In today's society, many people believe we live in a "perfect little world": people are fed, have a place to live, and necessities are guaranteed. Our fairytale thoughts won't allow us believe that there are people rummaging through garbage cans looking for food scraps; that the homeless do live in beat-up cardboard boxes holding signs saying, "will work for food"; and our needs are not always fulfilled. What if everyday items, such as a telephone, toothpaste, soap, a car, would suddenly vanish from one's ownership? The possessions we call necessities make up what others call luxuries, especially to those in McDowell County.
             Each summer our youth group raises money for twenty members to restore the damaged houses of McDowell County, located in southern West Virginia. Since a flood hit just months before our trip, we had almost three times as many houses to repair than last year. With our supplies packed in the rented Uhaul, truck and van, we began our eight-hour trip down to McDowell. At first, the concept of leaving behind our TVs, computers, waterbeds, and driving privileges is difficult, but then we think to ourselves, "We're only be gone for six days...they'll still be here when we come back."
             Our first day at the work site, I noticed some children playing in the distance. "Hey," said a gentle voice sitting on a five-foot mound of dirt. "My name's Erik," the child continued with his southern West Virginian accent. Erik was an African-American boy around the age of six. His oversized t-shirt and worn jeans immediately told me Erik and his family did not have much money. My Mission Team had been assigned to restore Erik and his family's rotted roof. Sections of the poorly shingled roof concaved, making the house seem like it had been dented from a meteor shower.
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