Red Lake, MN – July 30 – Aug. 5, 2023

The August leadership team arrived on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.  The new team includes:  Dave – Project Director from New York; Ruth -Office Manager and Ed – Crew Leader from Kansas; Em – Head Cook and Don – Assistant Cook from Virginia; Galen – Crew Leader and Kathy – Assistant Cook from Kansas; and, Ryan – Crew Leader from Indiana.

On Sunday afternoon, a group of eight young ladies from Western New York joined us for the week.  Their energy, hard work, and enthusiasm has been encouraging.  A group of volunteers from Region 3 arrived on Tuesday to install the ceiling and lighting in the volunteer center.  A lot of progress was made and the improvements are very much appreciated.

Painting and installation of siding continued at house #14.    Work was started on house #17, beginning with removal of damaged siding, followed by installing house wrap.  Our volunteers also painted siding and trim boards.  Three damaged windows were removed and replaced with new windows.  By the end of the week, they began installing siding on house #17.

On Thursday, Eugene Standing Cloud of the Ojibway Nation joined us for dinner and spoke to us about life on the reservation.  There was a lot of interest and after his presentation, the volunteers asked many questions!  Jerry Loud, Executive Director of the Ojibway Nation, also stopped in and contributed more information to the group.

The young New York volunteers worked hard during the day, quickly cleaned up the evening dishes and then still had energy to go for a walk, play table games or volleyball.  They enjoyed singing and several mornings included group singing as part of our devotions.  They were a joy to have as part of our group.

Ruth for the Red Lake Volunteers