Teenagers from First Baptist Church in Gilmer served food to homeless persons in San Marcos, and they also sat down to eat and talk with them.

From yard work to home repairs to serving homeless persons, volunteers bring help, hope, healing

Twenty teenage Texans on Mission volunteers and leaders are spending their spring break as part of Revive San Marcos – 17 from First Baptist Church in Gilmer. Add in disaster relief volunteers who are providing food for the teens and others in the community, and 36 total are involved.

The teens are doing lawn work, painting, removing and installing flooring, fixing broken plumbing, packing First Step kits and more – all with adult guidance. They are working in partnership with Mission Able of First Baptist Church San Marcos.

Tuesday evening they served dinner to homeless persons at Southside Community Center in San Marcos. After serving the food, they got food themselves and sat down to eat with those they had just served.

David McClintock of Mission Able worked with the teens doing yard work. "They're eager beavers," he said. "They get after it. They do whatever you ask them to do. They're just like we older men; they break things, too."

Wayne Barrick of FBC Gilmer worked with the teens in flooring a house. "They had to learn from the ground up, and they jumped in and did great. And they also spent time talking with the homeowner, an 80-year-old Black lady, and she told them about growing up in segregation. So it was really rewarding seeing them being able to talk back and forth with her. She enjoyed it; they enjoyed it. That was great."