1st Presbyterian of Santa Rosa 2014

Well folks, they've done it again! Doug and Judi Webb lead their troop from Santa Rosa, CA allllllll the way down to New Orleans for a week of hard work, good food, and wonderful fellowship. As good friends often do, they offered their labor and love to repair and improve the HH2G facilities and St. Luke Assembly of God sanctuary. In addition, a small group of them went to work at Ms. Cutno's home, finishing some repairs on the exterior, caulking, and completing the painting process...she even fed them some of her delicious red beans and rice! A favorite 'round these parts.

Let's get into some details now...

St. Luke Assembly of God has a small area in the sanctuary for the kids to play and do some art work. However, the area was not closed off or properly equipped for the small kiddos, so the Santa Rosa crew simply built a play area! A few of the ladies tackled the measuring, sawing, screwing, painting, etc... even creating a chalkboard wall for the kids to draw on.  Beautiful job ladies, it's very much appreciated!

Meanwhile, some creative strokes were happening throughout the rest of the sanctuary.  Judi Webb, an interior decorator by profession, used her gifts to spruce up the place. She directed a handful of ladies in the art of slapping paint on the walls, while she made some beautiful flower arrangements

for display in the foyer and on the stage. This task is not necessarily a favorite to take on, but they jumped right in and took care of business!

And towards the end of the week, the side entry floors in the sanctuary were torn out and redone.

 

That's what was happening on the home front. The work abroad took place at Ms. Cutno's home. The crew replaced some rotting boards on the exterior of the house, finished the caulking and painting, and took care of a few other tasks. Her home is ready!

So the group at Ms. Cutno's finished up, and the work at the St. Luke sanctuary was moving full speed ahead... there was one more project waiting.  A deck!

 

At the Garden on Marais site stand three concrete pylons, basically in the way except to sit on or use as a shelf. These seemingly insignificant pylons have become the base for a beautiful deck that will offer a cool escape from the hot sun, a place to fellowship, and much more. Pretty soon we'll have a roof on this thing and the fun shall begin! In the meantime, is anyone up for some Cajun/Zydeco dance lessons??

St. Stephen's Church Anoka - June 2014

Hey! Don't I (A)no(ka) you?? Ok ok... so that was a poor play on words, but don't let that turn you away from reading about this amazing group of young people. A group of high school students from St. Stephen Church waaaaay up in Minnesota spent nearly 24 hours in a charter bus to volunteer in New Orleans the last week of June. Now that's dedication, folks. Their trip was not in vein. During their stay with HisHands2Go these high school students and their chaperones accomplished a great deal of tasks, and progressed several projects much closer to completion. They split up to work on 3 jobsites:

 

 1) Philippi Evangelical Church of God in Christ has been rebuilding their children's building for the last few years, receiving assistance from several HisHands2Go volunteer teams. The building is looking fantastic! This group from St. Stephen's spent their time painting the inside of the double shotgun down in the lower 9th ward.

2) Ms. Esther Joseph has been sanding, pressure washing, and doing her best to prepare the exterior of her home for a much needed repainting. The previous week HH2G sent volunteers to assist with the sanding and pressure washing the wooden house, but this week the volunteers began the painting process, in addition to replacing rotting boards and sanding around the windows. The two weeks of volunteers has progressed the work on her home by several weeks!

 

3) Pastor Bates, who is establishing a church in a neighborhood fairly close to HH2G headquarters, is redoing a beautiful and uniquely shaped building. St. Stephen's volunteers started the sheetrock (drywall) process, hanging many many panels of sheetrock to create walls in the church.

Good Shepherd Church Youth - June 2014

Catholic Missions Trips arranged for Good Shepherd Church Life teens to join HisHands2Go the last week of June, and what a lively bunch. This crew undertook the job of painting Ms. Cutno's home a beautiful bright yellow. These young people braved the rain, heat, sunshine, tall ladders, and a squirt gun attack from their chaperones! Amidst all of these challenges, they certainly accomplished a great deal of work.

St. Vivian Church Youth - June 2014

The month of June always ushers in the youth group from St. Vivian Church in OH. This June was no different, and it brought some new faces with it. The St. Viv group continued the exterior painting job on Ms. Angel and Mr. Nelson's home. The house is a vibrant purple, and now they have a purple chain-link fence to match! The group spent the week not only painting the fence, but also scraping and repainting the large wooden window shutters, and finishing some detail painting around the exterior of the house. As always, Mr. Nelson kept the experience unique and memorable.

The group even got to witness Mr. Okra and his produce truck rolling through the neighborhood.

We worked Eileen so hard her shoe fell apart!

St. Christopher & Lenny squared

A Texas based organization by the name of Catholic Missions Trips collected volunteers from Illinois and sent them to New Orleans the third week of June. Lenny the 5th guided his group of high schoolers (including Lenny the 6th) through a week of hard work, wet weather, and memorable experiences. The week consisted of variety of work:

Ms. Joseph’s house was pressure-washed, scraped, and sanded.

A crew continued the detail painting work on Ms. Angel Scott & Nelson’s home. By the way… for those of you who have enjoyed the company of the dynamic Nelson, here is a little video taken by the team that he has allowed me to share!  

click the pic --->   

Garden on Marais now has a weed barrier covering the entirety of the garden plot.

And quite possibly the most interesting job of them all was the work done on Big Chief Damond and Alisia’s house. The house received a pressure-wash, doors painted, rotting wood replaced, drywall replaced, and detail painting. The unique aspect of this job was meeting the homeowners themselves. Big Chief Damond is part of the Mardi Gras Indian tradition. He and Alisia design and make the costumes, which consist of tiny beads and large feathers sown . This tradition is passed down through generations, with multiple tribes keeping the tradition alive. (If you’d like to know more, click on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9Fg670q_FU )