We have now hit that point in summer where we forget how much we complained about the cold a few months ago and we now wish it wasn’t so hot! In my defense, however, I normally don’t complain about cold but man do I hate this heat! Oh well, we’ll be cold again soon enough but for now, I’ll try to enjoy the sunshine even if it does make me sweat!
So now let’s talk about the month of June!
Monday, June 18th was a red letter day for me. I FINISHED SCRAPING THE CEILING!! I looked back and discovered that I had started scraping on February 13th and while there were other things I had to bounce back and forth on, the ceiling was my main focus. I feel like I have probably exercised my neck and shoulder muscles more than any other muscle in my body except perhaps maybe my jaw! 🙂 God has helped me get through this project and I am so very excited to be seeing the white paint going on now, it looks so much better!
We started out the month with the youth group from Grace Mennonite. More creativity appeared on our design wall and a bunch more demolition got done upstairs in the future emergency shelter. They accepted the challenge to get the old claw foot tub out of there and by the end of the evening, sure enough, they were victorious and had it sitting downstairs! We had a great time even if we did get pretty dirty. Thanks Matt for bringing your group out to support us!
On the 10th we had the privilege of being part of New Point Millersburg’s Mission Sunday. It was a pleasure to catch up with old friends as well as meeting some new ones. I always love getting a chance to share what God has been doing!
On the 20th, the youth group from Light in the Valley Chapel came out for the evening. Once again we saw our design wall getting some new spots filled. This group has a thing for painting and they tackled the rest of the primer on the ceiling with a good will. In short order, there was nothing left of the old dreary ceiling to be seen. It may only be the primer coat but it sure is beautiful to me! What a wonderful time of fun and fellowship we had with them! Thanks Brennan for your eagerness to get involved!
Now that the ceiling scraping is out of the way, I have been able to work on some other projects. The second bathroom now has a new floor in it and once the trim is done in both bathrooms, I’ll call the plumber to come and install the sinks and toilets. That will have two more areas completed!
The back storage room that has been feeling left out and neglected has now been the focus of much of my time. Due to the small size of the room (5’x7′) and the ridiculously high ceiling (13′ 6″) I had to get creative in finishing up the drywall. I was just barely able to set scaffolding up in the room with about 3″ to spare on all four sides. I hung the drywall on the top 5′ of the walls, finished it, textured and painted the ceiling, hung the light fixture, and painted the top of the walls. Then I tore down the scaffold and hung the drywall on the lower part. It looks pretty funny with the top all finished and the bottom barely started but it will look better soon. The awesome part is: I hung the very last piece of drywall in phase one yesterday! Another phase of construction complete!!!
I like that word, “complete”! I’m looking forward to saying it more and more!
We also got a start on the trim in the main area. The barn siding up over the front windows is now done! Thanks Dwayne for getting that up there, it’s beautiful!
It has been wonderful to have several teens starting to come on their own for our work days. It is such a blessing to see them investing in this ministry and getting excited to see it getting closer and closer to completion! I love being able to share all the blessings God pours out on us with them! Thanks to all of you who have been coming to help, you are not only moving the work forward but you are encouraging me as well!
Here is the link to check out all of our pictures:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/q0qbvlm3y2n1dxs/AAARl7WPbOV5KxbqJO_flUY9a?dl=0
Upcoming Events
The work days have been going pretty well but July is going to see a little bit of crazy scheduling for my family so I’ll give you the tentative schedule but it is never a bad idea to double check with me before coming out. Feel free to call or text me at 330-231-7147. I have a mass texting group that allows me to keep everyone much better informed week to week so if you would like to be added to that, just let me know.
Here is our tentative schedule:
Monday 7-2-18 Work evening 5:00pm – 8:00pm
Saturday 7-7-18 Work morning 9:00am – 12:00pm
Thursday 7-12-18 Work evening 5:00pm – 8:00pm
Thursday 7-26-18 Work evening 5:00pm – 8:00pm
Wow, now that I list it like that I’m kind of surprised by just how crazy our schedule is this month! I’ll still be around the Center quite a bit during the days so if you have some time and want to help, just let me know!
One thing to be thinking about is the Holmes County Fair. We are planning to park cars again on Saturday August 11th as a fundraiser. We had a great turn out last year and raised $750 for the Center. If you are interested in helping this year, let me know. We’ll be splitting the day into three shifts with the evening shift being the biggest. I believe we had 10-12 people each for the first two shifts and then around 16 for the evening.
Specific areas of need
Financial:
I laid out the financial needs last month due to our being denied for the grant we were hoping to get. As I said then, these seem like scary numbers but God is in control! Here they are again:
- Building purchase $180,000 plus closing costs
- Brick repair on the entire building $65,000
- The two remaining roofs $55,000
- Store front windows and doors $25,000
- Courtyard with new exterior landings, steps, and doors from the back of the buildings $40,000
- Replace all the rest of the exterior doors and windows $18,000
- New 600amp electric service and sub-panels throughout all three buildings $18,000
- Upgrade heating and cooling in phase one and subleased area $25,000
- Blueprints and permits for everything $10,000
Volunteers:
The trim carpentry is the biggest project left to do. If you have those skills and would be willing to help out, let me know! There are plenty of other areas that need work as well so don’t ever hesitate to come on out!
The other big push right now is getting our volunteer crew in place for when we open. We are really excited to start interviewing people and getting the crew ready! Here is the link to the application: H15VolunteerApplication
If you feel God leading you to get involved please fill it out and get it back to us!
