125 teen volunteers with World Changers arrive to help Fresno communities

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Over 100 young volunteers from across the West Coast are in the Valley getting an introduction to Fresno's heat on what's expected to be the hottest week of the year so far.

This is the base camp for World Changers where organizers have been preparing for these young adults and the extremely hot conditions they will be dealing with during their visit.

This week, 125 teenagers from seventh-grade through college are in Fresno for the entire week. It is all part of the experience with World Changers, and students from California, Arizona and Washington are here to help out local communities.

And this group of volunteers will experience the Central Valley's triple digit heat.

"Well, heat is not new to us here in Fresno," Jonathan Annin with the group said. "Every year we've been here has been hot. Maybe five degrees cooler than it is going to be, but just about every year it is going to be over a 100 in June, late June, and July."

Annin has been familiar with Fresno and its hot summers for the last 14 years, but he knows some of the incoming students and youth leaders are not.

Annin says he will make them aware of the extreme heat up front during orientation and will assign someone in each group the task of making sure everyone stays cool.

"One of our students is called a break master," he explained. "One of the more coveted jobs on the team and that your job is to make sure as a team everyone is taking breaks regularly."

In addition to breaks in the shade and at the watercooler, staff and volunteers will be able to cool off in a mini-bus with air conditioning thanks to the City of Fresno.

Each night the mission teams will be staying at the Fresno Rescue Mission where everyone will have their own bed with access to full bathrooms, meals and of course air conditioning.

"A lot of time these sites don't have this level of accommodation," Annin said. "They are often staying in high schools just sleeping on the floor but here at the Fresno Rescue Mission, they opened up their mission in the mission."

The students will work each day from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., but organizers say they will get as much work as they can be done early in the morning which is the coolest portion of the day.