If you ever get the chance to go on a servant volunteer trip, you should take it.

Let me explain why.

This Spring Break, a group of NIU students involved with REFUGE Lutheran Student Fellowship at Immanuel Lutheran Church on Russell Road went to southern Louisiana to do some work on a few homes through an organization called Bayou Grace.

The group split up three projects to work on. Each involved fixing up homes for low-income residents.

One group scraped off paint and cleaned, and then primed, painted and trimmed a house, rebuilding some small parts.

Another group revamped a house, replacing old siding, cleaning windows and doors and painting the inside.

A third group built a deck with an entrance ramp, reshaped a door, put some new siding on and stabilized the house.

One group member also helped demolish a house during one of the workdays.

The group lived in a gym stage, sleeping on air mattresses and using plastic bins as suitcases for a week. Two other groups – one from Minnesota and the other from Purdue University – helped out on these projects and tackled some others within the area.

When volunteering, it is often the case that you receive more than you give.

“As Christians, it’s very important to give, but in that giving, we also receive a lot, as well,” said Marty Marks, Immanuel Lutheran Church and REFUGE Lutheran Fellowship Pastor.

We gained relationships within our own group, with other groups helping out during the week and with those for whom we were working.

Volunteering teaches life lessons and can be a great chance to learn about the area you are working in, too.

Not only did we help those for whom we did the house repairs, but also we helped out those who around the property owners and the community.

“My sisters … they don’t believe it. They just don’t believe that people will go around and help,” Louisiana property owner Mauderis Smith said. “They just don’t believe it, because we’ve never had help like this before.”

Neighbors watched us working and commented on what a good job the work crew was doing.

Our group worked together and played together. We had the opportunity to play games and trade jokes, and we toured places within three big cities in addition to the area we worked in. All that, and it only took a week.

School semesters tend to become very busy. If life is busy during the semester, Spring Break can be a great chance to get out and do something good, possibly pick up a few new skills and do something that is not usually part of the daily schedule.

If you are a senior and do not have another Spring Break, some churches also do these kind of trips over the summer.

There is one more reason to volunteer: Helping out just feels good at the end of the day.

Lend a hand.

It’s a great experience. Chances are that you will learn a lot.