“Preach the gospel everyday; if necessary, use words.”
St. Francis of Assisi

Another scorcher today with a high of 97. I am looking forward to not talking about the weather being so hot. Today being Friday, it our day to focus on all things non home repair. Fridays are a chance to assist local agencies and visit with friends.

Today we had three different activities. One group went to St. Vincent DePaul to continue the task of organizing and sorting clothes. A second group headed back to Itmann to continue work on the school house. Today’s big accomplishment there was putting a back door in where a window once was. The place is getting closer and closer to UGWA and Groundworks getting to move into the space.
Later in the afternoon a group of volunteers went to Mullens Manor to play banana bingo and give manicures. The crowd started out small, but by the end of the time it was hopping and all the banana’s were given away.

For dinner we had a combo of yummy never been seen before food and a smorgasbord of leftovers. The “new” food included rice and beans, as well as pork. For dessert there were many options: banana bread, ice cream cake and a fresh dump cake. Who says we don’t eat well here????

The final reflection for the week focused on on family. Using the idea how strong and important families seem to the people in West Virginia, we were asked to reflect on our own families and what we were grateful for in our families.

“Preach the gospel everyday; if necessary, use words.”
St. Francis of Assisi

Another scorcher today with a high of 97. I am looking forward to not talking about the weather being so hot. Today being Friday, it our day to focus on all things non home repair. Fridays are a chance to assist local agencies and visit with friends.

Today we had three different activities. One group went to St. Vincent DePaul to continue the task of organizing and sorting clothes. A second group headed back to Itmann to continue work on the school house. Today’s big accomplishment there was putting a back door in where a window once was. The place is getting closer and closer to UGWA and Groundworks getting to move into the space.
Later in the afternoon a group of volunteers went to Mullens Manor to play banana bingo and give manicures. The crowd started out small, but by the end of the time it was hopping and all the banana’s were given away.

For dinner we had a combo of yummy never been seen before food and a smorgasbord of leftovers. The “new” food included rice and beans, as well as pork. For dessert there were many options: banana bread, ice cream cake and a fresh dump cake. Who says we don’t eat well here????

The final reflection for the week focused on on family. Using the idea how strong and important families seem to the people in West Virginia, we were asked to reflect on our own families and what we were grateful for in our families.

“Preach the gospel everyday; if necessary, use words.”
St. Francis of Assisi

Another scorcher today with a high of 97. I am looking forward to not talking about the weather being so hot. Today being Friday, it our day to focus on all things non home repair. Fridays are a chance to assist local agencies and visit with friends.

Today we had three different activities. One group went to St. Vincent DePaul to continue the task of organizing and sorting clothes. A second group headed back to Itmann to continue work on the school house. Today’s big accomplishment there was putting a back door in where a window once was. The place is getting closer and closer to UGWA and Groundworks getting to move into the space.
Later in the afternoon a group of volunteers went to Mullens Manor to play banana bingo and give manicures. The crowd started out small, but by the end of the time it was hopping and all the banana’s were given away.

For dinner we had a combo of yummy never been seen before food and a smorgasbord of leftovers. The “new” food included rice and beans, as well as pork. For dessert there were many options: banana bread, ice cream cake and a fresh dump cake. Who says we don’t eat well here????

The final reflection for the week focused on on family. Using the idea how strong and important families seem to the people in West Virginia, we were asked to reflect on our own families and what we were grateful for in our families.

After a bit of a delay…..

“The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy.”
Kalu Kalu

We had another crazy day of weather. It was hot and humid right from the morning, peaking around noon with temperatures in the low to mid 90’s. But then tremendous stormed rolled in with 60 mph winds, thunder, lightening and sheets of rain. It took a little over an hour for the storm to roll through and after it passed the temperatures were in the 70’s. There were once again some power outages, luckily for us the school power only went out momentarily, it did however take our the internet for most of the day.

Today we had groups at three different sites throughout the county. A small two person crew went to finish up at the site right up the street from the school. Many PVs worked at the this site both this summer and with our college groups. It has been wonderful working with the family. The two girls are already planning on coming down for the camps at the school.

A group returned to the Itmann school house to continue with renovations to the building. On today’s plans was the installations of a door and a window, framing for a new wall and digging outside to uncover the drainage pipe.

The final group went to St. Vincent DePaul to help with sorting and organizing in the warehouse. It probably sounds like we do this often, but daily there are bags of stuff left on the steps that needs to be gone through. It is an ongoing project….

We were treated to homemade pizza for dinner tonight for dinner, alongside salad and homemade ice cream cake. Yummy, yummy!!

Tonight for reflection were asked to reflect on the idea of service and how it can bring us happiness while we are doing it. Volunteers shared what it is that draws them back to West Virginia each summer and why they return. I was a nice way to reflect on the idea of service.