Eastern KY, – Jan. 7-13, 2024

We had 12 weekly volunteers the week of January 8-12, 2024. Nine (8 men and 1 woman) came from Village Chapel in the Lancaster, PA, area.  These folks were friends and relatives of two of the long term leadership. One young man came from Leola, PA.  A brother and a friend of one crew leader came from Ohio for the week also.

Monday was beautiful and one crew started framing client #33’s house and the deck. Working around quite a bit of rain, walls were set, cement poured, forms cleaned, framing porch, deck, subfloors and partitions are up.  Trusses were delivered and are ready to go up. Client #34’s rebar and forming walls became a reality.  The building package is on site and ready for Monday. The rest of the crew continued with set up and improvements at the base camp. Lights, water heater, shelves, toilets and some ceiling tiles were installed. Due to wet conditions, outdoor work was a bit hampered, but meaningful work was continual.

A highlight was definitely Wednesday evening.  Client #33 and his daughter and 2 sons joined us for dinner along with Phil & Rosie Swartzentruber of the LTRTeam.  While the children delighted us with their excitement about the house and stories of how they helped friends and neighbors since the flood, the Swartzentrubers and the home owner gave us a good picture of their experience in 2019 and 2020.

Another highlight was Friday evening as we finished out the week together singing hymns in the dining room for an hour.  ‘God Be With You ‘Til We Meet Again’ was our prayer song as we ended the week.

It is to be bitterly cold. The upside is that the mud will harden.  Plans are to dry in one house and frame the other.