Day Four of Work!
Today was our last day of work on the job sites and it was another beautiful day! The clouds were covering the sun for the first couple of hours and then we were able to enjoy the sunshine for the last two thirds of the day. This morning, I was with seven other students where we worked at another site that was about a half mile away from the main site. We leveled the soil with rakes to be able to seed the soil around the house. After we seeded, we laid straw over the seeds to secure and keep them warm. After a couple hours we had finished with that project and began to clean the house in preparation for the flooring and kitchen cabinets to arrive. After finishing up some smaller cleaning projects outside the house, it was time for lunch where the group of us went back to the main Habitat house. In the afternoon, we stayed on the main site with our entire GAC Habitat crew and the volunteers from Maryville. The roofing was going up at the main house, which was amazing to see how far the house has come since the first day we arrived. Besides for helping with roofing, there were odds and ends jobs that needed to be finished like cutting wood for the stairs, building the scaffolding for siding, cleaning up the jobsite, and putting in the last few windows in the house. The group dynamic working on the site today was unbelievable between the Gustavus group and between our group and the Habitat group of Maryville. I felt such a personal connection with every single person on this trip and could not be more thankful for the experience. Every person here has a wonderful story and a great contribution to the Habitat program. We all work hard together and laugh together like we have known each other for a lifetime.
After we were done working for the day and saying a hard goodbye to all the volunteers, we showered up and went to the United Methodist church for supper with the community. I was able to sit with five different people from the community and hear their life stories. I always find the stories fascinating and inspiring. Seeing the community come together to serve a meal for anyone and everyone is wonderful to be a part of and I feel fortunate to see the need in the community. At the supper, I had a volunteer server thank me for my service this week and she also said, “It is so great that your group gets to see how much of a need this community has.” This comment really struck home for me because every community has a need and it just needs to be seen. We all play a role in that need and any little thing we do will make a difference together.
The Habitat group for Maryville, 2012
For our nighttime activities, we were able to go out to the Smoky Mountain Brewery to have some social time with our group and some Blount County Habitat Leaders, Susan and Bill. We all had a wonderful time talking and sharing stories knowing this was going to be our last time talking with these two incredible people. After spending a couple hours talking and laughing, our group needed to head back to the church to get some shut eye before going hiking in the morning. It was another bittersweet goodbye, but I know that I will have this friendship for a lifetime.
The bonds that have been formed this past week are unforgettable and very powerful. As a group from Gustavus, we brought in a passion and the passion only grew deeper from all the volunteers here in Tennessee. This experience definitely changed all our hearts for the better and I could not have asked for a better senior spring break trip.
Erica Roelofs