Youth discover helping others can be a life-changing experience

For the third consecutive summer youth from the Unitarian Universalist Church in Charlotte, N.C., have hammered their way into the hearts of many in the Hartsville community with their eagerness to help others.

The group has been instrumental in building several Habitat for Humanity homes in Hartsville and Darlington and has helped numerous volunteer-based organizations that cater to the less fortunate in the community with projects.

Group coordinator Claire Burd said she worked as a teen during the summer helping smaller communities like Hartsville.

“Hartsville has a very special place in all of our lives,“ Burd said. “We experience a different pace of living here.“

Burd said the young city dwellers are able to slow down and enjoy the hospitality of the community and feel the love of the residents more and more every year.
“The projects all feel very meaningful,“ she said. “The trust people give us to do their projects, (build their homes) is humbling and makes us want to do a really good job.“

Burd said it is rewarding to go down Washington Street and see the houses they helped build and to see that people are living in them and going about their daily lives.

“Our influence is creeping into different parts of Hartsville,“ Burd said. “It is amazing to see people (living) in the houses.”

“I actually did this as a teenager with my hometown church,“ she said. “It transformed the way I saw the world and impacted my life. I wanted to give the youth of my church in Charlotte the experience. It is my way of paying it forward.“

This is Emily Marx’s first year coming to Hartsville. On Wednesday she was helping out at the Kid’s Closet, sorting and folding donated clothing items.
She said the youth from her church have been divided into three groups which are rotating from project to project. They have painted on two houses in Darlington and started building a Habitat for Humanity house on Emmary Street in Hartsville.

The students arrived at various times with the first group coming Sunday night. Others had to come later due to graduation.

There are 27 members of the church group participating in the summer outreach program ranging in age from 14 to 18.

Rising high school sophomore Samantha Singer is also a first-timer on the trip.

“I heard it was a life-changing experience,“ Singer said. “And I really wanted to build a house.“

Anna Utzig and Madeline Long are also here for the first time. The two said they were enjoying the trip.
The girls worked on a deck and a fence.

“We are actually doing a house,“ Utzig said.

In preparation for the trip, Utzig said she visited a Habitat house in Charlotte and helped out.

“It was fun,“ Utzig said.

Simon George, a rising senior in Charlotte working on the Habitat house on Emmary Street, said this is his second year in the program.

“Me and my friend decided to come down together. I did it two years ago,“ George said. “It felt really good to help out.“

George said he lives a “pretty privileged life,“ and it feels good to be able to help people who are not as privileged.

“Two years ago we met the family (whose house they built), and they were really taken back with what we had done,“ George said of the house he worked on.

Edward Wright, a rising high school senior, and his brother, Sam, are here working with the church group. Wright said he came two years ago.

“It is good to give back to the community. It is fun to come out with friends and see what we can do for other people,“ he said.

For all of the youth and their leaders it is especially rewarding to come back a year or two later and see the good they have accomplished.

The group can return home today with a sense of accomplishment knowing they have done something on their summer vacation to make the lives of others better.