Local students from church youth groups spent their spring break helping build an orphanage in Juarez, Mexico.

The 22 students and eight adult chaperones volunteered through the interdenominational Harvest Hands Ministries to help construct a dormitory within the Resplandor de Vida Orphanage compound in April. They leveled and prepared the dirt floor for concrete, poured a concrete sidewalk and outside wall, installed insulation and helped with finish work. When finished, the structure will house about 50 children in a safe, clean environment.

Youth-group leader Tim Van Hofwegen of First Christian Reformed Church in Mount Vernon said other team members painted the dorm they stayed in and helped residents of the poverty-stricken region. They helped put a new roof on a small home, cleaned the home of a disabled couple, bought food for a family, and installed an irrigation system.

The mostly high-school-age members of First Christian Reformed and Faith Christian Reformed churches in Mount Vernon and Everett who donated their time, energy and some of the building materials included: Jessica Bundy, Carly Colasano, Amber Eldridge, Erin Eldridge, Dustin Gates, Peter Graves, Christian Graves, Anthony Hodge, Jolene Houtsma, Elise Kaptien, Kaylee Knight, Simon LeClair, Benny Rivera, Chris Rivera, Jenell Schloemer, Jeremy Schloemer, Toby Simcox, Kyler Van Berkum, Tawni Van Berkum, Monica Vanden Bosch, Amanda Vanden Bosch and Daeleen Visser.

They were accompanied by Van Hofwegen, Faith Christian youth-group leader Matt Brooks, and Deb Bundy, Doug and Michelle Eldridge, Denise Swager, Marjo Vanden Bosch, Grace Visker and Kathy Webber.

“The students slept, ate and worked on site,” said chaperone Deb Bundy of Mount Vernon.

Members paid for the trip either out of pocket or through fundraising efforts, Bundy said. Their efforts were successful enough that they had sufficient funds to buy basic food supplies, and distributed flour, beans and rice to very poor residents in Colonia, near Juarez, which is right across the border from El Paso, Texas.

Bundy said the students witnessed the poverty in the region — shelters called “homes” that were assembled out of cardboard and scraps of wood or metal.

“I definitely would do it again,” Bundy said. “It’s a life-changing experience.”

Van Hofwegen said the youth groups go on missions to Mexico about every other year because it gets them out of their comfort zone and into a place where they are not the majority either in skin color or language, and exposes them to people living in widespread poverty.

“It is good for the kids to see how blessed we are here in the U.S., and helps them sympathize with other immigrants,” he said.

“We hope that this experience helps build their faith and emboldens them to minister to other strangers in need.”