![\"Stuart](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/REG-L-MissionTripBirdsboro1003.jpg\")
Stuart Wells, coordinator for Mission Trip Birdsboro, looks over assignment locations at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Birdsboro on Thursday, July 16, 2026. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\nDawn Fear had her T-shirt sleeves rolled up to her shoulders as she sat in the yard of an Amity Township home, painting a stairway to a deck out front.<\/p>\n
The Thursday morning sun was softened through a haze of Canadian wildfire smoke blanketing the East, but the temperatures were still climbing into the high 80s as she worked.<\/p>\n
A member of St. Paul\u2019s UCC church in Birdsboro, Fear is one of the original Mission Trip Birdsboro volunteers who began the service to the community now in its 13th year.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, we don\u2019t really think about the weather,\u201d said Fear of Stowe. \u201cYeah, you get used to it, and you know it\u2019s gonna be hot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing we don\u2019t pray for is rain,\u201d she said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
Fear is one of the 142 volunteers who have been fanning out to 63 sites across eastern and southern Berks County this week, working on home repairs and landscaping, according to Stuart Wells, another original volunteer from St. Paul\u2019s who now coordinates the many facets of the mission.<\/p>\n
Stuart Wells, coordinator for Mission Trip Birdsboro, looks over assignment locations at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Birdsboro on Thursday, July 16, 2026. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe community mission was started as a way to live out an example of what it might look like to follow Christ\u2019s teachings, to love your neighbor, service to others,\u201d Wells said as he looked over job site assignments posted in the supply sheds behind St. Mark\u2019s Lutheran Church in Birdsboro, where the mission trip is now based.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I mean, you don\u2019t have to be Christian, and there are humanitarians who are worried about the quality of community life and worried about isolation and marginalization.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fear recalls the beginning of the mission that started at St. Paul\u2019s UCC in 2014 after the church had sponsored mission trips to places as varied as Mississippi and Maine.<\/p>\n
![\"Elmer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/REG-L-MissionTripBirdsboro1002.jpg\")
Elmer Miller of Boyertown, a member of St. John\u2019s Hill Church, loads his pickup truck with supplies for delivery during the Mission Trip Birdsboro on Thursday, July 16, 2026. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n
Church members then thought that it would be a good idea to do local mission work, she said, and the concept grew each year with more churches participating.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, this sounds like something I want to be involved in,\u201d Fear said. \u201cHelping others is important if you can. You never know when you\u2019re going to need help.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the years Fear\u2019s daughters and now grandchildren have participated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a joy to see my children giving back, and to see my grandchildren giving back,\u201d she said. \u201cYou know, just to have that heart, that mentality, and they look forward to it, too. So it\u2019s not like I\u2019m dragging them here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Volunteers are dressed in yellow T-shirts with this year\u2019s theme of \u201cLet Your Light Shine,\u201d from Matthew 5:16.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, in the Bible, it says you\u2019ll know Christians by their love,\u201d Wells explained. \u201cYou need to be out in the community. If you\u2019re inside a church, it\u2019s not really doing much. You should be out among the people. That\u2019s what Jesus saw, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Monica](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/REG-L-MissionTripBirdsboro1001.jpg\")
Monica Beistline of Bechtelsville and Pastor Scott Campbell of the Birdsboro Church of the Nazarene assemble brooms in the supply shed at St. Mark\u2019s Lutheran Church in Birdsboro during the Mission Trip Birdsboro on Thursday, July 16, 2026. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n
Mission Trip Birdsboro will wrap up Saturday with a worship service.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really blessed to be able to do this,\u201d Fear said, \u201cI know the homeowners are grateful for what we do and allow us to be here and help them a little bit because it\u2019s not always easy to ask for help.\u201d<\/p>\n
It also helps that young people are becoming more involved with the mission trip, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just take more pride in their community, and I think that\u2019s an awesome thing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
![\"Susie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/REG-L-MissionTripBirdsboro1005.jpg\")
Susie Kersge of Douglassville cleans prepares a railing for painting as Dawn Fear of Stowe paints at a home in Amity Township during the Mission Trip Birdsboro on Thursday, July 16, 2026. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n