GREAT FALLS - First English Lutheran Church in downtown Great Falls likes to lend a helping hand to the homeless community, but now, they’re getting a helping hand from Boy Scouts who are giving them a much-needed renovation.
The church has been seeing an increase in the number of homeless people coming to them for food and shelter, but their front porch wasn’t in the right condition to accommodate all of them.
Sterling Chargois is a member of Troop 1014 and saw this as an opportunity to earn general volunteer hours and to also help the community in a meaningful way. They are fully replacing the front porch and giving it a makeover and had several businesses around town donate material to help with the project and reduce overall costs.
“It’s been a little stressful having to run around and get everything done but in total it’s been really good. Everything’s worked out fine so far,” Chargois said. “My favorite part would probably just be able to work with friends that I’ve known for a while from my troop who come out and help. I’ve heard a lot from the community of the church and people walking by on the street who’ve said it looks good. They’re excited to see the result.”
Helping Hands ministry has been working with the Boy Scouts and says they have been tremendous to work with and that what they’re doing is going to impact a lot of people in a very meaningful way.
Director Carrie Parker said the troops have done an amazing job with the project even though it’s bigger than they expected, and they’ve only kept working.
“It was old. It needed repair very badly. We found a newspaper from the 1950s under there so it was definitely past time for an upgrade,” Parker said. “The scouts have just been incredible, eager to help. They have really great attitudes and a positive work ethic, and they got into this project and just haven’t stopped.”
The project doesn’t have a finish date just yet, but work continues to be done as the church looks forward to seeing it complete and serving more people.
First English Lutheran Church is located at 726 Second Avenue North; click here to visit the website.
