If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.

Pema Chodron

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. 

Anne Frank

Nothing is more important than empathy for another human being’s suffering. Nothing—not career, not wealth, not intelligence, certainly not status. We have to feel for one another if we’re going to survive with dignity.

Audrey Hepburn

We make a living by what we get,

but we make a life by what we

give.                                                       

                       -Winston Churchill

People of different faiths, like yours and mine, sometimes wonder where we can meet in common purpose, when there are so many differences in creed and theology. Surely the answer is that we can meet in service, in shared moral convictions about our nation stemming from a common worldview. – Mitt Romney

Today was the last day of the West Virginia Summer Program. Where did the time go??? Today was distribution day at the Itmann Food Bank so a group of volunteers went there to help distribute food. While helping, the volunteers saw a lot of people they knew from sites from this year and years past. After they were finished there, the group came back to The Way to help clean.

The other group of volunteers spent their morning helping to pack up all of our stuff and move it down to St Vincent dePaul where we store it for the year. Each year everything becomes more and more streamlined and efficient. We couldn’t do it without everyone’s help whether by packing, moving or cleaning.

In the afternoon some volunteers went to Glen Rogers Manor to spend time with the residents. They played Banana BINGO, painted nails and sang songs. Both the volunteers and the residents had a great time. Some others that stayed back went on a hike to the top of Tator Hill in Mullens. The beauty of the nature surrounding us here is inspiring.

Because we packed up all of our stuff, tonight is pizza night in PVland. It is a special treat for all the hard work the volunteers did today, and all of this week. After dinner we gathered for our final reflection and closing prayer service of the summer.

Thank you to all who spent time with us this summer. Because of you, lives were touched and changed.

Start where you are. Distant fields always look greener, but opportunity lies right where you are. Take advantage of every opportunity of service. – Robert Collier

Today was the final day of the home repair program in West Virginia this summer. We were able to wrap up all the sites successfully. The site in Covel finished up with finishing a beautiful porch roof over part of the back porch area. Not only was the construction of the roof completed, but two of our younger PVs created a climbing wall up the mountain, complete with stepping stones, for the home owner’s young son. The volunteers had a great time at the site, on the family will now be able to enjoy some nice shade and protection on their porch.

We also finished up the site in Bud. Today the volunteers put a top on the back porch and worked inside installing a ceiling fan and fixing the kitchen sink, which had not had hot water for quite some time. The lady when lives in the trailer was happy with the work the volunteers did in such a short time. A crew that did the inside work in Bud also ran over to the site in Cabin Creek to check on the hot water heater. We were happy to report that all was working well and no fine tuning was needed.

We also sent volunteers to work at Energy Express to help with the programs for the kids. All summer long the volunteers had a great time working with the kids. All were impressed with the quality of program and look forward to helping next year.

We had a great dinner tonight. We had a hamburger cookout, pasta salad, regular salad, mixed veggies and enchilada surprise. Everything was delicious. I have to say, we really did eat well this week, a big variety of vegetables at every meal.

For reflection, the volunteer leading it read the bible verse about one body, many parts and how we each have an important role as volunteers. We were asked to share a time today that we say someone else doing something good and helpful.

After reflection we had a community game of soccer. We didn’t last quite as long as we did during the basketball game, but we had a great time. After that game, many in the community played a round of Wits and Wagers. As the saying goes, a community that plays together stays together : )

When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed. – Maya Angelou

As the sun rose and the fog burned off, the day became a warm one. The heat did not stop the crew from working hard and having a great time. We finished up, for the most part, at our site in Cabin Creek. There were lots of small touches that needed to be completed. Everything looks great. We will be returning there tomorrow to do a little troubleshooting with the water heater, but after that we have wrapped everything up.

We started two new sites today as well. One group worked in Bud at an elderly lady’s home. We put on aluminum roof coating on top of the trailer, a task that has been part of the PV experience for years, but one we don’t do as much in the past few years. We also had a crew inside looking at a plumbing issue in the kitchen and a ceiling fan that was not working. We will be returning tomorrow to finish up the work inside and building a small porch roof over her back steps.

The other new site for today was in Covel for a family that lives up on the side of a mountain in a beautiful setting. We started to build a porch roof over an existing porch/patio. When completed this roof will give the family a nice area of shade.

A group of PVs also went to Energy Express. Today they had a special guest reader who was also a hulu-hooper. She read the kids a book about hulu-hooping, showed the kids her moves, and let them try. After the volunteers went into the different rooms and read with the kids.

We had a Mexican feast for dinner tonight, enchilada’s 4-ways: veggie, vegan, meat and meat and veggie. We also had a zucchini saute made from zucchini’s given to us by our friends from Cabin Creek. It was so delicious. For dessert we had chocolate cake a strawberries, chocolate chips and lots of other goodness.

Reflection tonight was centered around the song “The Rose.” We were asked to share a rose, a bud and a thorn.