Housing Development Alliance

Well, it's my last day working for the Housing Development Alliance. At least, for this year. I've really enjoyed this Summer. I met alot of new people and got to know others more. The staff here has become like a sort of family for me, and I really appreciate them taking me under their wing for the Summer. The carpenters have cracked me up, like usual. I'll be able to bring back some pretty funny stories back to school with me. And I'll also be bringing back a renewed sense of confidence that my co-workers have instilled in me.

I want to thank all of our volunteers for helping us and all of you who have become fans on our Facebook. I spent alot of time and effort on the whole viral marketing thing, so it's great to see my work growing and expanding. I'm not sure who is going to take my place on the internet, but I'm leaving it up to you to make sure that it continues. If you notice that the Facebook or blog is slacking, give us a call or shoot us a comment. I'll have my ears and eyes open.

As for the future? I'm not so sure. I'll be graduating college this year (knock on wood), and I'm pretty open to any opportunities that come my way. If I'm destined to come back to the Housing Development Alliance, so be it. I like it here and the staff is awesome. It's a fun place to work. So I guess we'll see.

Try not to miss me too much, ok?

-John Rasche.

Hey, y'all. I'm taking tomorrow off early, so I thought I'd better post a blog now. Temple University has been doing an AMAZING job this week. I've talked to all the volunteers and they have nothing but good things to say.

The Airport group that has been framing a house is shocked at their own progress. When they started, the site was nothing more but some exterior walls. Now, there are inner walls and a roof! They'll be shingling tomorrow. This morning, each volunteer took turns using the shingle-lift to raise the trusses and were each congratulated with a round of high-fives. The other airport group had the tedious task of raking rocks and painting blocks, but they got to enjoy the air conditioned house as well. At lunch, they even caught our Carpenter, Bobby, grooving to the "Fresh Prince" theme song.

The students at Typo have completed the deck, as well as the Lott's Creek crew. The new decks look great compared to the old ones that existed prior. The Lott's Creek kids were even treated to cornbread and ice cream by the generous homeowner. And last, but not least, the Defiance group has finished insulating both homes and painting the blocks. All our carpenters are impressed with not only the efficiency of the groups, but their unceasing enthusiasm to help the community as well.

Temple has been gracious enough to invite me to some of their dinners, giving me an opportunity to communicate with them even more. They're touched by the welcomes they have received while being here. First Presbyterian members have made multiple desserts for the volunteers, and a charitable businessman even paid for half of their dinners when they went to France's Diner. Scott McReynolds, our Executive Director, stopped by last night and talked with the group for a while. Scott's moving words about our cause inspired the workers even more, and really solidified their motivation for volunteering. This morning, I kept hearing how "cool" Scott is, so it was a good thing he stopped by.

I think everyone, myself especially included, will be miss Temple when they leave. They better come back next Summer!

32 students from Temple University in Philadelphia are helping us finish up the Summer. That's right. This is the last volunteer group of the Summer and I'll be honest, I'm ready. As much as I loved our volunteer groups this year, I'm ready to go back to college. So can you really blame me?

Temple is divided between 5 groups all over Perry County, but luckily they are all within half an hour of each other. There's a group down Lott's Creek who are replacing an old deck with a new one. It was there that I first discovered "yard darts." Have you ever heard of this? It's pretty cool, actually. There's another group in Typo that is also replacing a deck, accompanied by three of the sweetest dogs I've met. Two groups at the Airport are separated between raking rocks to make way for a lawn and framing a new house. Finally, the group in Defiance has been quickly insulating two of our new homes. From what I've gathered, the carpenters at every worksite have been impressed with their new workers. The kids seem to enjoy it too--I've got some great photos of smiling faces.

And let me just say, I'm super excited to have a volunteer group that entirely consists of college students. Not to disservice our former volunteers (who have been great), but it's wonderful to be able to talk to people my own age. This was the perfect volunteer group for me to end the Summer with, and I hope they feel the same about the week ahead.

Sorry for the delay of blogs, everyone! It's been pretty busy these past few days. St. Bartholomew Parish from Cincinnati spent the past 2 days volunteering with us at the Airport and at a worksite way, way deep into Saul. The Airport group not only did the flooring for a new home, but also got all the exterior walls up. All in just two days nonetheless! The group in Saul made a new deck, and, I believe, did some work on the windows. But don't quote me on that. We've had the youth group from St. Bart's last summer, but these are all new adults. They heard good things about Housing Development Alliance and wanted to help out. We hope they had a good time these two days and want to see them again, maybe for a longer period of time.

We also had two volunteers from First Federal State and Loan return to R. Wallen's home to landscape. I even had the pleasure of helping plant the flowers and bushes. Which, I might add, is a task I haven't done in a very long time. This completes Wallen's new home and she simply adores it. Everyone who worked on that house did a great job.

And, finally, we had a big shock today when our Construction Coordinator, John Rudd, had to have an emergency appendectomy. The pain came very suddenly and we were very concerned when he had to be rushed to the hospital. Fortunately, the surgery was successful and John Rudd is alright. For the time being, though, please keep him and his family in your thoughts. We hope to see him alive and kicking soon. (He'll probably kill me for even mentioning him in our blog.)