“Give without remembering and receive without forgetting.” Author Unknown

Mondays, new group, new adventures… As our group has got bigger, we have quite a few sites going on at the same time. Today we had five different sites. We had one group that had a lot of driving as they went to Pineville to meet a truck of food for the Itmann Food Bank, then drove the food to Mullens unload the food, load up some boxes for St.Vincent DePaul, back in Pineville and then back to the school.

We also had a group who finished up the plumbing work at the house in Pineville. They refilled the massive holes that were dug, mixed and laid new concrete, refastened the shelves that had been removed and reorganized and straightened up the basement. It looks great! Afterward the group went next door to visit a little while with our neighbor and landlord.

A group also headed out to Mullens to work on the inside of “The Way”, a youth center that will be opening up in the old Big Lots building. This site will be an ongoing site throughout the summer. When finished, “The Way”, will be a tremendous resource for the youth in the county,

Back closer to “home” were our two more traditional home repair sites. At one site the work consisted of taking up floors were damaged in recent flooding and replacing the flooring with new plywood. At the other site the crew replaced some soffits and fascia boards, along with scraping and painting the trailer.

Back at home in the evening we were treated to a Mediterranean feast. A vegetable mix with meat over rice, served with homemade pitas. For dessert we were treated to a delicious fruit pizza.

Later in the evening we gathered to reflect on gratitude. We have so much to be grateful and we were reminded that sometimes even things that are difficult end up being things we are grateful for.

Just as we started out to Pineville for Mass in the morning, the skies opened up and we drove in a torrential downpour the half an hour to church. But it seems while we were in Mass the rain passed and it turned into a beautiful day.

For Community Day we decided to make the short drive up to RD Bailey Lake/Damn Visitor Center. Our two summer longs led the group in some rather hilarious and entertaining icebreaker games. All I can say is bunny, bunny, bunny, bunny, bunny…

We had our traditional Sunday night cookout of hamburgers and veggie burgers, yummy. After dinner was finished, we took some time with the newly arrived volunteers to go over some of policies and to catch them up to speed on some of the new changes with the new school.

The evening wrapped up with a nice Commissioning service and the volunteers signing up for job sites for tomorrow. We are looking forward to another great week.

Just as we started out to Pineville for Mass in the morning, the skies opened up and we drove in a torrential downpour the half an hour to church. But it seems while we were in Mass the rain passed and it turned into a beautiful day.

For Community Day we decided to make the short drive up to RD Bailey Lake/Damn Visitor Center. Our two summer longs led the group in some rather hilarious and entertaining icebreaker games. All I can say is bunny, bunny, bunny, bunny, bunny…

We had our traditional Sunday night cookout of hamburgers and veggie burgers, yummy. After dinner was finished, we took some time with the newly arrived volunteers to go over some of policies and to catch them up to speed on some of the new changes with the new school.

The evening wrapped up with a nice Commissioning service and the volunteers signing up for job sites for tomorrow. We are looking forward to another great week.

Just as we started out to Pineville for Mass in the morning, the skies opened up and we drove in a torrential downpour the half an hour to church. But it seems while we were in Mass the rain passed and it turned into a beautiful day.

For Community Day we decided to make the short drive up to RD Bailey Lake/Damn Visitor Center. Our two summer longs led the group in some rather hilarious and entertaining icebreaker games. All I can say is bunny, bunny, bunny, bunny, bunny…

We had our traditional Sunday night cookout of hamburgers and veggie burgers, yummy. After dinner was finished, we took some time with the newly arrived volunteers to go over some of policies and to catch them up to speed on some of the new changes with the new school.

The evening wrapped up with a nice Commissioning service and the volunteers signing up for job sites for tomorrow. We are looking forward to another great week.

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” Leo Tolstoy

The first week came to end today. Today was a beautiful day, sunny, very little humidity and a little bit of a breeze. Fridays in PVland are home repair free days so volunteers engage in all sorts of activities throughout the county.

I guess I should mention that we woke up this morning and did not have water at the school. It seems the pump had kicked off during a short power outage we had had a couple of nights before and we had been using the reserves of the water supply. The maintenance department came from Pineville by mid morning and all was well. On to the sites for the day…

A group went up to horse creek lake near Baileysville to clean up around the lake. The spot was absolutely gorgeous with all sorts of butterflies, birds, frogs, you name it, it was at the lake. By the end of the time, 11 bags of garbage were picked up and ready to be hauled out.

Friday was also the last day of the Mullens Soccer Camp. This year saw record numbers at the camp with 21 kids in the morning session and 7 in the afternoon session. A huge thanks once again to Zach for putting on the camp. A good time was had by all.

Another group went to St. Vincent DePaul for the home repair workshop we are offering to the people in the county. After that they moved on to the house in Pineville to finish up fixing the broken pipe.

After soccer many volunteers headed over to Mullens Manor for an afternoon recreation program. Again we saw record numbers as 18 residents took part in Banana Bingo, visiting and nail painting.

After everyone returned to the school we all enjoyed a wonderful dinner of sausage and bean soup, corn break and cheesy potato casserole. For dessert we were treated to home made ice cream. Yummy!

The evenings reflection centered around looking at the challenges we faced during the week. It was a very heartfelt sharing of challenges and for many overcoming those challenges.

It was a wonderful first week of the program and we look forward to the rest of the summer.

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” Leo Tolstoy

The first week came to end today. Today was a beautiful day, sunny, very little humidity and a little bit of a breeze. Fridays in PVland are home repair free days so volunteers engage in all sorts of activities throughout the county.

I guess I should mention that we woke up this morning and did not have water at the school. It seems the pump had kicked off during a short power outage we had had a couple of nights before and we had been using the reserves of the water supply. The maintenance department came from Pineville by mid morning and all was well. On to the sites for the day…

A group went up to horse creek lake near Baileysville to clean up around the lake. The spot was absolutely gorgeous with all sorts of butterflies, birds, frogs, you name it, it was at the lake. By the end of the time, 11 bags of garbage were picked up and ready to be hauled out.

Friday was also the last day of the Mullens Soccer Camp. This year saw record numbers at the camp with 21 kids in the morning session and 7 in the afternoon session. A huge thanks once again to Zach for putting on the camp. A good time was had by all.

Another group went to St. Vincent DePaul for the home repair workshop we are offering to the people in the county. After that they moved on to the house in Pineville to finish up fixing the broken pipe.

After soccer many volunteers headed over to Mullens Manor for an afternoon recreation program. Again we saw record numbers as 18 residents took part in Banana Bingo, visiting and nail painting.

After everyone returned to the school we all enjoyed a wonderful dinner of sausage and bean soup, corn break and cheesy potato casserole. For dessert we were treated to home made ice cream. Yummy!

The evenings reflection centered around looking at the challenges we faced during the week. It was a very heartfelt sharing of challenges and for many overcoming those challenges.

It was a wonderful first week of the program and we look forward to the rest of the summer.

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” Leo Tolstoy

The first week came to end today. Today was a beautiful day, sunny, very little humidity and a little bit of a breeze. Fridays in PVland are home repair free days so volunteers engage in all sorts of activities throughout the county.

I guess I should mention that we woke up this morning and did not have water at the school. It seems the pump had kicked off during a short power outage we had had a couple of nights before and we had been using the reserves of the water supply. The maintenance department came from Pineville by mid morning and all was well. On to the sites for the day…

A group went up to horse creek lake near Baileysville to clean up around the lake. The spot was absolutely gorgeous with all sorts of butterflies, birds, frogs, you name it, it was at the lake. By the end of the time, 11 bags of garbage were picked up and ready to be hauled out.

Friday was also the last day of the Mullens Soccer Camp. This year saw record numbers at the camp with 21 kids in the morning session and 7 in the afternoon session. A huge thanks once again to Zach for putting on the camp. A good time was had by all.

Another group went to St. Vincent DePaul for the home repair workshop we are offering to the people in the county. After that they moved on to the house in Pineville to finish up fixing the broken pipe.

After soccer many volunteers headed over to Mullens Manor for an afternoon recreation program. Again we saw record numbers as 18 residents took part in Banana Bingo, visiting and nail painting.

After everyone returned to the school we all enjoyed a wonderful dinner of sausage and bean soup, corn break and cheesy potato casserole. For dessert we were treated to home made ice cream. Yummy!

The evenings reflection centered around looking at the challenges we faced during the week. It was a very heartfelt sharing of challenges and for many overcoming those challenges.

It was a wonderful first week of the program and we look forward to the rest of the summer.