Southwest Florida – Feb. 26 – Mar. 4, 2023

The Southwest Florida site welcomed 13 volunteers to Arcadia this week; grandparents from Carthage, NY, brought 5 of their teenaged grandchildren to serve with them, and a group of 6 young men joined us from Ephrata, PA.  What good workers they all were! Much energy was given to completing several roof repairs, as well as starting 3 additional roofs so that next week’s crew of young women will have plenty of work. We also continued the work of interior drywall, painting and trim on a home that was started by a neighboring Disaster Response Team who wrapped up their work here last week.  In all 5 jobs were completed this week, and over 20 roofs have been worked on since the beginning of January.

Ray and Martha Zimmerman have been a wonderful lead couple for us these past 2 months; Ray as Project Director and Mentor, and Martha as Office Manager and reigning monarch of the Queen’s Highway. They have become famous for their games of 5 Crowns, and many a volunteer enjoyed an evening ‘passing the plate’ around the table with them. Ray Z also completed some wiring here at home base this week and shared his knowledge of electrical work with a young volunteer as they did some rewiring for a client.   What a delight to see our younger volunteers eager to learn, and trying out their newly acquired skills. You guys were terrific! We’ll welcome you back any time you can come!

Good cooks are always important, so when scheduled cooks Kathy and Steve Rhoades were called home by a family emergency we were especially thankful for Lisa Zehr and Sharon Roggie, who agreed to fill in, and kept us well fed.

A very special thanks to Ray Zimmerman, who did a superb job of mentoring to Mim and J Ray Heisey as they prepared to step into the directorship of this project.  Both Ray Z & Martha have shared from the wide range of their experience in these roles. Roger & Anne Friesen, who will be here for the month of March, arrived from Canada mid-week and Martha spent time training Anne as Office Manager. That kept Anne busy during the day, and Roger jumped right into crew leading and using his considerable drywalling skills on the project.

Mim Heisey

Director