Day 1 Updates

Here are updates from a few of our work team participants today!  At the bottom are a few photos as well!

Group 1: Terry, Shelley, Chris, Mary Ana, Landyn, and Kaden

Today we visited the home of Joey. He has a daughter and son. They are both young. Joey purchased the trailer at the beginning of the year and he changed it from an office to a home. His father died and he’s been staying with his mom, but the children were taken away from him by CPS because he didn’t have a suitable living situation for them.

Today, our team helped Joey out with removing sheet rock, insulation, and a ton of staples from the stud boards. We did all of this in preparation of putting in new floor boards and 2x6 boards tomorrow. 

Today was a very productive and strength testing day from pulling out the staples. My hands are in tons of pain. Other than that, it was very humbling and eye opening to all of us on the site. We can’t wait for more tomorrow! We’ll keep you all updated.

 

Group 2: Kevin, Melody, Amelia, Carson, and Daniel

Today we visited the home of Jerri and Timothy.  They have a large, beautiful family of 6.  We had the pleasure of meeting two of their children Nova (7) and Andrew (3).  Nova preferred to be called “Stitch” and Andrew loved Paw Patrol.  Jerri and Timothy reside in rural Clay, WV in a trailer home on the first property they’ve had the pleasure of owning.  Two years ago, Timothy purchased the trailer and had it moved on the property.  It is a humble lodging in desperate need repair.  The home sits without running water or plumbing and its floorboards and ceilings are in decay.  Many of the rooms are simply divided by framed walls with no sheetrock or wallboard and the walls they do have are made of plywood.

Today, our team was able to replace some of the rotting floorboards with fresh plywood and floor joists.  The family was incredibly thankful for the new flooring.  The kids spent much of their time observing our team and getting comfortable with the volunteers. Nova’s grandfather drove by in his logging truck and Nova’s day was made.  Her face lit up with such joy as he stopped his truck and opened the door to give her a big hug.  

It was a productive day full of hard work.  It was a humbling experience that reminded us all how much we take for granted and how blessed we are to have the time and resources to share with new friends.