ON THE LEVEL-Working on a project for Carolina Cross Connection are (from left) Cara Hanley and Christy Jones of Alpharetta, Ga., Garrett Riba of Evans, Ga., Boone McDaniel of Kings Mountain and Brittany Jones of Evans.

Building ministries are hard at work here

The beginning of summer has marked the arrival of several volunteers to Alleghany County, who plan to better the lives of local residents through various building ministries. Carolina Cross Connection, Laurel Ridge Moravian Youth Mission Camp, and the Solid Rock Building Ministry are all taking on a range of projects within the community this season.

Carolina Cross Connection

With the temperature steadily rising, many of us have begun to turn on the air conditioner and roll down the windows, but five teens and one adult braved the heat recently at their Carolina Cross Connection (CCC) worksite. According to Jonathan Harris, camp director of the organization’s local base at Elk Shoals Methodist Camp in Ashe County, volunteers from across the country participate in the building ministry four weeks out of the summer. Each week more than 60 people attend the camp and are then divided into ten individual "Camper Mission Groups," which then tackle different tasks each day.

As the group carefully leveled and set posts for a wheelchair ramp at the home of Sparta resident Gail Reese, 16-year-old volunteer

Brittany Jones said the work marked "only one of the projects we will have during the week. The wheelchair ramp is a two-day project, but yesterday we painted the inside of a house and we’ll have two more assignments for the end of the week." Jones is from Evans, Ga. and is volunteering with CCC for the first time this summer. "It's wonderful to see people's faces when we finish," Jones added. "Everyone thinks we do so much for them, but we get so much back."

The volunteers were from various locations in Georgia and North Carolina.

Fifteen-year-old Cara Hanley from Alpharetta, Ga. said that she is participating in the camp because, "It's a great way to reconnect with people and show people God."

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