Lakota East students renovate Middletown home

Will and Alexis Owens couldn’t believe the renovations being done on their Middletown house — or the young people completing the work.

Several Lakota East High School students — as part of their required 15 hours of community service for their government class — spent Saturday morning painting and power washing a home in the 900 block of Ninth Avenue, where the Owenses have lived for more than 25 years.

Will and his wife worked for 40 years, and now in their 70s, they’re unable to complete some of the outside maintenance on their home, they said.

That’s why the students volunteered Saturday.

The students completed the projects as part of the Edge Teen Center in Liberty Twp. Volunteers from the center perform community service four days a week, said Matt Benjamin, who oversaw Saturday’s project.

He said students work with dementia patients at Chesterwood Village Nursing Home on Mondays, tutor students at Living Waters Ministry in Hamilton on Tuesdays, volunteer in the food and clothing pantry at Healing Center on Wednesdays, and work with animals at Progressive Animal Welfare Society on Thursdays.

Benjamin said this was the first Saturday where service hours were needed.

Aubert Li, a junior at Lakota East, and other students painted the porch and railing while their classmates power washed the siding.

“It feels good to help the community,” Li said.

Will and his wife certainly were appreciative.

“This is unreal,” Will Owens said while watching the work being done. “I don’t even know these young kids.”

“It’s just amazing what they’re doing here,” Alexis Owens said. “It means a lot because we want to keep it nice.”

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