Jennings, LA – Dec 13-17, 2021

Eleven volunteers from Pennsylvania arrived joining our five New Yorkers and six long-term volunteers who are from OH, IL, PA and KS, bringing our team to twenty-two this week.

Work began Mon. morning removing and installing a new metal roof and rebuilding the porches on Jessica’s house in Iowa.  The rest of the team finished hanging sheets of drywall on the ceiling at Tina’s house and got a good start on the walls.  Finding tin to finish the roof was a bit of a challenge but after checking at 4 different Stine stores, tin with the same pattern was located.  The rest of the week the ladies finished hanging the drywall at Tina’s.   The talented, energetic PA volunteers completed a large roof from start to finish, removing layers of old shingles, applying Ice & water underlay and new shingles.

Our cooks, Tim & Michelle Gerber kicked off the week by celebrating the birthdays of two volunteers, our Project Director and one of our young PA volunteers with a handmade chicken fried steak dinner and personal desserts.   Everyone enjoyed watching the two birthday “boys” (whose age difference is 56 years) have a playoff in ping pong.  It was decided that a trip to Walmart for new ping pong paddles was a good idea.  Now the challenge is to see if the same person wins the next match. 

We said our good-byes to this great group of volunteers after they helped us prepare the camp for the Christmas break.  It feels good to know that several families will be enjoying renewed hope because of the dedicated volunteers that served with us here in Jennings these past six weeks.

Submitted by Rachel Horst on behalf of the Jennings, LA team