This weekend was a busy one with 17 people leaving and 25 coming in.Everyone arrived safe and sound and ready to tackle the week ahead. For our community day activity we decided to try out a new place close to the school, Panther State Forrest. Our plan was to go hiking but when we arrived we were informed that there weren’t any hiking trails per say anymore, only access roads that were not open to vehicle traffic. We decide to head down one of these that followed a creek and it ended up being quite pretty. The park had just mowed the weeds down, so it was pleasant walking.

After our Sunday cookout we gathered all the newly arrived PVs for a reorientation and reminder of some of our policies and rules. We moved right from the reorientation into the commissioning service. This week we commissioned more people at once than we did all summer.

Right after commissioning and jobsites work began.  We need to roll out, cut and measure roofing materials that we will be using tomorrow as well as the camp people needed to organize for the upcoming week of camps. It was a busy den of activity until well past 10pm. Needless to say, I think everyone will get a good nights sleep tonight!

This weekend was a busy one with 17 people leaving and 25 coming in.Everyone arrived safe and sound and ready to tackle the week ahead. For our community day activity we decided to try out a new place close to the school, Panther State Forrest. Our plan was to go hiking but when we arrived we were informed that there weren’t any hiking trails per say anymore, only access roads that were not open to vehicle traffic. We decide to head down one of these that followed a creek and it ended up being quite pretty. The park had just mowed the weeds down, so it was pleasant walking.

After our Sunday cookout we gathered all the newly arrived PVs for a reorientation and reminder of some of our policies and rules. We moved right from the reorientation into the commissioning service. This week we commissioned more people at once than we did all summer.

Right after commissioning and jobsites work began.  We need to roll out, cut and measure roofing materials that we will be using tomorrow as well as the camp people needed to organize for the upcoming week of camps. It was a busy den of activity until well past 10pm. Needless to say, I think everyone will get a good nights sleep tonight!

Here is a sampling of pictures from the week.  You can find more on our facebook page

“It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime…”
Khaled Hosseini

Today we woke up to another cool, cloudy and rainy morning. It being Friday though, we didn’t have to worry about home repair sites being rained out. Today volunteers took part in many activities throughout the county, working with other agencies and lending a hand.

It was distribution day at the Itmann Food Bank so several volunteers got up early and headed to Mullens to help out with pushing buggies, filling boxes and helping with clothes. The volunteers saw over 100 people come in to get their monthly allowances.

Another group headed to St. Vincent DePaul to help take some items to the dump, paint the door, as well as tear out an old bathroom in the warehouse that we will be using as storage over the winter. A lot got done in a short while, the warehouse looks great!

Today was also the final day of the Hanover Basketball Camp. Although the numbers were not as high as we had hoped, the kids (locals and PVs kids alike) learned a lot from Coach D. We wanted to give a special thanks to Coach D for giving us a week of his time this summer and sharing his love of basketball!

The afternoon also saw volunteers heading to Mullens for a big game of Banana BINGO at Mullens Manor. After the bananas were won, volunteers painted nails for any and all that asked.

Volunteers also spent some time visiting some of the people they had met in previous summer. These reunions are always a highlight of the week for everyone.

We had a “new” for dinner tonight. We were able to eat the meal that was prepped for last night before the power went off. It was especially new because the volunteers who prepared the meal left this morning and missed eating their “work.” We all enjoyed the lasagne, salad and garlic bread. Delicious!

Tonight’s reflection was a closing service. We reflected on the idea of sand and how volunteering is like sand, it gets in every crevice and stays with you. We shared an experience that was like sand for us. It was a nice sharing and a good way to end the week.

“It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime…”
Khaled Hosseini

Today we woke up to another cool, cloudy and rainy morning. It being Friday though, we didn’t have to worry about home repair sites being rained out. Today volunteers took part in many activities throughout the county, working with other agencies and lending a hand.

It was distribution day at the Itmann Food Bank so several volunteers got up early and headed to Mullens to help out with pushing buggies, filling boxes and helping with clothes. The volunteers saw over 100 people come in to get their monthly allowances.

Another group headed to St. Vincent DePaul to help take some items to the dump, paint the door, as well as tear out an old bathroom in the warehouse that we will be using as storage over the winter. A lot got done in a short while, the warehouse looks great!

Today was also the final day of the Hanover Basketball Camp. Although the numbers were not as high as we had hoped, the kids (locals and PVs kids alike) learned a lot from Coach D. We wanted to give a special thanks to Coach D for giving us a week of his time this summer and sharing his love of basketball!

The afternoon also saw volunteers heading to Mullens for a big game of Banana BINGO at Mullens Manor. After the bananas were won, volunteers painted nails for any and all that asked.

Volunteers also spent some time visiting some of the people they had met in previous summer. These reunions are always a highlight of the week for everyone.

We had a “new” for dinner tonight. We were able to eat the meal that was prepped for last night before the power went off. It was especially new because the volunteers who prepared the meal left this morning and missed eating their “work.” We all enjoyed the lasagne, salad and garlic bread. Delicious!

Tonight’s reflection was a closing service. We reflected on the idea of sand and how volunteering is like sand, it gets in every crevice and stays with you. We shared an experience that was like sand for us. It was a nice sharing and a good way to end the week.

“It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime…”
Khaled Hosseini

Today we woke up to another cool, cloudy and rainy morning. It being Friday though, we didn’t have to worry about home repair sites being rained out. Today volunteers took part in many activities throughout the county, working with other agencies and lending a hand.

It was distribution day at the Itmann Food Bank so several volunteers got up early and headed to Mullens to help out with pushing buggies, filling boxes and helping with clothes. The volunteers saw over 100 people come in to get their monthly allowances.

Another group headed to St. Vincent DePaul to help take some items to the dump, paint the door, as well as tear out an old bathroom in the warehouse that we will be using as storage over the winter. A lot got done in a short while, the warehouse looks great!

Today was also the final day of the Hanover Basketball Camp. Although the numbers were not as high as we had hoped, the kids (locals and PVs kids alike) learned a lot from Coach D. We wanted to give a special thanks to Coach D for giving us a week of his time this summer and sharing his love of basketball!

The afternoon also saw volunteers heading to Mullens for a big game of Banana BINGO at Mullens Manor. After the bananas were won, volunteers painted nails for any and all that asked.

Volunteers also spent some time visiting some of the people they had met in previous summer. These reunions are always a highlight of the week for everyone.

We had a “new” for dinner tonight. We were able to eat the meal that was prepped for last night before the power went off. It was especially new because the volunteers who prepared the meal left this morning and missed eating their “work.” We all enjoyed the lasagne, salad and garlic bread. Delicious!

Tonight’s reflection was a closing service. We reflected on the idea of sand and how volunteering is like sand, it gets in every crevice and stays with you. We shared an experience that was like sand for us. It was a nice sharing and a good way to end the week.

“Where you end up is not the most important thing. It’s the road you take to get there. The road is what you’ll look back on and call your life.”
Tim Willey

Another crazy weather day… it was hot and humid and then about 4 o’clock a thunderstorm came rolling in, with lots of rain and wind. It was enough of a storm to knock out the power once again at the school, and probably at one of the worst times, right as dinner was starting to get prepared. Luckily the first thing prepared was the the dessert so that was all done : ) We ended up making a decision to go to Jose Ole in Pineville for dinner. We filled up the downstairs and definitely raised the noise level quite a bit, but it was a nice change of pace. And to make everything even better, when we arrived back at the school the power was back on.

But before all the excitement we did have sites that we went to. Because we finished up several sites yesterday, we were able to start a new site out past Pineville on top of a mountain. At the site volunteers fixed flooring and replaced guttering. It was quite phenomenal to amount of work that was done today by the volunteers, the home owner and her son.

Another smaller group went to two sites to finish up small amounts of tiling that need to be done and make another dump run. We they finished up in the early afternoon they went up to join the mountain top folks.

The final group was working with the camps back at the school. They had another successful morning session with the two girls and then were joined by quite a few campers in the afternoon for a Basketball Camp. The day culminated in a 5v5 game.

Everyone was able to get their showers in before the power went out and extra long naps were taken when there was no power, but all in all it was just a little inconvenience. Even though it was a little late (9:30) When  we came back from dinner we went right into reflection. During reflection we were asked to reflect on our Eden, our apple and our heart, and share about any or all of it. After reflection we were able to enjoy the brownies that were made pre-power outage, Yummy!

“Where you end up is not the most important thing. It’s the road you take to get there. The road is what you’ll look back on and call your life.”
Tim Willey

Another crazy weather day… it was hot and humid and then about 4 o’clock a thunderstorm came rolling in, with lots of rain and wind. It was enough of a storm to knock out the power once again at the school, and probably at one of the worst times, right as dinner was starting to get prepared. Luckily the first thing prepared was the the dessert so that was all done : ) We ended up making a decision to go to Jose Ole in Pineville for dinner. We filled up the downstairs and definitely raised the noise level quite a bit, but it was a nice change of pace. And to make everything even better, when we arrived back at the school the power was back on.

But before all the excitement we did have sites that we went to. Because we finished up several sites yesterday, we were able to start a new site out past Pineville on top of a mountain. At the site volunteers fixed flooring and replaced guttering. It was quite phenomenal to amount of work that was done today by the volunteers, the home owner and her son.

Another smaller group went to two sites to finish up small amounts of tiling that need to be done and make another dump run. We they finished up in the early afternoon they went up to join the mountain top folks.

The final group was working with the camps back at the school. They had another successful morning session with the two girls and then were joined by quite a few campers in the afternoon for a Basketball Camp. The day culminated in a 5v5 game.

Everyone was able to get their showers in before the power went out and extra long naps were taken when there was no power, but all in all it was just a little inconvenience. Even though it was a little late (9:30) When  we came back from dinner we went right into reflection. During reflection we were asked to reflect on our Eden, our apple and our heart, and share about any or all of it. After reflection we were able to enjoy the brownies that were made pre-power outage, Yummy!