By Lu Ann Franklin Times Correspondent 

More than 400 youth and adult volunteers with two national faith-based groups are in Northwest Indiana, laboring to assist with flood recovery efforts that continue nearly two years after the floodwaters of September 2008 receded.

The work by Lutheran Hands and Southern Baptist World Changers, as well as AmeriCorps, is being coordinated by Lakeshore Area Regional Recovery of Indiana, or LARRI, which formed to assist in the region's recovery from the widespread flooding of two years ago.

"With hundreds of willing volunteers available in one week, LARRI has been able to arrange opportunities for these group to not only assist some of the individual homeowners affected by the flood, but to impact entire communities," said Jane Delligatti, LARRI's executive director.

The groups are working on various urban and civil projects, including those at the Gary Historical & Cultural Society, Exceptional Equestrians Unlimited in Hobart and Portage's Imagination Glen Park.

When the Gary Historical Society received a donated building at 535 Ridge Road in 2008, floodwaters still filled the basement and black mold covered many surfaces.

With the assistance of LARRI and volunteer groups from all over the nation, the building is taking shape and 109 children ages 6 to 14 now attend free five-week Summer Enrichment for Learning Programs there.

Teenagers and adult volunteers from the World Changers are continuing that effort by replacing ceilings and drywall inside the building.

"We're also going to dig out and replace the drain tile around the building, and share Christ with a lot of people in the neighborhood" said Terry Pierce, an adult volunteer from First Baptist Church in Cleveland, Tenn.

Desmond Reeder, 18, of Springfield, Ohio, said he was eager to begin disconnecting and taking down the ceiling lights so fellow World Changers, including 15-year-old Dakota Mullins, of Evansville, could put up new ceilings.

"I went to trade school for two years to work with electricity," said Reeder, who is on his first mission trip. "I always wanted to go on a mission trip, but I couldn't afford it. Now I work a job at McDonald's and I saved a little each week so I could come. I'm very excited to be here."

All the volunteers paid $250 plus transportation costs to come on the mission trip, said Kellen Hall, World Changers spokesperson.

At the Exceptional Equestrians facility in Hobart, two American Quarter Horses in an adjacent pasture kept workers company as the teenagers and adults started construction of a "loafing shed" to shelter horses from the sun while they're outside.

One of the youngest team members -- Ara Nadjarian, 13, of Orchard Hills Baptist Church in Novi, Mich. -- practiced skills all volunteers learned during an eight-week training session at their home churches before arriving.

He loaded lumber and operated a saw Tuesday inside one of the stables."It changes me," he said of the mission trip. "We're closer to God, and it makes me happy to be here.

"In addition to building horse shelters, the volunteers in Hobart also repaired and re-roofed three sheds and painted fences.

"This means so much to us," said Sue Goza, of Exceptional Equistrians, which provides educational and therapeutic riding instruction for people with special needs. "We thank the good Lord that they are here."

Link: http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/hobart/article_3bc8da94-aee9-53f0-a776-3a77b146ea1a.html?mode=story