Hardee County, FL – RV – Feb. 11-17, 2024

Our team went in three different directions this week.  Although we were “few in number” at each house, we made great progress!  We were blessed to have workers from Christian Disaster Service help with the painting.  Dave and Ed spent most of their week at Grape Street doing odd jobs – finished installation of baseboards, closet doors, interior doors, and thresholds on exterior doors; installed electrical outlets and covers; and, in anticipation of the cabinets from Kansas being delivered soon, Fred worked on the countertop.

The paint crew (Eleanor, Mim, Darlene, and CDS volunteers) completed the primer and painting of ceilings and interior walls at Tangerine on Wednesday.  On Thursday, the flooring crew (Ed, Ray, and Dave) began flooring.

At Myrtle Street, the two Ray’s worked on the sewer lines and drywalled the HVAC closet, and on Tuesday, Jim, Millie, and CDS volunteers began painting on the exterior of this house.  By Thursday, the exterior was finished, and they began priming the interior.

A new build on Lee Street has been assigned to our team; it is ready for trusses and shingles – on Wednesday several of the guys marked out truss locations.  The anticipated trailer load of cabinets for our four houses and one house in Arcadia arrived on Friday morning.  Five of the guys worked on offloading the cabinets and getting them distributed to the different house locations.

Our social calendar was also busy this week!  On Monday night, the Send Me Mission team provided, and joined us, for a spaghetti dinner, with salad, garlic bread and a variety of desserts.  We had a very enjoyable evening, visiting and getting to know their team better.  On Saturday, we drove to Sebring, where Ray and Mim have a winter home.  The Arcadia MDS traditional long termers joined us for “roast-your-own-hotdogs”, grilled chicken, salads, scalloped potatoes and homemade ice cream with hot fudge sauce and fresh strawberries.  What a lovely, relaxing day!  Despite rain being forecasted, we enjoyed sunshine and a gentle breeze in their backyard by the lake.  (The rain started about 7:00 Saturday evening, and it rained all day on Sunday!)

Ruth for the Hardee Co RV team – Fred, Millie, Ray, Mim, Ed, Jim, Eleanor, Dave, Ray and Darlene