U.M. ARMY students John Rankin and Tim Burton replace a screen door for a resident in Wildwood. Participants in the United Methodist Action Reach-Out Mission by Youth began work in Fairfield and Teague last week completing home repairs and maintenance needs for area residents unable to help themselves.

The group, also know as U.M. Army, included 26 adult leaders and 43 high school students from Center, Dickinson, Houston, Missouri City, Mont Belvieu, Mount Vernon, Santa Fe and The Woodlands.

After arriving last Sunday, the students were divided into nine teams and assigned to residences in and around Fairfield and Teague.

Work included completing carpentry work, interior and exterior painting, hanging sheet rock, completing minor roofing repairs and fixing porches, screen doors, handrails and ramps.

The sites were selected by referrals made through First United Methodist Church of Fairfield, Saint James United Methodist Church of Teague, and Fairfield home health care agencies.

While they completed their work, the students and their leaders were housed in classrooms at Fairfield's FUMC.

MAKING REPAIRS for an elderly resident in Freestone county are, l-r, John Rankin, Tiffany Ruizo, Seth Grant, Ryan Carr, Will Radican, Tim Burton and Whitney Schoening. Every morning they ate breakfast at the church and made sack lunches before heading off to their work sites.

In the field the students worked as a team assessing the needed repairs and determining how best to correct them.

They would assign each other tasks, take measurements, break out the paint brushes and even use a power tool or two.

For many homeowners the service provided by U.M. Army was a lifeline.

At one residence students repaired a wheelchair ramp and hand rail, making the home safer and more accessible to its owner.

For more than 30 years, U.M. Army has been completing mission work around the nation in Texas, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.

The organization has over 4,000 participants working on 1,700 projects this summer.