KAYLEE PRESTIDGE, 14, AND LEEANNA JONES, 13, paint inside two closets in a home as part of Middle School Mission Effort on Tuesday. The nonprofit organization PATH (People Attempting to Help) owns dozens of rental homes in Tyler that are utilized in their transitional housing programs for people earning a low income but who want to gain stability through affordable home renting or ownership.

PATH | CHURCH YOUTH GROUP

More than two dozen middle-schoolers filled a Tyler home, painting walls, removing cabinets and playing music in the abandoned house.

Though it may sound like trouble, the children actually were helping fix up a PATH (People Attempting to Help) house, which will later be

home to a low-income family.

Steven Smith, a youth minister with Glenwood Church of Christ, said exposing students to mission work when they’re young can help prepare them for bigger trips when they’re older.

“This helps them get a small taste of what it’s like,” Smith said. His colleague, fellow youth minister Kyle Graham, called it a “bitesized nugget” compared to bigger mission trips overseas.

Graham said managing the group can sometimes feel like herding cats, and the attention to detail isn’t always there.

In one room, five girls were painting a room white, but only one was allowed on the ladder — Sarah Rasco, 13, the oldest of the group.

Though she appears to be a leader of the group, she said she prefers “to think of it more as a democracy.”

Sarah said she plans to start saving money so she eventually can go on mission trips in the U.S. and overseas.

“It’s kind of like a calling; it’s fun and you get to bond with other people and hear other people’s stories,” she said. “And a little bonus is getting to help out other people.”