Kentucky Changers: A Mission Project Helping Communities Across the State

Kentucky Changers have been hard at work in Maysville this week, rounding out their third and final project for the summer.

According to Missions Strategist Joe Ball, Kentucky Changers is a program that strategizes to engage teenagers in home repairs in the communities served by the organization during the summer.

He referred to the program as a mission project.

Ball said he has been with Kentucky Changers for 31 years.

“I’ve been at it since the beginning. Our first project was 1994,” Ball said.

The organization initially started as a “pattern” of a larger program, World Changers, according to Construction Coordinator Lew Cook. After providing volunteers to a project in Louisville, the Brotherhood Department of the Kentucky Baptist Convention formed the Kentucky Changers.

“That was the initial pattern and blueprint as far as how it was run,” Cook said. He added that he has been involved with Kentucky Changers for about 23 years.

Since its beginning, the program has since joined Ministry Kentucky WMU. Ball noted this occurred in 2014.

“We’ve always been in the Kentucky Baptist family,” Ball said.

He noted that participants do not have to belong to a Baptist church. According to Ball, most people come to the program through youth groups from their respective churches.

“We’re Baptist sponsored, we’re not Baptist inclusive,” Ball said.

Cook added that participants are not always from Kentucky. There have been times in the past when there have been as many as six states represented at the program, Ball said.

This week, there have been four total states involved in the projects. These include Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia, according to Ball.

“It generally works better when everybody comes in a youth group, a church youth group,” Cook said.

Ball added that the program has done projects in several Kentucky cities such as Murray, Fulton and “every place in between.”

Cook and Ball went on to discuss the process of selecting projects for participants to work on each year.

According to Ball, the application process typically results in a total of 21 or 22 projects in the area. He noted the final options are taken from a “pool” of 30 to 50 applicants.

He noted the projects chosen are reviewed to ensure that work can be done in a few days by teenagers.

One of the “major” criteria during the application process for projects is whether the applicant owns and lives in the property being reviewed, according to Cook.

He said the program can also work with the applicant if a family member owns or lives in the property. Cook noted the process is not affected by monetary income or applicant age.

“That’s kind of where we start as far as the selection,” Cook said.

After projects have been chosen, local entities typically begin to offer help to the participants while they are in the area. According to Cook, the city, county and Buffalo Trace Area Development District have been involved this week.

“We partner with local people and they select the projects, they raise the funds and so from here, a lot of our partnership has been with the Bracken Baptist Association. They’re our local partner here,” Ball said.

Ball noted that Mason County Schools has also helped the program by allowing the group to use Mason County Intermediate School as a place to rest.

He said local churches have also been providing food to the group.

“All those come together to help fund the project, get local leadership to the project and then we provide the volunteers. That plays out in some fashion in every city that we’re in,” Ball said. He referred to partnerships as “multi-level.”

He added this is the ninth time the organization has come to Maysville.

“We want to get to know the community, the homeowners and their neighbors, the city. We want to try to connect with them and that makes it memorable,” Cook said.

According to Ball, participants are typically up and out of the place they are staying in by 7:15 a.m. and work until about 3:30 p.m. Following a day of work, the group returns to worship in the evening.

Cook discussed the reality of the program, versus what people might consider it.

“One of the things that we like to explain to people sometimes, the young people pay to come and sleep on the floor at the school and to do work,” Cook said. He noted there are occasions where someone might consider the program a “camp.”

Ball clarified that the program is more of a missions or work camp, rather than a standard summer camp.

According to Cook, some of the work done by participants includes decks, painting houses, siding, roofs and similar work. He noted that groups bring their own beds and work out in the sun when they attend.

“That’s a commitment they make,” Cook said.

Ball went on to discuss some of the more “unique” aspects of working with Kentucky Changers.

“One of the unique things is the Liess family here, their whole family is engaged this week. To see families get involved, we’ve had on crews three generations in a project,” Ball said. “To see that, that you don’t find in a lot of other places.”

Cook added there have been times when there are people who participated in a previous year that will return as crew chief. He said, “That’s very neat to see it…in that way.”

Ball shared general details regarding Kentucky Changers.

According to Ball, it is $209 per person to participate in Kentucky Changers. He noted there is a late fee if joining after the deadline. Typically, the price increase occurs May 1.

The portal to join the program is expected to open in early to mid-November, Ball said. He said there are projects for fourth grade to adults.

According to Ball, the oldest participant they have this week is 86 years old.

He noted there are projects for children, seventh through 12th grade, collegiate age and adults. There are seven projects a year, Ball said.

To learn more about Kentucky Changers, please go to https://www.kywmu.org/changers