Thanks to a regional Christian group, Mary Lunsford’s mobile home will soon be a safer place to live.
     Lunsford, who lives in a clean, beige trailer just east of Boone had a problem: when movers shifted the home from one park to her current one, the floor in the bathroom shifted, becoming unsteady and eventually ripping a large hole in the floor. Lunsford, 74, is wheelchair-bound and on a limited income. Repairing the damage seemed beyond her means.
     Enter Carolina Cross Connection, which is based in Lincolnton.
     The local group recruits volunteers from different states and denominations to improve the homes for people in need. They also attend a camp for interaction and group worship with other Christians.
     Last year, 1,471 volunteers from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and New Jersey attended Carolina Cross Connection, which operates camps in Lenoir, West Jefferson, Bostic, Casar, Franklin and Pfeiffer University at Misenheimer.
     “They gain experience in being leaders,” camp counselor and Wadesboro native Amy Crawford said. Crawford, an Appalachian State University student, is coordinating the project at Lunsford’s house.
     “It’s a chance to meet new people and learn to compromise. It also teaches teenagers constructions skills and helps them understand diversity by working with others,” she said.
     More than 900 homes in 25 counties were repaired last year.
     The current Boone project brings together mostly North Carolina volunteers from Lexington, Midland, Lincolnton and other towns.

     “I wanted to bring something back,” Shelley Stevens, a 15-year-old volunteer from Lincolnton, said.
     “I get the feeling of knowing I’ve helped people — knowing I’ve had an impact.”
     To help volunteers get to know new people, the ministry mingles teens from different groups by dividing into smaller units known as Christian mission groups.
     This week, the Connection dispatched 12 mission groups to projects like Lunsford’s in Watauga, Caldwell, Avery and Wilkes counties.
     Volunteers put in a solid day of labor and meet back at the camp in Lenoir where they play games, watch skits and hold contemporary worship services.
     Because of the nature of the work, the group only allows teens who are entering ninth grade. Officials at Camp Carolwood in Lenoir, found out about Lunsford’s problem from a social worker and went to work.

     The group brings teen and adults teens who will be entering the ninth grade to participate.
     Once the group determines the needs in a region, buyers gather materials from local building suppliers or receive donations in kind.
     Locally, the group bought about $2,500 worth of supplies. Counselors with the camps must raise the money to buy supplies prior to the work weeks.
     “I think they’re great,” said Lunsford, as she surveyed the group’s work from her living room.
     “I’m glad they’ve come.”
     For more information, call the Carolina Cross Connection summer staff at 828-757-9007 at Camp Carolwood in Lenoir.