.K.E., which stands for Random Acts of Kindness Everywhere, is an outreach of the church's Ground Zero Youth Ministry. Project R.A.K.E. seeks to provide free labor and, through the generous donations of local businesses and individuals, materials to re-shingle a roof, paint, repair mobile homes, rebuild dangerous kitchens, whatever is needed to make a home safer and more livable for seniors and low income citizens in the immediate area. The program's name, according to Project R.A.K.E. literature, comes from Columbine victim, Rachel Scott's diary writings which said if a person would perform one random act of kindness, it would begin a chain reaction of others doing the same.
The program is administered by Mike Atkins, Director; Drew Cope, Site Coordinator; and Jeff Pincin, Sr., Construction Coordinator. They credit student Sarah Abel with founding the program three years ago. Abel, who was found last weekend repairing a homeowner's broken window, is a sophomore at Millersville University majoring in Special Education.
Abel, who was somewhat reluctant to take credit for the program, said, "We were going so far away on summer mission trips. I saw a lot of people in need here." She said she called about eight places to see where folks were that needed help.
"I got a lot of help and referrals from Oxford Neighborhood Services," she said. "It took about a year for the program to really take off."
Now said Abel, the program is active year-round with 11 work groups, at least one project per month and three major weekend projects per year.
According to Cope, the program looks for low-income homeowners mostly through referrals of church members or agencies such as Oxford Neighborhood Services, Chester County Cares, or the Chester County Health Department.
"We prefer that our clients own their own homes so that a landlord cannot come in and raise the rent once the work has been done," said Cope
Cope does an interview at the home and uses a "common sense income-feel, need-based" assessment.
"Sometimes we ask that a homeowner help with cost of materials or with clean up depending on their situation," he said. There are really no forms to fill out, no documentation other than the referral and the interview. Office personnel such as Sophia Arencibia, the program's Development Coordinator, then take over finding donations of money and material for the scheduled jobs.
Fundraisers for Project RAKE such as a T-shirt sale supplement the program financially.
Most importantly, Project R.A.K.E. "helps our teens to give back, serve God, reach out and learn new skills," said Cope.
Working with Abel was Jessica Arencibia a sophomore at Avon Grove High School, whose whole family is involved with Project R.A.K.E. "This is my third Project R.A.K.E. I like getting to know the people, I like it alot."
It is a real commitment for those participating in the weekend long project. They begin their weekend at New London Church on Friday evening where they meet, get a good night's sleep and rise early on Saturday for Worship and off to work. The Southern Chester County YMCA donates after-hours use of their showers and recreational facilities and then its back to the church for sleep and another full day of work.
The Sun visited two of the work sites: one in Oxford Village in Penn township the other a home in East Nottingham township.
At the home of Eugene and Ketura Brown in Oxford Village, a crew led by Cope and Jeff Pincin Sr. with Kevin Crossan, Phil Khandros, Stephanie McGrath, Dana Nichol, and Jeff Pincin Jr. prepared the Brown's roof for re-shingling.
Homeowner and mother of five, Ketura Brown, called Oxford Neighborhood Services for help last fall and couldn't be more pleased with the outcome.
"Project R.A.K.E. called us and did the interview right away, and set things up for the appropriate time of year," said Brown.
The Brown family helped out by doing clean up for the workers.
Crossan, 18, and recent graduate of Avon Grove High School was on hand for the roofing.
"This is my third or fourth Project R.A.K.E. and I absolutely love it, it's a passion of mine and a way of sharing Christ's love."
Crossan is bound for Eastern University in the fall where he will study Youth Ministry.
A second site in East Nottingham was the home of Denise Morrison. Morrison lives with her two teenage sons and has numerous medical issues including fibromyalgia and SLE lupus. She lives primarily on disability through Social Security and food stamps. She is a kind person who despite her health problems is always trying to help others, often at expense to her own health.
About three years ago, Morrison's kitchen floor began collapsing into the crawl space below, which was filled with water. The floor joists were completely rotted, resembling mulch, and some of her electrical wiring was actually under water and in the company of some unsavory critters. Morrison came to the attention of Project R.A.K.E. through a friend who was also a program client. Crew chiefs Ken Loux and Gary Horsch along with students Sara Abel, Jessica Arencibia, Jon Cecchi, Corey Brown and Jerry Pabon were faced with a big job.
"The first thing we did was bring in some smoke detectors," said Horsch, while inspecting the very dated electrical service to the home.
"Denise is a hero in my eyes. She has ailments but she goes out and helps others. She is a servant just like we are," he said.
Morrison was clearly uncomfortable and very emotional with people doing for her, offering drinks and helping clean up as they went about the job of basically ripping out and replacing the entire kitchen floor.
"I am not used to someone helping me. I would like to start going out to their church but I feel so sick and so worn out and depressed all the time," said Morrison weeping.
One thing is clear, Project R.A.K.E. brings more than a bucket of paint or roofing shingles to the job they do, it is clear they bring a ray of hope, a hand of kindness to those in need.
If you or someone you know is in need or would like to help with Project R.A.K.E. call Pastor Mike Atkins or Drew Cope at 610-869-7332.