Conroe, TX – Feb. 8- 14, 2026

This week we gathered 17 strangers together on Sunday, 8 from PA, 7 from Iowa, 1 from Maryland, and 1 from Winnipeg, Manitoba and mixed them up all week to work, sing, play and eat together and by Friday they were friends and no longer strangers!

My favorite moment this week was when one of the weekly volunteers came into my office on Thursday and exclaimed, “this is the best thing about MDS, by the end of the week we have so much fun together!”

We tried to spread out the “fun” in installing insulation in the crawl spaces of (3) THREE more houses Crumbley, Hayes and Garcia so that many of the volunteers could experience it. We heard entertaining stories at report time of their experiences under the houses…as they say, what happens in Conroe, stays in Conroe!

As we waited for drywall to be delivered on Tuesday, we picked up a couple extra repair jobs. At the Arnold House, they ripped out moldy carpet and sprayed for mold in the master bedroom and garage. Another large crew lead by our Rosedale Intern, Evan, went to the Luff House to remove and replace siding that was damaged and also replaced the electrical service.

The rest of the week was all about DRYWALL!

Renk House: After getting started on the ceiling with drywall last week, they finished the rest of the house and handed the house over to the RV Group to complete the rest of the house.

Garcia House: The deck, porch steps and railings were completed. Volunteers installed (2) shower surrounds and insulated the house. The last 2 days of the week the drywall went up lickity split and by midday Friday, a team of mostly novice drywallers had completed all the ceilings and one of the bedrooms.

Molina House: Finished the electrical service and prepped for the drywall so that by Wednesday a full crew of 8 were able to spend the rest of the week drywalling and were able to close the doors on Friday afternoon with the house completely drywalled. Yay!

The unsung heros this week were people like LTV Rhonda who spent a lot of time and many miles picking up supplies and transporting people. And also, John who became known for his ability to clean up job sites…such a valuable skill!

The (3) Rosedale students Evan, Katie and Keller, finished their 6-week internship at Conroe this week. It’s rewarding to look back at what they learned and accomplished from that 1^st week in January.

Starla Landis, OM reporting on behalf of the Conroe, TX team.