World Changers: Religious youth pay to serve East St. Louis area

Teens from across the nation paid to come to the metro-east and volunteer their labor this past week.

World Changers is a Christian group whose volunteers travel the country during students' school break to do construction and renovation work, landscaping and other manual labor as well as teaching while spreading the word to people in need.

The group of about 100 volunteers spent the week in East St. Louis, Belleville and St. Louis. Youngsters on average paid $250 to be able to help others, staying at Second Baptist Church in Granite City for the week.

This initiative was in partnership with and focused on the Christian Activities Center in East St. Louis. Youngsters helped build an addition, cleared a neighboring lot and played with the neighborhood children who came to the center.

This story was originally published June 19, 2015 at 6:05 PM with the headline "World Changers: Religious youth pay to serve East St. Louis area."