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‘Out here doing God’s work’: Hope Week volunteers return to Illinois Valley · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Out here doing God's work. Hope Week volunteers return to
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  Illinois Valley. Written by Tom Collins. This article is being
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  read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
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  The Sunday weather was humid and stifling in dark clouds
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  gathered overhead, but the blue clad volunteers paid mother Nature
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  absolutely no mind as they set out with their brooms
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  and gardening implements. Members of Axe Church and LaSalle set
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  off for downtown LaSalle and Baker Lake in Peru, among
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  other locations, despite the uncomfortable temperatures and threat of rain,
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  which did indeed arrive and curtail any hopes of a
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  full day's labor. But Cameron Graper, lead pastor, said he
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  and his army of volunteers weren't about to be dissuaded
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  by inclement weather. We're nuts, Scraper said jokingly. We're crazy.
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  Dedicated would probably be a better word. Axe Church members
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  are sell lebrating Hope Week, a volunteer initiative meant to
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  spruce up spots in the Illinois Valley while also giving
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  Christian witness to area residents. Mary Beth Males of Teluka
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  was among the volunteers who flocked to First Street in
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  LaSalle to clean and paint curbs. She said she was
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  moved by the desire to help others and serve communities
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  in need. It doesn't take a lot of effort to
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  give of your personal time males, said Mark Wheelock of LaSalle.
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  Another volunteer in downtown LaSalle termed the initiative a good cause.
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  I like to help out the community, Weelock said, I've
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  done it just a couple of years. Indeed, this week's
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  endeavor marks the eleventh year that as Church members have
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  lent their time and labor for community wide improvements. Last year,
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  Graper reported volunteers completed four thousand, five hundred and fifty
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  eight hours of community service and spent forty eight hundred
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  and seventy two dollars on projects this year. Some Hope
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  Week projects this year include mulching trees at Baker Lake,
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  landscaping at Le Spark in Dalzell, and installing pea gravel
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  at Saint Mary's Park in Las Als. Residents may be
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  excited to see the finished projects, but Sunday's volunteers simply
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  were out there for the joy and satisfaction of giving
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  to others. I'm just out here doing God's work and
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  giving back to the community, said Nolan Glen of Peru.
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  We wanted to get back to the community, show what
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  the church can do and spread God's love.