Krewe de Kansas- Sept. 2010

The guys of Family Life Assembly of God (Pittsburgh, KS) brought with them cooler air and lots of sunshine when they joined HH2G for a week in September. Veterans of the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans, this team of 5 jumped right into the work. We utilized the carpentry skills amongst the group by assigning them to build a ramp for Mrs. Julia Brown. Julia travels in a wheel chair, so the guys worked on her deck and added a ramp for ease of access to her home.

The Kansas team was also able to reconnect with a homeowner they blessed in the summer of 2009. Steamboat Willie, a New Orleans dixieland jazz musician, always wanted a back deck, and this team delivered. Our staff is continually amazed by the connections that form between the volunteers and the homeowners they work with.

Grace Church of Chapel Hill (NC)- AUG 2010

Grace Church brought a wonderful mixture of volunteers to HH2G... There were young and old alike, and a few FAMILIES! Serving others together as a family can be an awesome experience. It can create strong memories and bonds that remain throughout a lifetime. It was a great experience to host such a team!

Half of the crew from Grace Church finished up several projects at Mr. Desoto Bobby Jackson's home, both inside and outside of the house. The team was privileged to experience the act of handing over the keys of the house to the homeowner, Mr. Jackson.

GREAT JOB TO ALL TEAMS AND VOLUNTEERS WHO WORKED ON MR. DESOTO BOBBY JACKSON'S HOME!!! There is no way that the full amount of gratitude for your hard work could be expressed. Know that you participated not only in rebuilding a home, but in deeply touching someone's life with the love of Jesus.

The other half of the team worked at the home of Pastor Green. HH2G did most of the rebuilding of Pastor Green's home, and returned to continue the work. The team painted the outside of the house, as well as laid tile in the house, complete with a small mosaic :)

First Presbyterian Church (CA)- JULY 2010

After a year off from HH2G, First Presbyterian Church returned to New Orleans with fond memories of their previous visit, and an eagerness to make more memories this visit. It's wonderful to welcome familiar faces back to HH2G- and we were privileged to do so with this crew, right down to a young lady who experienced her first trip to New Orleans back in 2007!

The crew of First Pres. worked hard to return Mr. Desoto Bobby Jackson's home to a functional state. With skilled workers to lead and non-skilled workers to fill in where necessary this team accomplished much! This crew accomplished so much that the next team was able to finish most of the work left in Mr. Jackson's home!

To the team members of First Presbyterian of Santa Rosa (you know who you are ;), it's always a pleasure to host and work with you. We look forward to seeing you all again!

St. Vivian Church (OH) - JULY 2010

"The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the greatest intention," so says Kahlil Gibran. St. Vivian Church faithfully commits acts of kindness and compassion by sending teams twice a year, and has graced our presence with teams a total of 6 times! That's right, folks... 6 times! The past 2 summers Jeanne Shaefer has headed up a team of young volunteers from the St. Vivian youth group. This year was no different. Upon arrival, HH2G staff gladly welcomed several familiar faces as well as a few new team members.

The beautiful thing about this team is that regardless of who is on the team, they perform whatever tasks are asked of them, and they do it with infectious joy and love... I've even heard of them serenading the homeowners as they work!

This July the St. Vivian crew scraped, primed, and painted the home of Frank and Nikki Brown (picture of home before painting is above). This team pressed hard to finish the painting job, and succeeded! Check out the action shots above...

Sweet Summer Fun

(Ahem)...After a rather long reprieve from blogging, HisHands2Go is back in action with updates on our summer happenings. We've had some extremely hard-working teams, sweet fellowship, and wonderful experiences with the homeowners. Check out the next few postings for specifics on the teams we were blessed to work with, and the homeowners they were privileged to work for!

Much love to ya,

HisHands2Go

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!!!

HisHands2Go has been assisting homeowner Desoto "Bobby" Jackson with his home for roughly 2 1/2 months now. Mr. Jackson, an elderly gentleman, has been doing much of the work of rebuilding his home himself since 2005. HH2G staff made contact with him soon after the hurricane, and reconnected with him this winter (2010). Mr. Jackson was only expecting to have a little help, so he was thrilled when HH2G offered him much more: we've made a goal of finishing the work on Bobby's home, and seeing him move back into it, preferably by the end of 2010. Most HH2G volunteers that have come down since January have been priviledged to assist Bobby with his home, and have carried away wonderful memories of working with and for this man. Though much has been accomplished, there is still much to do, and now the work is to a point that it requires some skilled workers... but of course we ALWAYS welcome the unskilled as well :) Here are the tasks we are seeking to accomplish:

SKILLED
1) Sanding & refinishing hardwood floors
2) Finish carpentry work

UNSKILLED
1) Scraping & painting
2) Drywall hanging
3) Mudding, taping, sanding drywall

Please consider taking a week of your time to come down and work on Mr. Jackson's home. For more information or to book a trip, visit http://www.hishands2go.com/, email teams@hishands2go.com, or call (504) 302-0788. We look forward to seeing you!

Harvest Bible Chapel (IL) - March 2010

When HH2G first hosted Harvest Bible Chapel, the team was over 100 people strong. The church facilities were brimming over with all the energy that 95 high schoolers possess. The students and chaperones arrived, a tremendous amount of work was accomplished, lives were deepened spiritually, and some residents of New Orleans were much much closer to a reconstructed home... the week went beautifully!

This March (2010), HH2G was privileged to host the Harvest Bible Chapel Cyrstal Lake campus again. We welcomed back many familiar faces, and got acquainted with many new ones. The volunteers split into 2 teams:

The first crew worked on the home of Mr. DeSoto "Bobby" Jackson. Half of the team hung sheetrock inside the home, while the other half scraped, primed, and painted the outside of Mr. Jackson's home. The amount of work that this team accomplished in a week is incredible! Mr. Jackson still needs mudding, taping and sanding, and painting done on the inside of his home, but he will be back in his home very soon.

The second team worked on the home of Mrs. Banks. The team worked their muscles doing some demolition work in the home, as well as completely reroofing the house!

First Baptist Woodway (TX) - MAR 2010

HisHands2Go enjoys hosting a variety of age groups, ranging from junior high to senior citizens. The diverse age groups offer differing levels of energy and, of course, maturity. In our experience, the high school age brings a vast amount of energy to the experience in New Orleans, and the crew of First Baptist Woodway is a prime example of that…

Youth Pastor Bob Johns brought his crew from Waco, TX, to New Orleans 2 years ago to gut out a home and brush walls with mold remediation chemical. This year they returned with a new goal ahead of them- tearing down an entire house! This may seem to be a formidable task for a group of young people, but they handled it with a lot of hard work and team work; completely dismantling the fallen structure and diminishing it to 2.5 dumpsters in about 2 days. The crew then moved on to tearing down a garage for Mr. Desoto “Bobby” Jackson, and pulling up tile flooring in another home. This team accomplished an impressive amount of work in the span of 3 days, and was a joy to be around during their visit. Thanks for coming back to NOLA for another round of hard work- it’s appreciated by many people!