Jesus Week volunteers clean man's apartment

Instead of going home or going to the mall Friday, some students spent the afternoon with a man who needed help cleaning his apartment.

Robert Richards Jr. said he had already received two warnings to clean his apartment from Huntington's Housing Department. If he received one more warning, he would have been evicted from his apartment.

Richards, who is blind, said he called Interfaith Care Givers and asked them for help.

Meanwhile, Megan Goff, Winfield junior, said she was looking for a community service project to end Jesus Week at the Campus Christian Center. Care Givers told Goff about Richards and she agreed to take a group of students to clean his apartment.

"It is a good way to end the week," Goff said.

Jessica Lipinski, Wheeling senior, agreed.

"It shows the love of God through us helping others," Lipinski said.

Eight people went to help clean the apartment, Goff said.

The students cleaned windows, scrubbed walls, swept and mopped the floor and cleaned anything else that needed to be cleaned, Goff said.

Aaron Latsha, Hershey, Pa., senior, said he came to have fun.

"It makes you feel good because you are helping others," Latsha said.

Richards said the students were a gift.

"It's a blessing," Richards said. "I had no one able to clean. Being able to find someone to do it out of love is a huge blessing."

Many students said cleaning Richards' apartment was not a hard job.

"Giving up time cleaning someone else's apartment does not seem like work," Lipinski said.

Amber Beanblossom, education sophomore from Charleston, said, "You can have fun anywhere as long as you look for it."

Richards said the group did such a good job that he will probably have them come back, "especially if the Housing Department says the walls need it."

Students work with Interfaith Care Givers on an as-needed basis, Goff said.

The students do a variety of work each time they go, Goff said. They may clean a house, do yard work or help a person move.