Home Sweet Home for the Wyoming County West Virginia Passionist Volunteers. The volunteers stay at the Glen Fork Elementary/Middle school in Glen Fork, WV. Making use of many of the classrooms, and air mattresses, everyone has a place to stay.
Before any volunteer is ready to go to work, they are commissioned. In a brief ceremony, all volunteers have their hands and head anointed, and are prayed for by the other volunteers. They then receive a medallion created by one of the leaders of the group, which incorporates the Passionist sign, and is different for each year.
First order of the week is restoring part of a residents home so the mother can have her own room. But the room in question needs a lot of help. A Lot Of Help! Tear out the floor and replace the joists and flooring. Insulate the walls and ceiling. Put up and paint sheet rock. Molding. Here Judy is busy with the insulation part.
And by the way, as long as you are there, the next room may need a little work also. Same thing, only worse. The room was not level, or square, or any of those things that make life easy. Plus, the floor needed to be completely removed, new joists, new flooring, etc., etc. Here Jeremy is hard at it ripping up the old floor and joists. Lots of dust.
But even hard workers must eat. Jeremy and Amelia enjoy lunch with one of the residents of the home they are working on.
Nothing like a cookout on July 4th. Will was happy to provide the skill to make a tasty meal, and then we all drove to Oceana, WV to watch the fireworks. After all, all work and no play make Jack (And Jill) a dull boy (and girl).
The weekend passes in a blur of activity, even thought it is supposed to be a time to relax. Laundry needs to be done, games need to be played in the gym, and the cheering crowds shown here need to keep their team's spirit up.
This is the whole crew for the first week of work. About 20 or so willing volunteers from all over the country. Some from New York, Florida, Connecticut, and other exotic points, ready to go.
And so to work it is. The trailer needed painting, scraping, power washing, and later on, replacement of some doors and windows. But to start, Kristina washes the outside of the home to prepare it for the paint to come. Gabriel, in the distance, scrapes off some of the old paint.
In what became a matter of proving your courage, Kristina crosses the bridge behind the trailer. This foot bridge leads to the home of the parents of the family in the trailer being painted. This is the only access to the house, which is located right next to some railroad tracks. And yes, the bridge sways as you cross, bounces, all those good things. Only the strong of heart dared the crossing.
It wouldn't be July 4th without some fireworks. These were saved for a few days later to stretch out the holiday. A good time was had by all, with no injuries. What could be better?
Well, perhaps an ice cream social would be a great way to end the evening. Nothing better on a hot night.
The second week a much larger group of volunteers were present. There were about 50 people, a new record for the Passionist Volunteers. This was an opportunity to work on many more work sites.
Meals are eaten in community, on tables set up in the entry hallway of the school. Every night, someone volunteers to cook for the crew, and lead the community in prayer before sitting down to eat. The food is always good, lots of variety, and always a home cooked specialty.
And you could be sitting next to any of the volunteers. Young and old alike, everyone has an interesting story to tell about their day's activity.
Meanwhile, back at the trailer work site, the new door is being moved into position to replace the older French doors. This required some careful timing, since the old doors had to be taken down, studs placed to accept the new door, and the new door put in place, and weather sealed, all in one day. Not surprisingly, there were a few bumps along the way, but the residents had a new secure door before the day was over.
Zach and Alex had one of the more unpleasant jobs. There was a large amount of refuse that had to be moved, placed in the truck, and hauled to the dump. They did their job without complaint, and made the home site a much more livable place. After three trips to the dump, the truck died at the transfer station. Luckily Zach is a master mechanic, and he got us up and running after a brief, though worrisome time standing in the rain wondering how we are ever going to get out of this.
Our last day was spend taking a stroll down memory lane with Margaret, one of the residents of Wyco, WV. This lady arranged for the Passionist Volunteers to paint her church a couple of years ago. The church still looks good (See below). In the course of our visit, we found that she has had a most interesting life. for example, her grandmother was a slave. She was subjected to all the discrimination that was legal as she was growing up. Her husband formed the NAACP chapter in Wyoming County. Her daughter was the first black student in the local elementary school, following integration rulings. You might think she would hold people to blame for all those evils that she experienced. And yet, she doesn't seem to. She has a wonderful Christian attitude of loving everyone, and accepting people as they are.
And this is the church that was painted in 2006. Still looks good. They have a part time minister who is able to conduct services on a couple of weekends a month. Otherwise, the folks drive to the town of Mullins for church, a drive of about half an hour each way.