Venice, FL – SYP – July 20-26, 2025

What a great week July 21-25, 2025, in Venice, Florida.  It was extremely hot and humid, but the atmosphere was light, happy and willing to see God’s glory shine.  This week’s group of 13 came from the Bridgewater VA area with Wilda and Sheldon Wenger leading the group.  They worked to try to beat the clock, as they persevered to finish the jobs on hand, doing dry wall, painting, flooring and cabinets before the week ended. They did complete Amber’s job and almost completed Cecil and Pam’s except the back-ordered cabinet is still on back-order.  Other than the final putting that cabinet in place, that job was also completed.  That leaves us with only 3 jobs to complete before the end of this week.  We are ready and willing to finish what this great group of youth did.

This was Eric Douglas’, one of last year’s Year-long Volunteers, first time as a Project Director, and he did an awesome job of it.  Everyone seemed to take to him and the youth commented on what an amazing job he did as the leader and teacher and yet being a friend to each one of them individually.  He was very thorough in his planning and scheduling.  We did run into a couple slow delivery of products but always with a good reason. Besides, that gave everyone a break from the heat.

Mary Joyce Wise and Maik Hinz were our two Year-long Volunteers who served as crew leaders all week. Their willingness and caring made the work go smoother for each job.

Our cooks Ina and Roger were spectacular in the kitchen.  Ina said her husband has never helped her on an MDS mission, so this was a first.  She was very grateful for all his help and probably wondered why she didn’t drag him along sooner.  Everyone enjoyed the food they prepared, and no one went away hungry.  A special treat each week is the ice cream we took to each group on Thursday afternoon for a break and we were able to visit the work sites.

One of the highlights was seeing Big Boy and Stubby.  They were two allegators in a fenced in area behind one of our projects.  Both have names that totally described their physical features.  Monday morning John and Hilda shared with the group about how United Way – Long Term Recovery worked in the Venice area, getting donations to supply materials, as we provide the donated labor. We enjoyed dinner with one of the homeowners, Cecil & Pam, on Wednesday and they shared their experience living in Venice and the storms and how thankful they were for MDS’ help.  The group went to the beach to see the sunset and collect sand dollars and another night to go fishing.  All in all, every one of us had a wonderful week working together and making new friends.

Judy Bird

Office Manager