Every summer a group of 30 or so high school students who are members of St. Charles Youth Ministry (SCYM) spend a week volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, a worldwide non-profit organization, that serves the unprivileged by providing affordable houses to low income families.  According to the Habitat for Humanity’s website, habitat.org, the group’s vision is “a world where everyone has a decent place to live.”

The 30 students who attend the Habitat for Humanity trip are not all from Cinnaminson, though. The SCYM members joined forces with kids from a youth group in Phillipsburg, NJ. While the kids from SCYM are familiar with each other from their twice-weekly group meetings, the kids from Phillipsburg entered the week as strangers to their SCYM brothers and sisters.

This past July 20, the kids and seven chaperones, who once attended the trip when they were in high school, departed for Wake County, North Carolina in five minivans.

This trip was a new experience for some, but others kids were veterans.  However,  they were eager to get there. The nine hour trip down to North Carolina was just another part of the amazing experience. The vans were pre-picked and filled with people who were strangers, for the most part. Putting 17 and 18 year olds in a car, without their friends, for that long sounds like a recipe for disaster but it was part of the unique experience.

Once the group was there, they found out that this year would be different than past years. Usually, the group spent their week legitimately building a house. In the past, they did things like building porches, hammering in hurricane brackets, painting rooms, or much more. This year, they wouldn’t be using a nail gun or hammer quite as much because they were going to be part of a “Restore” project.

There are many behind-the-scenes aspects of Habitat for Humanity. There are stores called Restores that take donations from people getting rid of their old furniture and then sell it at a cheaper rate than a regular furniture store. In Wake County there was a total of 3 Restores: one in Raleigh, one in Cary, and one in Apex. The one in Apex was just opening and their job was to prepare it for its opening.  Ultimately, Habitat for Humanity isn’t all about just building houses.

They students moved countless couches, cabinets, sinks, tubs, mirrors, washers and dryers, and much, much more into the Restore. By the end of the week, people would have never guessed that the store was just an empty warehouse 5 days prior.

Senior Dave Gall admits that he would have “enjoyed spending time out on an actual worksite,” but “working in the Restore gave [him] the same rewarding feeling.”

They didn’t only work in the Restore, however. Some of the group spent one of the days doing  “deconstruction,” where Habitat for Humanity takes any piece of supplies they can in order to save money while building the house.

Then, when the students weren’t working in the Restore or deconstructing, they spent their nights in a church rectory. Every night they spent eating dinner they prepared for themselves, cleaning it up and the rest of the night spent at prayer service. Faith is a big aspect of the trip.

Senior Kelsey Treharne explains afterward that Habitat wasn’t just about “bringing everyone closer together” but also about “expressing your faith in God.”

The theme of prayer service were praying hands. Each finger of the hand had its own meaning: the thumb represented those closest to you, the pointer finger represented those that teach and instruct us, the middle finger meant those who lead us, the ring finger represented those who are the weakest, and the pinky represented yourself. Each night a different group of people would lead prayer group with one of the fingers being their topic.

Prayer group was a safe place for anyone to share any story they wanted. People who barely knew each other were learning other people’s biggest secrets, which allowed people to create strong friendships.

The end of the week came faster than anyone wanted. They cleaned up their mess and were soon on their way home to New Jersey. After a pit stop at Cracker Barrel, New Jersey was right around the corner. Those who were going onto college were preparing themselves for tough goodbyes and those who were going to be seniors were eager for next year.

While these people were strangers just seven days before, lifetime friendships were created and countless memories were made that will never be forgotten.

Dave Gall summed up everyone’s emotions at the moment by saying “I went to North Carolina missing my family back home but left North Carolina just to miss a new family. Habitat for Humanity changed my life forever.”

There is no combination of words that can truly describe how much Habitat affects the people who attend the trip.  Anyone who has gone on the trip would advise others to attend the trip for themselves. Other than being a member of SCYM and volunteering in other activities throughout the year, there are no requirements to attend Habitat for Humanity. There are no requirements to spend a week in the summer “meeting the people that will be [your] friends forever,” as senior Moira Lafferty puts it.