Photos: Many hands make light the work
Hundreds of teen volunteers converged in Guilderland last week to help as many as 70 local residents with free home repairs. The Group Mission Trips work camp sponsored by St. Madeleine Sophie Parish. The teens stayed at Guilderland High School, sleeping on classroom floors.
The Enterprise — Melissa Hale-Spencer
Irene Bagdoian, left, of Westborough, Mass., an adult volunteers, gives some painting tips to Shannon O’Brien, 18, of Pennsylvania. O’Brien, who was at a similar Christian work camp a couple of years ago, said she likes to paint and to meet people. “This particular group is very interdenominational,” said Bagdoian. “They come at their faith in different ways, not pushing one particular viewpoint. They can express their faith, their desire to help humanity through painting.”
The Enterprise — Melissa Hale-Spencer
The home’s owner, Barbara Sanchez, surveys the work with a smile, as she stands on her porch at 8 Gladwish Avenue in Guilderland. “These kids are unbelievable,” she said. They extended her back step and made a deck as well as sanding, scraping, and painting trim on her brick house.
The Enterprise — Melissa Hale-Spencer
Nathan Legault, 16, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, perches on a ladder to sand a soffit. “It was our pastor’s idea,” he said of participating in the Group Mission Trips work camp sponsored by St. Madeleine Sophie Parish. “It’s wonderful.”
The Enterprise — Melissa Hale-Spencer
Julie Flanagan, 17, of Ledyard, Conn., bottom right, stands on tiptoe to paint the top corner of a doorframe.
The Enterprise — Melissa Hale-Spencer
When the painting was complete, the group rolled up tarps that had been carefully laid to protect foliage. “It’s like a ge-normous diaper,” quipped Flanagan, preparing to toss the tarp as Jack Tellifson, 14, from New Hampshire, at right, holds open a trash bag. “I like going out and working,” said Tellifson. His newfound friend, at left, Spencer Zazzo, also 14, from Oakhurst, New Jersey, agreed. “I live on the beach; you get tired of it,” he said.