WELCH, WV (WOAY) – The former Welch Hospice Offices is being cleared out this week, making way for a church.
Barbara Lawson with United Christ Ministries feels Welch needs a new place of worship and settled on this building as the perfect location.
“It’s awesome because it’s going to be church downstairs and four apartments upstairs,” Lawson said.
A group of students is helping with the heavy-lifting of emptying the building. Praying Pelican Mission Student Colin Peek is with a Texas youth group on a mission trip, spending part of his summer vacation aiding the Welch community.
“We’ve been working to help tear up some of the carpet and also remove some of the paneling and concrete that’s on one of the walls,” Peek said.
The new church is far from the only building getting a facelift this week. The mission team is also clearing out what used to be the Odd Fellows Temple, which is being transformed into a restaurant and repainting the Welch Municipal Building.
“It’s been cool because people have come to us and they’ve been thanking us for all of the work we’ve done,” said Praying Pelican Mission Student Carson Beck.
The group is in town for the week.
“We’ve just been doing whatever they needed us to do here,” Peek said.
But the impact of their work will last a lot longer than that.
“We won’t see how the end results are,” Beck said. “But, I hope these buildings end up being used for great things.”
