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Over the past week, about 175 volunteers completed around 50 projects throughout Greater Williamsport, ranging from landscaping to painting, power washing to appliance repairs, according to Ben Conrad, director of connections for First Church.
The church and its various community partners -- this year including volunteers from Lycoming County United Way, the City of Williamsport and Larson Design Group, works to provide as many of these services to those in need every August in a weeklong mission known as Transform. Youth groups from three churches also offered some muscle, Conrad said.
While much of the work is done for community members who may not be able to complete it on their own, whether due to physical or monetary constraints, projects for organizations are also taken on.
One such project was the painting of a residential room and a storage room at the YWCA as well as a fellowship hall at a church in downtown Williamsport, Conrad said.
"Transform largely serves the Greater Williamsport area, and other church groups lead similar programs elsewhere in the county," such as Transform Jersey Shore, which also took place this past week, he said. "Since my coming, we have also worked with a church up in Maine that caught wind of what we were doing and wanted to start their own. We sort of passed along our learnings and sent some people up there to encourage, and that church has been doing it for three years now, growing the program each year significantly.
"We are now talking with a church in the Harrisburg area as well that is interested in starting a similar program for their area," he added.
The venture relies upon volunteers of all sorts, and selected projects are completed free of cost for the beneficiaries.
"The hope is that the model can keep on spreading," Conrad said. "I think a lot of fantastic things result from this sort of thing, and I hope it helps encourage churches to overcome the intimidating barriers to larger-scale community service."