Beulah Holiness campers tackle Habitat projects during Mission Blitz 2010

ELDORADO — Campers from Beulah Holiness Campground are directing their mission blitz this year at Habitat For Humanity houses in Saline County.

"This year we are teaming up with Habitat for Humanity, junior high, high school and college youth at the camp," said the Rev. Stephen King, pastor at Mason City and San Jose UMC's.

On July 27, the blitz team worked on renovating the Habitat house in Eldorado, which was left in a state of disrepair by the previous inhabitants. The house is only five or six years old; the owners ended up deeding the house back to Habitat For Humanity and moving out for a fresh start.

"They owed us so much money, there was no way we were ever going to get it," Bruce Boone of Habitat for Humanity said.

Habitat For Humanity plans to put a family in the home once repairs are done; the application process will start soon.

The task facing the mission blitz crew was enormous - the yard was grown up, the house was dirty on the outside, one worker found five dead mice in a utility room, pet damage is evident everywhere, water damage was found along the baseboards, carpets needed ripping out, the exterior needed a power wash and junk littered the inside of the house, to name a few of the problems.

The mission blitz campers were ready to do, "Anything we need to do to get the house back on track," King said.

By midday the house was starting to take shape again. Although it was obvious the house has a way to go before another family can move in, the gutting of the house and cleaning of the yard and exterior was starting to take shape.

"This is a combination of learning to grow deeper and grow outward," King said.

The mission blitz had also worked at the Harrisburg Habitat for Humanity house, which is in the construction stages.

"We worked to turn it from a construction site to a home," King said.

The mission blitz has done several projects through the years. In years past, the campers have worked at Crisis Pregnancy Center, the Salvation Army building, the homeless shelter and two other Habitat houses.

"It's amazing what a group of young people can do if they have a little bit of support," King said.