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On Tuesday, about 80 youth volunteers of the JUNE Project -- an acronym for Jesus Uniting Neighbors Everywhere -- from United Methodist Churches of New Jersey landscaped and did repair work for Pottsville's Elm Street Project.
About 20 JUNE Project volunteers are also working in Mahanoy City to tear out dry wall, remove debris and perform other demolition work to help Schuylkill Community Action rehabilitate a property at 623 W. Spruce.
"This group is saving us about $15,000 by helping us do this," Frank Shiffer, SCA housing rehabilitation coordinator, said Tuesday. "The JUNE Project has been working with SCA for the past 10 years and we look forward each year to having them."
Shiffer said the abandoned, dilapidated home at 623 W. Spruce will be transformed into a livable structure complete with a 14-by-30 foot, two-story addition. It will include three bedrooms, 1? baths, a deck and off-street parking. Shiffer expects construction to begin by year's end.
Landscaping work done Thursday at the Schuylkill County Courthouse will continue today.
The volunteers have been working in Schuylkill County for 15 years. To participate, each of the 109 volunteering teens this year raised $200, which covers lodging and other expenses, according to Michael G. McGeever, Elm Street manager for SCA.
He said Tuesday the teens were working in Pottsville on residential landscaping, landscaping two derelict lots at 517-523 N. Centre St. and refurbishing windows at the Schuylkill YMCA, 520 N. Centre.
YMCA Chief Executive Officer Wayne R. Stump said employees signed a lease on the former National Guard Armory in October. They hope to move their offices into the site by September. They now work out of the Terry Reiley Community Center, 216 N. 12th St.
"When we moved in October, we have been running programs and using the gymnasium for birthday parties and basketball leagues," Stump said. "We hope to have full facilities there by September."
He said volunteers were scraping and painting the windows at the front of the building this week.
"We do have future plans to replace all those windows, however, that's a lot of money and it will take some fundraising and some grants to do that," he said.
The JUNE Project volunteers came to the city under the theme "Marooned" this year, wearing T-shirts proclaiming their support for the Pottsville Maroons' lost 1925 championship and the quest to reclaim it.
In support of the volunteers, Maroons Sports Bar & Grill, 556 N. Centre St., held a free taco night Monday for the teens. A spaghetti dinner was also held Tuesday for the teens at the Barefield Developement Corp., Laurel Boulevard. The city gave the teens free passes to JFK Pool near Railway Park for the week, he said.
Steve's Pizzeria, 530 N. Centre St., and Towne Drugs, 19 S. Centre St., donated food and funds, respectively, McGeever said. The Sovereign Majestic Theater will hold a free movie night tonight for the volunteers.
McGeever said the group even received an anonymous donation of $500. Moreover, the volunteers have received about $700 in cash donations this week, many from random individuals walking on the street, he said.
He added that the teens need water and healthy soft drinks for work continuing today in the city. Additional monetary donations would also help fund the rented bus use to transport the teens from Hamburg to their work sites.
"This is the first time we've been in Mahanoy City in a long time," Youth Pastor and project coordinator Tug McErlain said. "We like to do this type of demolition work."
Nick Headley, 18, a recent high school graduate, is spending his second summer with the JUNE Project.
"I came here last year because everybody was doing it. I know that sounds bad. But then I fell in love with it," Headley said. "Last year we were working and an old woman next door kept screaming at us at first but by the end of the week she was bringing us lemonade. It was such a transition and I felt we were a part of it."
Headley said he took a week off from his summer job at a motor sports park to participate in the project.
"When I get home after the week, I really feel like I did something good," he said. "I feel like this is helping people on a whole new level and I really feel like we are making a difference."
The state Department of Community and Economic Development and Pennsylvania Downtown Center, Harrisburg, admitted the city to the five-year Elm Street Project program in 2004. It provides funding for facade improvements, street and sidewalk renovations and additional beautification projects.
SCA is a private, nonprofit Community Action Agency that has been in existence since 1965. It was formerly known as the Economic Opportunity Cabinet and is certified by the state as a Community Housing Development Organization. According to Jeffrey Feeser, SCA director of housing and community development, the home renovation program has been in place since the early 1990s. Beginning in 2004, modular homes were brought in and placed on lots that had been cleared of dilapidated structures. Now the group is trying construction.
He said the program uses several funding sources, but the majority comes from a housing and redevelopment assistance loan from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Other money comes from DCED home funds and the municipality where the homes are located.
In a previous REPUBLICAN & Herald story, Feeser said the municipalities acquire the property at judicial or tax claim bureau sales and then transfer the property to SCA.
Once the projects are completed, they are sold to low and moderate income families that meet income guidelines.
Two homes in Shenandoah, one at 22 W. Poplar St., the other at 312 S. Ferguson St., were constructed on the sites where dilapidated homes were torn down in November 2007. They have recently been put up for sale. SCA is targeting other communities in the county as well.
Shiffer said two Victorian and one traditional home are currently under construction in Grandville, while a completed Victorian home is for sale in Tamaqua.
A Victorian-style home is on the drawing board for Schuylkill Haven and SCA is also in the planning stages of renovating a property on West Spruce Street in Mahanoy City.
Shiffer said SCA built three two-story modular homes in Mahanoy City in 2004 and also completed a Victorian-style home in Pottsville.
"Schuylkill Community Action is always good to work with," Teter said. "They have already put up three new homes in the borough and they are always welcome."
Teter said a project like the one on West Spruce Street helps the borough by putting an abandoned property back on the tax roles.
"It also improves the neighborhood," Teter said. "Hopefully this can continue and other properties can be preserved as well."
To see more of the Republican & Herald or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.republicanherald.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Republican & Herald, Pottsville, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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