US volunteers help Middlesbrough project

Thirteen volunteers from the Preston Wood Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas have arrived to help residents from Grove Hill update facilities at the St Oswald’s church hall in Grove Hill.

The work is designed to support the Genesis Project, which operates from the church, to provide a whole range of help for local people, including a foodbank, eco-shop, clothing bank, kids’ club, youth group, and a parent and toddler group.

Alongside staff from Thirteen, volunteers are renovating railings around the church, re-painting the outside of the community hall, tidying and revamping the garden, litter picking in neighbouring streets and planting wildflowers around the church.

Jayne Dale, community development co-ordinator at Thirteen, said: “Before the pandemic, volunteers from the Baptist church had been coming to Teesside for quite a few years to help with projects in the community, and I’m so pleased to see them back in the country.

“The Genesis Project provides some really important services for people in Grove Hill and I’m happy that we can all work together to help support the project and St Oswald’s church hall.”

Chip Childers, Deacon from the Preston Wood Baptist Church in Dallas, said: “We’d heard a lot about the work going on in the community and we wanted to help the project in any way we could.

“The volunteers are from the school attached to our church and we’re in the UK for a week so our students can gain some experience of life in another part of the world and help people in another community.

“It’s great to be involved!”

Reverend Kath Dean manages the Genesis Project. She said: “I’m really grateful to Chip and the volunteers for coming all this way to help revamp our facilities.

“By working together, we can improve the building and the surrounding area and help make the project an even more inviting place for everyone to come.

“The Genesis Project offers some really important services for the people of Grove Hill and I’d like to invite everyone in the area to come and see what’s on offer, and even get involved in some way.”

As well as the range of services within the hall at St Oswald’s, people can come and speak to volunteers and workers to get information about other organisations who can offer help and support.

Anyone looking to get details about the Genesis Project can visit www.facebook.com/genesisgrovehill