The old African proverb “it takes a village to raise a child” is true in one local church.

St. Luke United Methodist is reaching out with a new initiative to help inspire young girls in the Harrisburg community of Augusta.

“All the girls come here and we talk. It's really fun to me,” Taylor Powell, an 11-year-old, said.

“We learn to play hand bells and sing songs,” Courtney Hill, a 14-year-old, said.

The small hands that ring those bells will one day help rebuild the neighborhood surrounding these church walls; that's the hope of St. Luke United Methodist Church.

“We started about five weeks ago with eight girls and now we have 14 girls, so word slowly gets out and a friend tells a friend,“ Marsha Jones, Director of Music and Outreach for St. Luke, said.

The girls meet every Monday to learn to play hand bells, sing, dance and best of all, build self-esteem and friendships.

“It's exciting to get to know everybody we live around and I think it helps a lot of the different kids that live around here because they usually don't get out very much and they enjoy being here,” Anna Jones, a 12-year-old, said.

“They're helping the community. They're helping girls instead having kids out in the streets and stuff like that. (We’re) learning some new things, learning about God, it's fun,” Atiyana Creque, a 12-year-old, said.

Marsha Jones says the girls choir is just the beginning.

“There are a lot of areas we want to work in to revitalize the community, the church community and development. And the way we've chosen to start that is by working with the girls who live in Harrisburg community,” Jones said.

Volunteers are what make all the fun activities possible and Jones says that community involvement is what it's going to take to make a positive impact on future generations.

The Harrisburg Girls Choir is practicing hard. They're planning to go on tour to sing in other areas including Atlanta.

Jones says St. Luke United Methodist is also planning to add a middle school boys outreach group in the future.

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