Several homes recently had vibrance restored thanks to a youth mission group that included participants from St. Theresa Roman Catholic Church, of Farmville. 

The wood on the back porch had rotted out, and there were six-inch holes in the floor. The front porch had also been in disarray.

“The back porch wasn’t no good,” said James Lee, the house’s resident.

He said people would come over and see that the railings on the deck off the back of his house were weak and the boards were rotting out.

“I had other boards over top of them, trying to make it safe enough for people to come in and out of, and the one off the back was really impassable to get up on with the floor, and then the roof with a big hole in it,” Lee said. “I could get out of it, but I wouldn’t recommend it for anybody because I know where to step … .”

He said the house originally belonged to his father, who passed away within the past few years.

“I got four siblings, but everybody got their own place they live in, so I’m the only one that volunteered…and try to, you know, keep the place halfway going,” Lee said.

Between July 12-18, Lee’s house was one of six projects completed by a youth missions group of 95 people, 65 of which were part of churches’ youth groups, from the churches of St. Theresa Roman Catholic Church, of Farmville, St. Olaf Catholic Church, of Williamsburg, and Church of the Incarnation, of Charlottesville.

According to Ann Mattio, St. Olaf Catholic Church’s youth minister and the organizer of the mission, this was the seventh year the mission had come to the Farmville area. Mattio said over the seven years of the mission, led by St. Olaf Catholic Church, participants have worked on restoring 77 different houses.

“It’s all of it,” Mattio said during the mission regarding the scope of the work involved. “… There’s houses that hadn’t had water in 10 years, and we just brought water to her yesterday — brought it from the well to the house.”

Mattio said that while teenagers get a bad rap, being seen as lazy or self-centered, the kids at the site, who gave up a week of their summer, were working outside in the 90 degree and above weather all day.

Seven members of St. Theresa Roman Catholic Church, of Farmville, were part of the 65 other youth group members. They included Anna Stinson, Naomi Jones, Christian Pope, Trent Pettus, Brennan Stone, Margaret Walters and Zach Bettis.

“I think it’s really important that we’re doing this stuff. I mean, Mr. Lee needs help with his house, and it’s good that the Catholic community sees it also, that it’s unsafe that he’s living here,” said Trent Pettus, a youth member of St. Theresa Roman Catholic Church and a rising junior at Randolph-Henry High School.

Pettus said as a local youth, it was surprising that there was this type of need in the community.

Lee said the youth members working on his front and back porches were good workers.

“Everything they’re doing, I’m just as satisfied as I can be,” Lee said.

Mattio said that the work wouldn’t have been able to have been done without the help of The Fishin’ Pig, Applebee’s and the local YMCA, the latter of which allowed members of the mission team to take showers in its locker rooms. Robin McLane, of St. Theresa Roman Catholic Church, said the work wouldn’t have been able to have been done without help from Johns Memorial Episcopal Church as well.