Chesco's Project RAKE: Teaching teens, helping those in need

Bob Henriksen is the son of a handy father, whom he watched and emulated as he was growing up.

In high school and college, Henriksen did construction work, serving as an apprentice to a carpenter, a mason and an electrician. At age 50, he is comfortable with a variety of tools and in command of a wide range of home-improvement skills.

"I can do a little bit of everything," Henriksen says, more as admission than boast, in keeping with his Scandinavian reserve.

Henriksen's carefully maintained house in rural Landenberg, Chester County, offers evidence of his talent and effort, including a basement he finished himself. But several times a year, Henriksen donates his time and ability to improving the homes and lives of others through a grassroots organization called Project RAKE.

RAKE is an acronym for Random Acts of Kindness Everywhere. Project RAKE is the home-repair outreach of the Ground Zero Youth Ministry, which is affiliated with the Christian Life Center, an offshoot of the New London Presbyterian Church.

Since Project RAKE began in 2002, more than 520 teenagers and more than 250 adults have donated more than 57,000 hours of community service and helped more than 200 families live more safely and comfortably.

Focusing on the needy, the elderly and the disabled who live along the U.S. 1 corridor in southern Chester County, Project RAKE volunteers have built wheelchair ramps, repaired roofs, remodeled water-damaged bathrooms and kitchens, stopped plumbing leaks, patched and painted walls, replaced inoperative well pumps and pressure tanks, and solved minor electrical and safety problems.

"Our motto is 'Warmer, drier, safer,' " says Drew Cope, 30, Project RAKE's site coordinator. "It's like triage in a hospital. We take the worst cases first."

Project RAKE holds three or four work camps a year: a weeklong camp in the summer and weekend camps in the spring and fall. Young people ages 13 to 25, recruited from schools, church youth groups and scout troops, usually by word of mouth, are dispatched to jobs in crews of four or five supervised by an experienced adult. Most of the construction material is donated or discounted by local merchants and businesses.

Henriksen, an engineering supervisor at PSEG Nuclear's power plant in Salem, N.J., has participated in Project RAKE for five years after learning about it through his church, New London Presbyterian. In December, his employer's parent company, PSEG, awarded $1,000 to Project RAKE in his honor. Through donations and discounts, that amount will be leveraged to purchase about $2,500 worth of materials and supplies, Cope says.

Henriksen serves Project RAKE as a crew chief. During work camp, he arrives at 6 a.m. at Project RAKE's supply garage and dispatching center in New London (which Eagle Scouts erected), picks up a sheet outlining the day's jobs, and oversees a crew of four or five teenagers.

"I'm not there to do the work," he says. "I'm there to teach."

The statement is in keeping with Project RAKE's philosophy, which is as much about improving the young as improving houses.

"Our primary goal is helping teens grow. The work is secondary," Cope says. "We're trying to give them a vehicle through which they can learn service, altruism and philanthropy."

While Project RAKE has churchly roots, it is today a nondenominational, nonaffiliated nonprofit, Cope emphasizes, and while Christian charity motivates its outreach, an important byproduct is more practical and secular: teaching young people home-repair skills they can use the rest of their lives.

"I've learned a lot about construction and how to fix stuff that will help out in my future," says Jeff Pincin Jr., 19, a freshman at Millersville University who lives in West Grove and has participated in Project RAKE since 2003. "I love getting to know the homeowners and seeing the reaction on their faces.

"Many of them participate in the projects with us, and they are so appreciative. They love seeing teenagers going out in community and doing stuff like this."

For Henriksen, Project RAKE has been "eye-opening."

"You take for granted what you have until you see what some people have to live with," he says. "You don't have to go far to find people who are in need. Some are in poverty, but many are just old or infirm and don't have the resources. They can afford to buy groceries but not a big project like a new roof."

Sometimes solutions are surprisingly simple, yet they make a huge difference in the lives of homeowners. In one case, a family in a century-old house had had no hot water in the main bathroom for more than a year. Henriksen found the supply line in the back of a cluttered closet and reopened a loose valve that had vibrated shut, reintroducing the family to the joy of a steaming shower.

"I've always enjoyed working with my hands and seeing a tangible result," Henriksen says. "Project RAKE is even more rewarding because it means something to people. You see how they benefit and react, and you experience their appreciation. When you help people out who are in need, you get a sense of purpose. You feel good about it, and it never goes away."