By Joe Parrino

Ashtyn Miles expected digging post holes and sawing boards to be purposeful -- not necessarily pleasurable. After all, the mission trip from her home in Boscobel, Wisc., to Hopkinsville, Ky., was supposed to be about the good of others. Plus, the high school freshman wasn’t so confident she had the skills to be much help on a home improvement project.

By the end of week of July 19-23, however, Miles was beaming like the sun above her.

“I’m kinda sad that we won’t be able to come back here,” Miles said. “That might sound crazy because it is really hot out. But this is actually a lot of fun.”

Ashtyn Miles picked up some construction skills and a new attitude toward serving strangers during her week in Hopkinsville.

Miles had just toiled four days in 90-degree temperatures to build a wheelchair ramp for the front entrance of a Hopkinsville home. She worked on a crew of adults and teens from United Methodist churches across southern Wisconsin. Their project was part of a home repair blitz in Hopkinsville’s inner-city.

For nearly 20 years, Sidekick Missions has taken church members of all ages to lend a hand in revitalization efforts in downtown neighborhoods, Appalachian communities, Native American reservations and even hurricane-hit areas.

Last summer, Sidekick contacted the city to ask if it could help with housing stock revitalization. Inner-City Residential Enterprise Zone Program Coordinator Laura Faulkner was happy to oblige.

“We are lucky to have developed a relationship with this group,” Faulkner said.

Between their previous Hopkinsville trips in June 2009 and this past March, the group completed 20 repair projects on local homes.

Faulkner said the July trip has targeted nine, mostly single family homes scattered throughout ICREZ neighborhoods. Some crews worked at the Boys and Girls Club on Walnut Street.

“We tried to find homes in every neighborhood,” Faulkner said.

The home Miles’ group built a ramp for is owned by Gulf War veteran James Steele. Steele lost his lower left leg to a landmine. Since then, he had difficulty entering and exiting his house because of some high steps.

Steele applied to the ICREZ residential rehabilitation program for the materials and labor to build an access ramp. When the Wisconsin visitors arrived with their tools, he watched eagerly.

“I think they do good work,” Steele said.

Miles said she didn’t really think about how much the ramp would help Mr. Steele until she heard a piercing chirp. The fire alarm in the house went off while the crew was working. The incident turned out to be a false alarm but it stuck in Miles’ mind.

That’s when “it hit me, that if there was a fire, (Steele) couldn’t get out quickly,” Miles said.

Dakota Goff enjoyed making repairs and improvements to the home of a disabled resident.

Meanwhile, in other Hopkinsville inner-city yards, missionaries put the finishing touches on roofs, porches and walls. Curtis Groom, a recent high school graduate from Wauzeka, Wisc., admired the new porch he and a crew built for a local family.  “When you see people’s faces, you can tell they really appreciate it,” Groom said.

This was the second straight summer Groom has been to Hopkinsville with Sidekick Missions. Both times he felt the gratitude, he said.

Stan Pegram, one of the pastors who organized the mission, said the church members he brings often come away surprised. 

“They ask me, ‘We’re going to pay money to work for someone?’” Pegram said. “I tell them, ‘Yes, and after you go, you’ll never need to ask me why again.’”

The rewards of selflessness are many, Pegram said. As the project gets built, so do faith and maturity. The mission trip deliberately crosses state lines in order to take church members away from the familiar. In faraway places, minds receive new ideas and attitudes make major shifts, Pegram said.

Miles said she got so much from her experience that she already decided to go on next year’s mission trip.

“I’m going to keep coming until I can’t come anymore,” Miles said.

Pegram said he was impressed by the city’s support effort. Faulkner worked closely with Sidekick leaders to identify target homes. Residences were picked both from the city’s residential rehab waiting list as well as the Kentucky Housing Corporation’s Repair Affair waiting list. 

To qualify, homes had to be owner-occupied and the repairs needed couldn’t exceed more than 25 percent of assessed value.

During the mission week, Faulkner and her staff drove from site to site as gophers, making sure each crew had enough materials, tools and cold drinks.

The Tie Breaker Family Aquatic Center waived admission fees for the entire group on Tuesday and Thursday nights.

First United Methodist Church and First Baptist Church hosted the visitors with overnight accommodations, kitchen facilities and worship space. 

The community’s generosity spoke loudly to Pegram.

“The city is dedicated to revamp its inner-city blocks,” Pegram said.

For more information, call Laura Faulkner at (270) 887-4285 or Pastor Rom Pegram (608) 417-0060.