Westfield Mission Team Serves in Long Island

From July 29th through August 4th, six middle and high school students and three adults from First United Methodist Church Westfield served on a mission trip in East Rockaway, NY. The all-female team known as the SALTy Ladies (after the name of the Youth Group, S.A.L.T., which stands for Serving As Light Together), worked with Next Step Ministries, a nondenominational Christian missions organization that hosts mission trips all over the U.S. and internationally.

The team spent the week working on a driveway for a woman whose home was destroyed during Superstorm Sandy. “There is still so much work to be done, even six years after Sandy,” said Kylie Haskins, who is the Youth Coordinator at FUMC Westfield. “There were only two streets in the town where we were working that didn’t still have condemned houses on them.”

The team poured four concrete slabs in total during the week, which included prepping the areas with form boards and wire mesh, mixing 80 pound bags of concrete by hand, and leveling and finishing the areas. “We did a lot of hard work, but it was so amazing to help someone in need and to see how grateful our homeowner was. The girls were incredible, and I couldn’t be more proud of how they embodied God’s love this week,” said Mrs. Haskins.

The Youth Group at FUMC Westfield is open to all middle and high school students. You can find out more about the Youth Group at fumcwestfield.org, on Facebook (FUMC Westfield Youth), or by contacting Kylie Haskins at youth@fumcwestfield.org.