Volunteering, it's all good--report from Machias by Jen

BonaResponds split into two teams today. One went to Friendship, the other to Machias. Here is Jen's report from Machias along with a some pictures.

“I don’t know what we’re doing. That’s alright, whatever it is, we’ll do it well!”
-Volunteer

I heard a volunteer say this as we stood just inside the doors at Murphy waiting for everyone to arrive this morning. It was cold and “early” on a Saturday morning. I knew we would have good work for the day – both Machias and Friendship projects were moving along well and Pete and Ed (aka “Little Chief”) were well organized. The specific jobs had not yet been communicated to the volunteers, so they had no idea what they’d be doing, but that made no difference - they were there and ready to help.

I love that about volunteering – it just makes you feel optimistic and flexible and ready to go. The more you volunteer, the more you realize how good it feels to help others… you just want to keep doing it. If you haven’t been out with BonaResponds, please come out. You won’t regret it and you will help someone who could really use a hand. And, you can come out as little or as much as you’d like (but trust me, you’ll be back! :))

The Machias group today started by sorting out a large pile of siding – some new, some used – most of which will be installed on the house soon. We then traveled down to the “old house” to dissemble the playground set, which involved taking off a swing set, rock climbing wall, and other pieces and then loading the remaining large frame onto a trailer. We also loaded on the boys’ John Deere carts and other toys from the backyard as they watched and cheered us on from the back window (It was very cold today and the boys have been sick, so they didn’t work with us today like they usually do!).

The second trip with the trailer was a bit trickier. On this trip, we were working at the very back of the yard, loading cinder blacks, flagstone, etc. An assembly line spontaneously formed, and we filled the trailer right up. Between the heavy load and the wet ground though, we had a little difficulty getting going. But, Pete is resourceful and we managed to push (by hand) and tug (with a truck) and get out. During this time, we also had a few minutes to visit “the boys” who had just helped Tyler celebrate his 16th birthday.

Dalton and Wyatt were animated and cheerful as we talked with them and Vicki about getting ready for the move and the big Moving Day next Saturday. Dalton hasn’t decided yet if he wants to ring the bell on the fire truck, but they were both very excited about the fire truck ride!

The remainder of the day we spent at the new house, painting the baseboards and door frames in Tyler’s room, the master bedroom, sitting room, and closet. Many others were there working today too on the lighting, smoke alarms, and finishing work. The house is coming along very nicely and is really looking fantastic.

Overall we had a great crew today – lots of fun and great work.

Thanks!