South Bend, Indiana

A Little Paint Goes a Long Way

The past two weeks, a lot of fix-it crews have been working on painting a huge house on Harvard.  The house belonged to a woman named Lula.  I talked about this in my post in about trip 3.  Painting houses down here can sometimes be a little discouraging. When you think about it, most of these houses have much bigger problems than the paint on the outside.  Also the owners never seem to take really good care of their homes, so it can sometimes seem that all that hard work and paint go to waste.

Lula proved that painting was not a waste of time.  I was walking by there earlier this week on the way to a different fix-it and there were at least 5 people (mostly some of the kids who had sat outside and watched us paint) working in the yard.  There were insane amounts of trash in that yard.  Some of the people painting the house complained of feeling sick because of the smell.  The people working in the yard were cleaning up trash and weed-whacking.  The next day when I walked  by they were at it again.  This time as I walked by one of the older ladies who was orchestrating the whole operation recognized my People of Praise fix-it shirt and called out to me with a smile on her face, “Y’all fixed up the house, now we gotta fix up the yard.  Thank you!”  She thanking me a few more times until I was out of earshot.  Praise God!

Allendale Trip 3

Allendale Trip was HUGE. There were 42 people that came to work or put on the summer camp. We had people from South Bend, Muncie, Indianapolis, NOVA and Minnesota.

The camp was a huge success this year. In previous years, we have struggled to get kids to attend on the first few days. This year, on the first day they had 18 kids. Last year, when I was on camp, we had 3 boys on the first 2 days. That’s a huge improvement. I have a lot of respect for those who put on the camp this year. The kids in this neighborhood have a very short attention span, and are not cooperative at all. Just watching little bits of camp wore me out. One thing that struck me, however, was how willing the kids were to help us. I was often working on our properties on Yale, were half of the camp was always going on during the day. My work this trip consisted of landscaping and planting in front of 1434, 1442 and 1446. Whenever the boys were on Yale, a few of them would wander over to me, ask what I was doing, and then ask if they could help. At first, I told them that they should go back to camp. But after it happened a few times, i began to let them help me out a little. I’m not totally sure if this was a good idea or not. Once one started working, all the other boys would notice and come running over. One time I had 4 or 5 young boys helping me dig out sod in front of 1446. After helping me for a little while, the boys usually needed to go back to camp for the next activity or go home for the day. Sometimes one or two of them would volunteer to come back the next day and help me out.

These kids are the future of Allendale. There is a lot of hope for this neighborhood. These kids really want to do something. They really want to work. We just need to show them how and where and they will do anything.

The Fix-its part of Trip 3 also went really well. We almost finished painting one of the biggest houses in the neighborhood. The house is on Harvard Street and belongs to a woman named Lula. Trip 3 completely primed her house and painted it blue. The trim is being painted white and will be finished by Trip 4. One day at Lula’s, we had what must be are biggest fix-it crew yet. 11 people were painting all at the same time. It looks great now. We also finished a ramp/porch at the Lakeshore warehouse of Windows, Doors and More Outlet, gutted and redid a neighbor’s bathroom, fixed up and repainted a kitchen, and probably a bunch of other things that I can’t think of right now. Trip 3 got a lot done.

Praise God.

Hastings Action Room Construction

Allendale!

This summer I am living and working in Allendale Louisiana. My job is to lead work crews and head up our landscaping efforts in the neighborhood.

So far I haven’t done that much landscaping. My first job was to lead the crew that was finishing the remodeling of 1442, the house with the big kitchen in it. That job turned out to be a blessing in disguise. When I first showed up and David Zimmel and Matt Brickweg told me that I would be leading that crew I was a little surprised. The job required mudding and taping, and my mudding and taping skills aren’t all that great. I have mudded and taped one garage (never actually finished it) and then the Action Room that we built in my basement. The job turned out to be really awesome. After asking David a million questions, I knew what I had to do. The hardest part was teaching my crew and keeping them busy. I had great crews though, so that wasn’t even that hard. The great part about the job is that it is indoors and right next to the kitchen. Working in an air conditioned environment in Louisiana is fantastic. Working next to the kitchen was tough in that we had to make sure that we kept the dust down, but the great part was that we got to sample some of the meals and lick the beater when the kitchen crew was making cookies. I think the Lord was easing me into my home for the summer. Thank you Lord.

Landscaping and yard work right now isn’t to big of a job. We are waiting to acquire something like 11 more lots from the city and then the job will be HUGE. My first taste of landscaping/yardwork was on Friday, June 29. Me and my crew of David Bowar and Mark Mazinovski (no idea how to spell that one) mowed weed-eated and water our Yale properties and then mowed and weed-eated 5 of our neighbors yards. It was great. A lot hotter than the kitchen was though. I am looking forward to cleaning up our new lots. Please pray that we get them soon.