For five days each summer, the Ellwood City Carpenter’s Project teams up with churches around the area to complete exterior house projects throughout Ellwood City and Riverside school districts. This year the project is taking place from July 9 to 13.
The Carpenter’s Project started back in 2002 when Chuck and Marsha Timblin of Calvin Presbyterian Church of Ellwood City wanted to see their church and other local churches come together for one summer to help those in the community who were either physically or financially unable to fix their homes on their own. But hat one summer goal turned into 17 years of community building.
Steve Miller took over the job as director after the Timblin’s decided to retire, and has been the director for eight years now.
“I decided to become the director because the couple who originally started the group could no longer do it,” Miller said. “I am really good with organization, paperwork, phone calls and emails and the job really suited my strengths. Sometimes I miss being on a paint crew, but I also really enjoy being the director.”
Twenty-six different churches were represented this year, said Steven Miller, executive director of the project.
There are 225 volunteers on the team this year, with 55 adults and 65 youth working on various sites. On-site workers formed 19 repair crews.
“We have eight paint crews this year, seven carpentry crews, a power wash crew, a window crew, a demolition crew and one large brush crew’” Miller said. “We started with 19 crews total, we are down to 18 now and after Wednesday we will even less crews, because we are doing really good on our projects.”
The Carpenter’s Project advertises through the churches and by word of mouth, and starts taking requests from homeowners during the first week of April.
“I like to make an aggressive back-burner list and we are actually hitting some of the homes that I said we would never get to,” Miller said.
Not all volunteers were trimming bushes and painting porches. Over 100 community members worked off-site, preparing and delivering food and drinks to the crews on-site.
“Dinner takes place at a different church each night,” workers from the brush crew said. “ Last night we had ‘Taco Tuesday’ and we loved it and today we are having meatball subs for lunch.”
Many of the volunteers take vacation time or work extended hours throughout the week of the project just so they can help out the community.
Pictured are workers from the brush crew, some of which have been participating in the Carpenter’s Project since the first year.
This project has been a blessing to less fortunate home owners due to financial or health reasons. It also helps the community retain property values and health and safety standards that some of us take for granted. The people of the Ellwood City Area always lend a hand to our neighbors. Hats off to all who helped in any way!
I’d like to help .
Thank you all .I appreciate all the help you have given me in jobs I no longer do . God bless all of you !🙂