WATERLOO - Nearly 400 youth volunteers from across the country have arrived in Waterloo with buckets full of elbow grease.

The From the Heart: Waterloo Home Enhancement Project started Sunday and is expected to run throughout the week.

It's the second year for the event, initiated by Ward 4 City Councilman Quentin Hart, and offered through the Group Workcamps Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Loveland, Colo.

The youth volunteers come primarily from church groups who pay for the privilege of coming to Waterloo to work on homes for low-income or elderly residents who can't do the work themselves or lack other resources.

The volunteers and their adult supervisors are staying at Central Intermediate School, courtesy of Waterloo Community Schools.

Local organizers began taking applications, selecting homes and rounding up cash and material donations over the winter.

From the Heart managed to fix up about 30 homes last year and hopes to double that output this week.