Iowa church volunteers work in Rockford

From press release

A crew of 10 youth and adults from Iowa arrived in Rockford to help fix up houses in the Weed & Seed neighborhoods. They are here to repair homes for local citizens who are unable to do so due to poor health, advanced age and/or severe financial distress. The all-volunteer work crew donate time, extraordinary effort, painting, carpentry and other home repair skills.

An Iowa volunteer crew will work on three home repair projects in collaboration with the City of Rockford’s Weed & Seed Neighborhood Restoration Program. Operation Weed & Seed is a comprehensive strategy to help communities bring together people and resources to improve the quality of life in neighborhoods. Michelle Ryan, work camp manager, reported being astounded. “Over 200 low-income families applied for assistance in 2009. In many cases, because the homeowners’ ability to do repairs has deteriorated over time (often as health conditions or frailty from aging have worsened), the cumulative need for repairs is very great.”

“Volunteer church groups started arriving June 2,” said Stanley Campbell, executive director of Rockford Urban Ministries, an outreach of the 25 area churches. RUM is the local organization that runs the program, “and this is the largest roster of homeowners that we will have ever helped!” New work crews are still welcome anytime after Aug. 14 into the year. Crews are already booking 2010 for Easter break and summer.

For more information, call Rockford Urban Ministries at (815) 964-7111.