EAST ST. LOUIS • A morning rainstorm slowed work Tuesday but failed to dampen the spirits of young volunteers from around the country in town to help fix up homes of those in need.

The 332 middle school and high school students are members of World Changers, an initiative of the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board.

"It's a really great opportunity to work and give back and preach the Gospel," said Nick Smith, 16, of Pikeville, Tenn. Other members of the team are from several different states.

Smith and his crew were working at the home of Debra Pawnell and planned to repair the front porch, doors and gutters, and do some pressure-washing and painting.

Smith said he was eager to see Pawnell's reaction when the work was finished.

Pawnell, 54, said she and her late brother moved into the house 22 or 23 years ago. She said neighborhood legend has it that entertainers Ike and Tina Turner once recorded a song in the basement of the house but cannot vouch for it.

Pawnell said she suffers from seizures and lives on a Social Security disability check.

"It makes me feel good," she said of the work going on around her home. "I needed this."

She said her front door and storm door were broken, and visitors had to go to her back door.

"It's going to be a whole different brand-new house," she said. "I'm blessed with this."

Smith, an aspiring journalist, said he was looking forward to participating in World Changers again next summer, either in the United States or abroad.

He is one of more than 20,000 World Changers volunteers each expected to donate a week of labor this spring and summer in nearly 100 communities from New York to Hawaii and from Alaska to the Gulf Coast. Other communities on this year's schedule included St. Louis and Bonne Terre, Mo.

Spokeswoman Kellen Hall said volunteers each pay about $250 to offset travel, food and lodging costs. She said local governments select projects and provide needed materials.

Hall said World Changers originated in 1990 as a local church project in Briceville, Tenn. Last year, 23,000 volunteers helped out at 1,790 work sites and 51 ministry sites in 95 communities in North America.