Housing Development Alliance

Today is St. Philip's last day. They have finished raking and seeding the ground of the Airport home and have nailed down all the trusses at the house in Defiance. The girls I mentioned before also made a third animal friend. That dog and those two cats are sure going to miss their company.

The group seems to have had a great time volunteering with us in Perry County. They enjoyed working with the carpenters, singing with the First Presbyterian Church, and worshiping at our Mother of Good Counsel Church. They even had time to enjoy the beautiful Buckhorn Lake. By the end of today, they're all going to be pretty exhausted, but I suspect that they loved every minute of it. HDA wants wish St. Philip a safe trip back home to Ohio and (as always) we hope to see them again next Summer. They were great, even the kids--er, the teenagers.

St. Philip the Apostle Church from Morrow, Ohio is volunteering with us this week. It's a sort of family affair. The three teenagers in the group get to work side-by-side with their parents, which I think is pretty cool. It's nice when a family can work together for a good cause. We placed them in two locations: the Airport and Defiance. At the Airport, four of the volunteers were raking rocks in order to plant grass for a new home. This is usually the most tedious project we have, but there were no complaints. In fact, the two girls at the site made friends with a local's dog. Yesterday, they had made friends with R. Wallens' kitten. They just have a gift with animals, I guess.

When the midday rain poured down, however, the Airport group met up with the Defiance group roofing. One individual was originally frightened of the height, but courageously faced her fear and climbed up. After today, she's going to have many many photos to show friends and family. Tomorrow is their day off, and they sure have earned it. The new house in Defiance is almost ready for shingling and much earth has been raked in efforts to make lawns.

On a more personal note, yesterday was awful. I started off the morning by backing the jeep into a tree. The only noticeable damage was a dent in the trunk, but it still sucks. And of course, most of the carpenters were there to see it take place. I will never live this down. Then Jane Rose and I had used an industrial-strength pipe cleaner in the Mission Cottage--the kind where you need to wear gloves and face masks and all that) and ended up spending half the day surrounded by the aroma of rotten eggs. It made me feel so sick. So, that's why this blog is a day late. Sorry! St. Philip has been a fun group to work with, so everything's all better. That's it for now! Take it easy, y'all!

[No, this is not an offer for a free lunch---gotchya!]

The portion of the First Presbyterian Church from Kissimmee, FL at the Airport has gotten all the exterior walls and most (if not all) the interior walls of the new home. Our carpenters were extremely impressed with how well the girls worked, even in the extreme heat. Our carpenter, Steve, was so proud of his group that he even took them to a free lunch that was being held at the Home Lumber Company in Hazard. The other half in Leatherwood had begun to shingle the roof of S. Caudill (and maybe even safely fell through it once or twice), but the heat was excruciating in the afternoon, and they had to call it quits early. Sai la vie. They were all great sports, and, apparently, had a fantastic time. They're already scheduling another week for next Summer. See you in June, guys! Have a safe trip back to Florida! Enjoy Disney World for me!

Pullen Memorial Baptist Church has been working on G. Hollon's home in Happy, KY. They built her a brand new ramp, dug a small irrigation ditch, and replaced a window with a new door! They also gave the homeowner some much needed company. We're finding that listening to some of our older homeowners is, in itself, a service. They too had to take many breaks due to the heat, but that didn't stop them from working their butts off. When I asked their carpenter, Anthony, how had he liked his volunteer group this week, he said, "Boy, they were great workers. I hope they come back." ...Or something to that extent. Anyway, we hope to see them again next year for their fourth trip to Hazard!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Pullen Memorial Baptist Church from Raleigh, NC is back for their THIRD Summer with us! We're all excited to have them back. They have such a great work ethic and a great sense of humor. Their two work groups are being divided between a site at R. Wallens, which requires clearing irrigation ditches and creating new banisters for the outdoor ramp. The other half is at the Napier home in Happy, KY. They're painting the exterior for next few days.

First Presbyterian Church from Kissimmee, FLORIDA is also here here with 4 adults, 6 teenage girls and one teenage guy. I don't know whether to congratulate the guy or worry for him. They're divided between a shingling site at Defiance and another roof job in Leatherwood. On a humid day like today, that working on the roof is quite the chore. At first, the group leaders were concerned that the girls wouldn't want to get on any roofs, but they don't seem to have any problem with it. Way to impress the adults, ladies! You show 'em!

(yes, that's a reference to the show "The OC." Love it or hate it, the lyrics are pretty relevant, I think.)

On Tuesday, Stone Church and First Christian of Bowling Green DOC switched worksites. The group of kids that worked on J. Miniard's home moved over to Defiance and our Californians moved in. Miniard loved having the ladies to talk to and they sure loved hearing her incredible life stories. The work group that was at the insulating a house at the Airport on Tuesday, began another project at the Perry Park. The kids at Defiance are helping our carpenters with roofing, and all is well with the world. Today was hotter and more humid than the past few days, so it was impressive to see young kids (most of them middle schoolers) climbing up and down the roof like it was nothing.

Both groups took Wednesday off to do their own thing. First Christian went white water rafting in Corbin and the Stone Church went to Cumberland Falls. I'm envious of both. However, almost everyone at Corbin got some pretty bad sunburns... Let this be a lesson to everyone, WEAR SUNSCREEN. Seriously.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it out J. Miniard's home today to check up on Stone Church. The car that I have been driving started having problems and I had to come back. I just have the best luck with our vehicles, I'll tell you what. Last summer I dinged up the new truck (my fault), busted our old van in a irrigation ditch (NOT my fault), and now this (hopefully, not my fault.) That being said, if you ever need someone to drive your new vehicle around, just give me a call. Just kidding.

Everyone seems to be having a great time. The Californians love the experiences they've had in Appalachia and the kids like to observe the scenery. Stone Church has been extremely interested in taking a tour of a coal mine, and it looks like they've planned one early tomorrow morning. That should be really fun! We're glad that they chose to fly all the way across the country to volunteer with us, and we hope to see them again in the future. The same goes for First Christian...just make sure to wear plenty of sunscreen, ok? ;-)

Oh, one more thing, I have been challenged to try and raise 500 fans on Facebook by the end of the Summer. That means I need YOU to help spread word of HDA and our wonderful cause. Pretty please? Housing Development Alliance is also now a recognized as a charity on the search engine, Goodsearch.com. Every time you make a search, a small amount of money goes to our charity. Try it out!

Answer: To aggravate me.

I swear, those ducks were just sitting in the road to annoy me.

Anyway, it's time for updates! As I said before First Christian Church of Bowling Green DOC and Stone Church of Willow Glen are here with us this week. Although all their worksites are located in Perry County, they're about as spread out as can be. One of the groups from First Christian followed their carpenters to a site 45 minutes away in a deep holler near Buckhorn Lake. Once there, they began to install insulation in a home, while the homeowner, J. Miniard, regaled the kids with funny stories. The other part of the Church was initially sent to Walkertown school to cut the overgrown plants around the playground, but the rain forced them to retreat to other sites. Half went to R. Wallen's to start filling gambion baskets with rocks, which will help prevent mudslides. The other portion met up with the crew from Stone Church at Defiance. Both the churches worked together to prepare the new house for roofing and did a great job. It appears that there might be some groups switching sites, so I'll make sure to keep you all informed.

Throughout the course of this week, South Elkhorn Christian Church managed to raise all the exterior and interior walls of the new house in Defiance. It looks awesome and everyone was so chipper the entire time. The excessive heat was a mere obstacle to them. Kind of. The group was so interested in the Hazard area. They went to all of our best restaurants, visited the Perry Park, and generally explored the communities. They even graciously took me out to dinner at one of our Mexican Restaurants! Boo-yah! Thanks for that, guys! It's been raining all day here, and mostly likely Lexington, so we hope that they have a safe drive home.

This next week, we have two groups coming in. First Christian Church from Bowling Green, KY will be arriving on Sunday. But our other group, Stone Church of Willow Glen, is flying in tonight from San Jose, California. CALIFORNIA! That's so sweet! It's neat that churches from across the company are aware of our organization in little ol' Hazard, Kentucky. The word is slowly spreading! Could it be because of our Facebook page? Hmm... Anyway, we'll be here to welcome them as well as First Christian. I'll keep you all updated on how the week goes. See ya later, alligators.

Hey everyone, sorry I've been slacking on blogging. I should probably get you caught up on our new group from South Elkhorn Christian Church, huh? They're from Lexington, KY and they were here last summer. They also fell in love with our carpenter, Steve and requested him again for this week's project up in Defiance. The group of seven are doing the project I love most: framing. They arrived yesterday and immediately got to work. They finished the floors and should start building the walls later today. Unfortunately, it has been extremely hot these past few days. Yesterday had a heat index past 100 degrees, and today also has a heat advisory. They outlasted the blazing sun and celebrated by going swimming once they got back. South Elkhorn seems excited for this week and that's exactly what we at HDA like to see.

I hope you all had a great weekend and saw plenty of fireworks! I sure did.