Today was a beautiful day in the mountains of West Virginia, lots of sunshine and blue skies.  Although we all enjoyed the weather very much, I don’t think we could fully appreciate how much the local folks appreciated the day.  They, like many in the east, have had quite the winter with many snows.

We had three sites today.  A group went to Baileysville Early Head Start where they worked with six kids, ages 0-5.  A good time was had by the volunteers.  Another group headed to the Itmann Food Bank for some scraping, sanding and painting some of the new walls.  A wonderful lunch was prepared for them by the the Food Bank volunteers.  The rest of the group went to our home repair site out in Hanover, on the far west end of the county.  This area was severely affected by a flood in May and is still in desperate need of help.  We worked on trailer for a woman whose trailer was completely washed away in the flood and is now living in a FEMA trailer.  She a bought a used trailer that needs a great deal of work which we are happy to help her with.  Today a group of volunteers helped pull up old rugs inside, another group began underpinning the outside and a third group worked to insulate under the trailer.  But for those of you who are thinking “I thought we don’t work under trailers”, the trailer sits on cinder blocks 5 feet off the ground so you can easily walk under.  We will be working on this site throughout the week as well as this summer.  Enjoy a few pictures from the day….
We are looking forward to another great day tomorrow!

Happy International Womens Day!!!

Today was a beautiful day in the mountains of West Virginia, lots of sunshine and blue skies.  Although we all enjoyed the weather very much, I don’t think we could fully appreciate how much the local folks appreciated the day.  They, like many in the east, have had quite the winter with many snows.

We had three sites today.  A group went to Baileysville Early Head Start where they worked with six kids, ages 0-5.  A good time was had by the volunteers.  Another group headed to the Itmann Food Bank for some scraping, sanding and painting some of the new walls.  A wonderful lunch was prepared for them by the the Food Bank volunteers.  The rest of the group went to our home repair site out in Hanover, on the far west end of the county.  This area was severely affected by a flood in May and is still in desperate need of help.  We worked on trailer for a woman whose trailer was completely washed away in the flood and is now living in a FEMA trailer.  She a bought a used trailer that needs a great deal of work which we are happy to help her with.  Today a group of volunteers helped pull up old rugs inside, another group began underpinning the outside and a third group worked to insulate under the trailer.  But for those of you who are thinking “I thought we don’t work under trailers”, the trailer sits on cinder blocks 5 feet off the ground so you can easily walk under.  We will be working on this site throughout the week as well as this summer.  Enjoy a few pictures from the day….
We are looking forward to another great day tomorrow!

Happy International Womens Day!!!

We are happy to welcome back to Wyoming County, WV, Northern Illinois University Newman Center back for there 12th spring break service trip.  All 16 participants (we think that is a record!) arrived safely last night around 11:00.  Today started off with Mass at Holy Cross and then a wonderful day of community bonding.  The NIU crew arrived later in the day at the PV house for an evening a food, fellowship, orientation and commissioning.  We were joined for the evening by Arnie and Kathy, who generously shared their wisdom and insights about the area with the students.  The evening closed with the traditional PV Commissioning Service, annointed the volunteers for their service that lies ahead.

Big day tomorrow…Early Head Start, painting at the Food Bank and starting a big home repair project that will last until well into the summer.

We are happy to welcome back to Wyoming County, WV, Northern Illinois University Newman Center back for there 12th spring break service trip.  All 16 participants (we think that is a record!) arrived safely last night around 11:00.  Today started off with Mass at Holy Cross and then a wonderful day of community bonding.  The NIU crew arrived later in the day at the PV house for an evening a food, fellowship, orientation and commissioning.  We were joined for the evening by Arnie and Kathy, who generously shared their wisdom and insights about the area with the students.  The evening closed with the traditional PV Commissioning Service, annointed the volunteers for their service that lies ahead.

Big day tomorrow…Early Head Start, painting at the Food Bank and starting a big home repair project that will last until well into the summer.