Backyard Mission returns in Chatham

By Bruce Corcoran bruce@chathamvoice.com

After a three-year pause, volunteers from two local churches returned to helping others through their Backyard Mission program.

The good folks at First Presbyterian and First Christian Reformed churches in Chatham got back to the task of improving the yard of a Chatham homeowner.

In past years, people sub- mitted nominations and organizers sifted through them all to find the homeowner in most need. This time around, it was much easier. Mike Maroney, minister at First Presbyterian and one of the chief Backyard Mission organizers, said they simply picked the last person they chose, France Laprise.

“We were slated to do it in 2020 when everything went haywire,” he said of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We were just not able to do it when things were shut down and we weren’t able to get people together.”

Fast forward three years, and the volunteers were ready to help once again. In the past, they have scraped and painted houses, built wheelchair ramps and fences, done general carpentry repairs, replaced eavestroughs, landscaped, and done general clean up around a house.

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