KELLOGG — Kellogg Middle School is getting a fresh coat of paint and it’s all thanks to some plucky teenage campers visiting the area through Idaho Servant Adventures.

Idaho Servant Adventures uses simple, significant service projects as a way for teenagers to channel their faith into direct action toward community projects that need them. Repainting the interior and exterior of the middle school was a perfect fit for the organization to take on as a project. The program is attached to Lutherhaven Ministries and based out of Shoshone Mountain Retreat up the Coeur d’Alene River.

Shoshone Mountain Retreat Director Clint Kunze said this summer Idaho Servant Adventures has brought in church youth groups from 15 states to help with service projects, including the one giving the middle school a facelift.

“We've already been able to send down over 60 different volunteers,” Kunze said.

Claudia Pooler, a behavior specialist at Kellogg Middle School, said it was great to have the teenage volunteers rotate through over the last few weeks as she was assisting with other projects with the school’s custodial team.

“They’re out here beautifying the school and it looks really good,” Pooler said.

Deborah Toenjes is serving as director of Christian education for the group and as a new graduate Concordia University, she’s been thrilled to be able to see more of the country and explore outside her home state.

“I’m from Pennsylvania, so to be able to travel and see Idaho and Washington has been exciting,” Toenjes said.

The teens are charged with responsibilities throughout their week’s stay to help the group in various ways, and as a photography fan, Eoghan Addams, 17, made sure to stop and capture a few shots of the group at work while they were painting the outside of the school.

“Each of these kids is tasked so that they can learn to lead, whether it’s in the church or in the community,” Toenjes said.

Their stay in Shoshone County isn’t all work and no fun, however. Once projects are wrapped up earlier in the day, the teens get to enjoy outdoor activities like horse riding and floating the river as an afternoon reward for their labors.

As one of the chaperones for the group, Chad Simon said they didn’t initially know what kind of work they would be performing when they left Tacoma. In the last seven weeks, there have been 600 Idaho Servant Adventures volunteers serving out of the Shoshone Mountain Retreat site.