Monte Lake, B.C. – Sept. 11-17, 2022

This week we had a crew of 24:  Four from Manitoba (Altona, Steinbach and Grunthal), three from Saskatoon, two couples from St Albert and Sexsmith, Alberta and 13 from B.C.—Blind Bay, Trail, Fruitvale, Coquitlam, Abbotsford, Kelowna, and Cranbrook.

The volunteers worked hard and progress was made on:

• The Eager house. Completed the mudding and primed 85% of the upstairs. Small portion has 2 coats of finish paint. Downstairs finished framing bulkheads. 50% of the sheetrock was installed, stairs have been completed. The outside perimeter treated plywood has been installed for backfill.
• The Maisonneuve house. Finished caulking the exterior. Installed window jam casing, sills, caulked and painted. Painted door trim and baseboard. Prepared the floor for flooring. Painted the exterior window trim.
• The Hanton/Sunby house. The crew installed the flooring through out the whole house. The cabinets where installed by a volunteer contractor. This group also went to the Maisonneuve house to start with the flooring.
• The Peden/Hamilton house. Taped, mudded and sanded. Primed a third of the house. Started the trim flashing on the exterior. Painted the trim on windows.

Our highlights were getting to know each other. We invited the Peden/Hamilton owner for dinner and they shared their story with us. The office manager and cooks had a tour of all four house which they really enjoyed. One of the volunteer has been an auctioneer and he and the project director decided to auction some items like MDS hats, t-shirts, pen, hoodies, a wooden rocky horse made by a volunteer, fancy cutting boards also made by a volunteer. We raised close to $5,000 which we donated to the Anita Jacobsen’s Monte Lake Support Fund. She and her husband came for dinner, and she shared her story.

Thank you to Thomas & Hanna Bussemeier, Kenneth Wellington, Ardiss Mackie, Mike & Sheila Davis, Edee Adam, Ron & Heather Wiebe, Paul Tiessen, Don & Sylvia Koehn, Ralf & Janet Gauer, John & Denise Koehn, Marjorie Dunnebacke.

Long Term Volunteers. Thank you to Roman Heuft, Gordon & Maria Martens, Wayne & Val Papple, and Ray & Darlene Funk.

Reporting: Darlene Funk