Changing lives through YSA service project
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Changing lives was the goal. Could that be best accomplished with another boating trip, or was there a better way?
Contemplating those questions led the youth leaders of the Kaysville Utah Stake Young Single Adults to pick a service project over another trip to Hyrum Lake in northern Utah for a summer activity. Specifically, the YSA committee decided to do an "extreme home makeover" patterned after the popular television program of the same name.
There was some resistance because of the perceived magnitude of the project. But the young single adults insisted on forging ahead.
In a neighboring stake, a 150-year-old home occupied by a family working through some challenges was selected as the service-project target to be renovated Thursday through Saturday, June 18-20.
It turned out that the home and yard needed so much work that many volunteers began working the previous Monday to prepare for the official launch on Thursday. It was discovered that the house's roof was in dire need of repair and up to five layers of old shingles had to be removed. Steve Purdy, who with his wife, Pat, serves as stake young single adult adviser, said tons of trash, debris and old structures had to be removed from the yard.
By Saturday afternoon, the inside of the house had been worked over including new hardwood flooring, new wallboard and new paint.
Outside, the cleaned-up yard was partly sodded and partly planted with grass seed to be watered with a newly installed sprinkling system. A box garden was planted with vegetables, a concrete pad was poured and a basketball standard installed and a water feature was built.
Along with everything else, princess dresses were made for daughters in the family while Utah Jazz and BYU football memorabilia was procured for a son.
Devin Squire, co-chairman of the stake YSA committee, estimated that about 100 different young single adults participated, along with many leaders and other volunteers.
"Our super activity is usually a boating activity," said Missy Mason, co-chairman of the stake YSA committee. "We wanted to do something more to do with service."
"You never change many lives boating," Devin said, explaining the shift in activities this year. "We have had kids we've never seen before come out and participate."
He said the decision to do one home rather than several projects was "a bonding thing to keep everyone in one place." He and many of the workers had to use vacation time or take time off without pay from their jobs.
Devin and Missy said there were many miracles involved in the project. One was the weather. Severe rain storms in northern Utah during the week skirted around the house when there was work to be done. Also, donations in goods, services and money made it possible to do much more with the project that originally projected, including the new roof.
Complementing the work were a movie night Friday and a picnic after the completion of the project Saturday afternoon.
