Church group helping out eight Champaign County nonprofits

CHAMPAIGN – A bevy of Jayhawks descended on Champaign County this week, and like the Blues Brothers, they're on a mission from God – sort of. The youth group from Rolling Hills Presbyterian Church in Overland Park, Kan., is on a weeklong mission to spruce up shelters and generally help out at eight nonprofit agencies in the county. The 60 teens and 30 adults are grouped into eight work teams that rotate to a new site each day. At the Center for Women in Transition, a team Wednesday tore out what was left of two bathrooms undergoing a floor-to-ceiling remodel. "It's brilliant," said a grateful John Sullivan, executive director of the shelter. "The bathrooms were brutal. The plaster was falling off the walls." The students are also re-roofing houses for clients of Empty Tomb, painting senior apartments for the Housing Authority... [read full story]