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LIVINGSTON, Ala. - During the summer, many youth groups take mission trips all around the world to Third World countries or small impoverished towns. For the past seven years, the youth at Muir's Chapel United Methodist Church have been traveling to Sumter County in western Alabama. Although it is only 10 hours away from home, they live and work in a world completely different from Greensboro.

Sumter County is ranked as one of the poorest counties in the country with one in every three people below the poverty line. That is almost 5,000 people in a small county of less than 15,000. If a family is not considered impoverished, they are certainly not well off. The median income for a household is $18,911 (2000 census) compared to the nation's income of $44,334. Greensboro exceeds both with a median income of $46,691.

There is an organization that was founded to bring relief to families. Alabama Rural Ministry (ARM) was founded in 1998 by Lisa Pierce as a home repair ministry. The first summer it started they had only two staff members, four work teams, and helped eight families.

"Our first summer we hosted 4 teams," says Pierce, "and grew to hosting 300 to 400 youth between our 3 sites."

With 3 locations in Livingston, Tuskegee, and West Wilmer, ARM has about 23 teams per summer and helps 46 families.

Each team comes from various churches across the nation to help repair ceilings, floors, walls, steps, ramps, and anything to assist the family in daily living. They also get a chance to work at the Sonshine Day Camp with many of the local kids. Teams are matched up with families depending on their ability and knowledge of performing the tasks needed to fix their house.

The Muir's Chapel team of 25 was paired with two elderly ladies, Ms. James and Ms. Leigh. Ms. James' house was built by her grandfather and should have been condemned in our standards. The bathroom that the group was working on was smaller than most walk-in closets. It consisted of plywood floors, ceilings, and walls; with one small window that provided the only light for the room.

"This was my second trip," describes Emily Cutchin, "but the condition of these people's houses still shocked me."

With only a week, there wasn't much the group could do without ripping everything out. However, they made the best of the conditions by replacing the warped wood, covering the exposed rafters and leaky roof, repairing plumbing, and installing a small exhaust fan.

Despite the scorching heat outside, Ms. James had only one air conditioning unit in her living room window. The unit was meant to cool a room half the size, but she simply can't afford to buy a larger one and pay the bill to run one.

A team a few weeks before the Muir's Chapel team had installed a water heater, something she had lived without her whole life. Ms. James brought to their attention that she could not afford to keep it running all the time. Therefore, a switch was installed so she could turn it on before each shower and off when she was through.

The group at Ms. Leigh's house spent the week repairing the old rotten siding on her house. As they ripped off the old they realized that they were now looking straight into her kitchen. The rotten, termite-invested siding on her house had also been it's walls in some spots. However, the real walls were just particle board, making it not much better.

"Its unbelievable," says Jennifer Ludemann, 17, "to see the circumstances some of these people live in."

The poverty and poor living conditions weren't the only thing that shocked the teens. Racial tension was more evident in Sumter County. With 73% of the population black and 26% white, it was completely opposite of hometown Guilford County. The kids learned that there were "white" churches and "black" churches. Livingston High School had only 24 white students because Sumter Academy was considered the "white" school. Although they are not segregated by law anymore, they are still segregated by custom.

"The citizens we helped were African American," says Mandy Hiatt, 17, "and were shocked whites actually cared to help them."

A lot of the young children at the daycare had rarely seen whites, and maybe their few experiences with them had not been pleasant. But in one week, they were completely surrounded by their love and compassion.

"Doing what to us seems so small," says Austin Bason, "can change the way someone views a whole race of people."

Although there has been some apparent hostility between races there, the people were so loving and gracious. During lunch breaks, the youth got to sit down with the ladies and talk to them about their lives. Ms. James told about her family that lived in the surrounding houses, and like any grandmother, was so proud of her grandkids.

Ms. Leigh's sister, Velma, lived across the street and came by one day to talk with the girls working. In no time, the girls knew all the latest gossip on everybody and everything, and Velma left with a few stories herself.

Although these families seem completely different, the youth found they had more in common than they expected. Ms. James was even surprised to learn that "ya'll up there" liked to eat barbeque ,too.

Southern hospitality was never hard to find. Every motorist that drove by James' house smiled and waved at the strange group of kids. One mother dropped her kids off to play with James' grandkids for awhile. A counselor on the trip, Andy Peascoe, finished lunch early to play some ball with them.

When the youth had a day off from working on a house, they got an opportunity to play with the kids at the Sonshine Day Camp. This sometimes proved to be more tiring than putting up siding.

Aged 4 to 12, they were constantly running around, singing, dancing, jumping on backs, and playing games. Muir's Chapel was responsible for bringing the snacks, games, crafts, and Bible stories to occupy the kids for the whole week. Planning activities was difficult in a facility that had no playground, water damage that warped the floors, and almost no toys other than what was brought.

For lunch the kids had to walk about 10 minutes up the road to the local high school. This meal and the snack that followed was sometimes the only meal the kids would receive that day.

Because it was the last week of camp, the kids got to take a field trip to the Birmingham Zoo. Most of the kids had never been to the zoo, even some of the older ones. The youth had brought digital cameras on the trip and the day campers quickly snatched them. Although most of them had never used a camera before, the quickly learned. By the end of the day, each camera had hundreds of pictures of every animal in the zoo and every child on the trip.

"Going to the day camp is always a blessing," says Ludemann. "The children are precious and really eager to learn about God."

The whole youth group grew so attached to the kids that the last day was hard to say goodbye. They realized that like 0the years before, the kids here this year would more than likely not be there the next. The last day was spent at the pool with kids hanging on to them, begging them to catch them as they jumped in, and of course playing with digital cameras. Before they could say goodbye to all of them, they were loaded up in cars and taken home.

The last night there, the youth group got together and shared their personal experiences of the week. It was evident that they had become closer with each other as they opened up about what the week really meant to them. Tears filled many of their eyes as they realized that although they came to change the lives of others, their lives had also been changed.

Abbie Jobe learned to be thankful for everything she has. "It helped me realize as a teen that when I start to get selfish that I can stop and think, 'Wow, I really have a lot.'"

Questions arose about why help is not brought to these people. What about a Habitat for Humanity chapter in Sumter County? Why is ARM the only organization that is here helping?

Hiatt asks, "How can these people be so loving when they are in such poverty?"

The reason these people are so loving is because they have found everything they need to be happy. They have a house, even if it is broken, it is filled with memories of their family. They are surrounded by their family in neighboring houses. They love their community. They may struggle at times, but they have the love and support of the people around them.

A Habitat house doesn't come with memories. A Habitat house is not built for large enough for an entire community. It doesn't come with holes and scratches that remind its residents of what happened that put them there. It isn't built by their grandfather or brother. It is merely house, a house they couldn't afford.

They couldn't afford a new house with all the lights, air conditioning, heat, and water. The bills to keep the house running would put them further into poverty. So they don't need a Habitat for Humanity or an Extreme Makeover. Everything they need and could possibly want they already have.

"It's unbelievable to see the circumstances some of these people live in and yet they are so thankful for all God has provided for them," Ludemann says.

The work done through ARM sometimes feels like Band-Aid work, that what they're doing is only fixing the problem temporarily. But that's all the families want, just something little that will allow them to stay in their home for a little longer.

So the youth group leaves the family the gift of time, more time with friends and family. However, the family leaves the teens the gift of priorities. Teaching them what really matters and what they really need.

"All these families have is each other and what comes first in their eyes is family and that is what I learned from this trip." Hiatt says as she describes the one lesson she will carry with her. "Its not what you have, but who you have right next to you that matters in the end."

Jessica Cord is a rising high school senior and a member of Muir's Chapel United Methodist Church.