The volunteers finished up their work at the site in Welch today. They had a great experience working side by side with the home owner helping her get a new start after the flood and helping her settle in to some normalcy before the new school year begins.

At the other site the volunteers had a little bit of delay waiting for the underpinning to arrive. They knew they wouldn’t be able to get it until today, but to even get that took some heroics from the lumber store. Because of the extreme heat they weren’t going to get their delivery, but the owner knew we were waiting on it and had a tight timeline, so he went and picked it up himself and delivered it to the site. That kind gesture really helped us out. We were able to get started today and will finish up with the underpinning tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be the last work day of the week for the volunteers and it will wrap it up with a community dinner. Usually the volunteers host the dinner at the church, but this year there has been a community bible camp all week and they are hosting a dinner for the last day and invited us to join in. We will post more on that and more pictures, but it will be a bit of a delay for the wrap up. The admin that has been posting here from a distance (Jill) is heading out of town tonight for the next week. After the 4th look for a final round up. Thanks for following along!

This has been a mantra with For the PVs for decades and still holds true. The cornerstones of the PVs have always been service, community and reflection. The service brings the volunteers together and gives a purpose, but building community is equally important, as is reflecting together at the end of each day. New and good anyone??? This summer’s volunteers are no exception. They have embrace all three aspects of the PVs and because of that have touched lives, their fellow community members and those in the greater Wyoming County.

Some pictures from the day:

The volunteers continued their work at the two sites started yesterday.Framing for the underpinning continued and is “5/8ths” complete according to my sources ; ) More work was also done under the trailer working on the the plumbing. The site in Welch continued with sanding and mudding and were able to get a prime coat down in one room. Both sites quit a little early because of the heat, but there was no rest for the crew! We asked before we came down if there was anything that we could do around the church to help, as a way to give back to the church community for allowing us to stay. They gave a list of things so the volunteers started to make a dent in the list this afternoon.

The volunteers spent the day today at two different sites. One group went to Welch to help a woman whose house was flooded in the spring floods. The local kindergarten teacher had recently moved into the house and was working on fixing it up when the flood hit. Her entire basement flooded and the water was up two feet in the main part of the house. All the drywall had to be removed and replaced. The home owner has a lot of the work done, we are just helping out and moving the project along so she can move back down in the main space of the house. Today the volunteers sanded where it had already been mudded so that a second coat could be added and then we can paint it. Volunteer also helped to pain some trim that will be installed at a later date.

The second site, also a damaged in the flooding, is near Ravencliff. At this site the volunteers main project is to replace all the underpinning on the trailer that had been damaged and then removed. PVs have been doing underpinning in West Virginia for ages, so many of you reading this will know exactly what this entails. Today the group worked on framing. The home owner also asked if we could take a look at his pipes under the trailer, he was having a problem with his water lines. While looking at what needed to be done here, a lose sewer line was repaired.

All around, it sounded like a good day. The temperatures were quite warm, but the volunteers did their best to stay cool. After work they shared their meal and had reflection together.

Look at these smiling faces, all ready for the week ahead! Everyone arrived in Mullens in time to have a nice community spaghetti dinner together. After dinner the group gathered for the PV Commissioning and talk about plans for tomorrow. Looking forward to a great first day at sites.

“Country roads take me home to the place I belong, West Virginia …”

As John Denver so eloquently sings, the PVs are once heading to their summer home. A group of 15 PVs are headed down to Wyoming County WV for a week to continue the great tradition of PVs in WV that started so many years ago. This year’s group is the largest since COVID and we are excited to what amazing things they get up to. We will posting and sharing pictures of all their adventures. Please follow along with us and keep the group in your thoughts this coming week.

We also wanted to take this opportunity to thank the Mustard Seed Foundation for a grant to help in the work of the PVs this summer. They have supported the PVs in the past and after a wonderful application and presentation by PV Bob McGarry, we were awarded the grant again.

Community has always been one of the main pillars of the PV volunteers and this past Friday was all about community. The volunteers spent the day wrapping up some loose ends, visiting people in the county, setting up the tool room and finally closing the week with a community dinner.

Since we began staying at Mullens United Methodist we have wrapped up each volunteer week by hosting a dinner for the church community and the wider community as a thank you for welcoming us. This year was the biggest dinner to date, welcoming 45 people! Volunteers, along with a HUGE assist from Donna, created a feast for all. One of the guests was one of the home owners we worked for during the week and she brought a bouquet of roses for the volunteers. She asked Dan to present each volunteer with a rose from the bouquet.

Much like the night, the week was a wonderful success. Thank you to the volunteers who spent their week in the hot weather, sleeping on air mattress on the floor, giving their heart and soul to help others. You all did tremendous work! As we said at the beginning of the week, the PV program IS the volunteers. Extra special shout-out to Tricia for guiding the crew during the week and helping everything run smoothly.

And finally, thank you to Mullens Methodist Church, and especially to Donna, for allowing us to call your beautiful church home for the week. You have made us feel so welcome and part of your community.

It was another hot one today, but there was work to be done! Volunteers went back to the site in Oceana to complete the porch roof and fix the railing. There is something about PVs and roofs, they go together like peanut butter and jelly, another PV tradition. It turned out beautifully and the home owner was thrilled.

Volunteers also went back to the site in Herndon to finish staining the deck and to finish fixing the door. From the pictures you can see how beautiful it looked when it was done and how happy the home owner was. The volunteers had a wonderful time getting to know her and spend time with her the last couple of days.

Since the week is getting close to end, dinner tonight was they ol’traditional clean out the the refrigerator leftover night. What is not to like about enjoying food you enjoyed the first time! Reflection tonight was inspired by a message sent down to the volunteers from our very own PV Patti with an Irish ballad about walking alongside people in their journeys, sometimes literally and sometimes in spirit. This week the volunteers have walked alongside those they have met and with each other, as each of you who are reading their stories are walking with them and so many that have gone before them.

First of all, thank you to all that are following along with the group, commenting, liking, etc. It makes the group feel a part of a larger group. The PV family is strong!

Today the volunteers went back to the site in Oceana where they installed the door yesterday to put a roof over the existing landing by the door. This will help tremendously when there is snow and ice to make a safe place to exit, as well as a cool place to pull up a chair on a sunny hot day to get out to of the sun.

The rest of the group went to a new site in Herndon. Today they spent time sanding a large porch that will be stained tomorrow. Some work was also done on a door to make it close more securely. Unfortunately for them, there was no shade available on the porch, making for a hot, sweaty day. They got a lot done, but will be returning tomorrow.

Dinner tonight was chili, honey cornbread and salad. Served along with the dinner was canned pickles and canned homemade salsa from the home owner in Herndon. It rounded out a wonderful feast. The evenings reflection was centered around Joan of Arc, tying in her willingness and wanting to do good things for anyone who needed the help, often people others overlooked. The sharing portion of reflection brought back the old tried and true “new and good.” Always a wonderful way to find the positives in any given day.