From our February 8, 2001, edition.

Ministry center seeks to get more folks involved 

By Carrie Helms

The room is dark and dusty.  Sounds of power tools and of cracking wood echo off the walls.  He knows there is a great job to be done, and he is the only man who can do the job right.  With a little laugh and a big smile, Andy Roberts picks up his giant sledgehammer and goes to work.

The place is Main Street Ministry Center where 12 youth met last Saturday to lend a helping hand to the construction effort.  For almost a year, men have been working to pull up small portions of the hard wood floor to stack building materials.  That is until these youth cleared almost 500 square feet of flooring in one day.

“We got to the building at about 10:00, and by the time 4:00 came around, I was absolutely filthy,” Carrie Helms said.  “Austin Sears was tearing up floor with his bare hands, and it was great just to see stuff getting done.”

The building is divided into two parts. The front section houses the Clothes Closet and Food Pantry that are completed. The back section is still full of possibilities but designed mainly for youth activities.

“If we could just get more people down there every week, we could do so much work,” Megan Roberts said.  “It could be a great place for youth to get involved.”

That is the goal of the Ministry Center: to get people involved in work. 

The Center will be open every Monday from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. to accept food and clothing donations as well as Saturday mornings from 10:00 to 12:00.