Painting, Building, Teaching, Driving and Painting

We awoke to a few showers in the morning, but for the most part it ended up being another beautiful sunny day in Aurora. Once again we were spread out throughout the town doing a variety of service activities. Volunteers went back to St. Rita's to work, but because of the moist weather they couldn't continue to glaze the windows, so instead they painted meticulously around the stained glass wall of windows on the outside of the chapel. They also painted a bit inside of the rectory. They highlight of the day though was not the work, but sitting and talking to a couple of the parishioners about their life stories.

Volunteers also went back to Hesed House, but this time there was painting to be done in two offices and assembling a crib for one of the families in the transitional housing unit. In the afternoon two of volunteers drove a HH client to a dental appointment a couple of towns over. The dental clinic provides dental services free of charge to many HH clients, a wonderful and much needed service.

The new activity for the day was sending a couple of volunteers to help with ESL classes that are being provided to refugees by World Relief. World Relief's goal is "to empower the local Church to serve the most vulnerable, and to see refugees, immigrants and members of their communities become fully-functioning, integrated participants in society." There were many nationalities represented in the two classes that the volunteers helped with, all eager to learn the language of their new home.

After a few obstacles, like not checking to see if there was propane for the grill ahead of time and having to go pick some up, we had a bit of a great meal: bratwurst, macaroni salad, green salad and potato chips. We really felt like we were eeking out the last bits of summer with this meal.

We had another wonderful reflection to wrap up the night. Tonight's reflection focused on the idea of seeing something or being made aware a something for the first time. We shared something from our day that we learned that really turned things up on end for us and opened our eyes in a new way.

Dan showing off taking a picture with a really old camera

Flooring, Glazing and Hot Water Heaters

We started off the week with beautiful weather and a busy, busy day. Unlike last year when we moved around pretty much as a group, this year we are spread around the area each day working with several different social services agencies. Today we started off working at St. Rita's parish, the home parish of our hosts. St. Rita's is a very diverse parish with people from all nationalities and languages being spoken. Masses are offered in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. The PVs will be helping around the parish for the week doing several projects. Today we started to tackle re-glazing the windows of the parish hall. The church was built in the 50's and true to that style there are a lot of windows framed in medal. To help weather-rise and be more efficient, we are scraping out the old glaze and putting in the new.

The other two groups worked with agencies we worked with last year, My Father's Hands and Hesed House. My Fathers Hands is a non-profit organization working in area.  They mentor at-risk workers by teaching them general construction skills using a hands on approach.  The projects they work on include safety repairs on the homes of local senior and disabled community members, as well as, collaborating with other non-profit organizations on larger construction projects. The volunteers working with My Father's Hands today helped to remove an old water heater and put in a new one at a residence.

The group that at Hesed House laid new flooring in one of the offices. Hesed House's mission is to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless and give people the chance to hope again. Hesed House is a national model for ending homelessness – one person, one family at a time. It is the culmination of nearly three decades of strategic evolution from a formerly acceptable model of "eats and sheets" to a Comprehensive Homeless Resource Center – a campus of centralized highly skilled professionals collaborating to provide the tools necessary to help individuals and families break free of the shackles binding them to homelessness.

After a hard days work we enjoyed our scrumptious and comforting Tuna Noodle Casserole dinner outside at the newly constructed picnic table. The atmosphere, the company, all was top notch!  We wrapped up the evening with reflection. The volunteer led reflection focused on our gifts. We were asked to identify a gift that we have that we can share. After reflection games were played and of course popcorn was popped : )

Below are a few pictures from the week. We will put a couple up each day, but at the end of the week will put a bunch up, so please check back for more.

The PVs Have Arrived in Aurora!

Many miles were traveled and now 11 PVs have gathered together to spend a week of service in Aurora, IL.  Everyone arrived just in time for dinner so we were able to enjoy a communal meal to kick off the week. After dinner we had an orientation to the PVs and the week ahead, and closed the evening with the traditional PV commissioning service. Informally the night closed with game playing and conversation, a perfect PV night.  The volunteers are all excited for whatever challenges and wonderful experiences that lie ahead.

Next Stop for the PVs ... Aurora, IL

Starting tomorrow, the PVs will be descending upon the Chicago area for a week of service, community and shared reflection. The Aurora location was added last year as part of our plan to expand our service sites throughout the US to make the PV Experience more accessible to all. We the warm welcome and hospitality of Bruce and Susan, we will be returning for our second year. During the week, we will be posting daily with pictures and a bit about what we did each day. We encourage you to be a part of the week with us by following along!

Some of the crew last year

Mustard Seed Grant - Volunteer Interviews

For the past several summers, the PV Volunteers have been one of the recipients of the Mustard Seed Grant from Sacred Heart parish in Southbury, CT.  The PVs have been able to receive this grant because of the efforts of two Sacred Heart parishioners who are also PVs, Bob and Bernie. The monies we have received from the Mustard Seed Grant of gone a long way in helping to sustain the work we do in West Virginia. We believe one of the reasons that we have received this grant for several years, is because of the wonderful follow up that Bob and Bernie provide to their parish. Each year they post on their parish website pictures with a narrative from their time in West Virginia, as well as interviews that they conduct with willing PVs talking about their experiences. This year we wanted to make sure we shared with all of you their wonderful work.

Thanks Bob and Bernie for all you do!!!


Narrative/Pictures:  http://www.sacredheartchurch.info/scrapbook.html

Volunteer Interviews:

The August PV E-Newsletter is Here!

The Future of the PV

We encourage our volunteers to write about their experiences as PVs. The following is a reflection written by a long time PV who, for the first time, brought his young grandsons along for the adventure. The PVs often have many generations represented in any given community, it makes the experience even more meaningful.

“The Future of the PV”   By: John Dean

“The harvest is abundant but the labors are few so ask the master of the harvest to send out labors for his harvest”.   Matthew 9 37-38

I have been a part of the PV family since 2001. In the past I have always gone to West Virginia by myself but this year I brought two of my grandsons with me.  Over the last couple of years my grandkids have shown more interest in what I do with the PV program but until this year I felt that they were too young to participate. Kyle and Garrett both turned 12 in July and I felt that it was time to show them how other people live that are not as fortunate as they are.  I also felt that getting them indoctrinated with only one week in WV would be a good start given that I wasn’t sure they could stand Grandpa for more than one week.

Our trip from Northern Virginia is about 6 hours and the first stop was the demonstration coal mine in Beckley. We took the tour through the mine and saw the houses the miners lived in and the exhibits in the museum. I felt this was a good way to start the trip as it gave them some idea as to the history of the area where we would be working.

Just before we left home we got an email from Jill telling us that we would be staying at the Way so after the mine tour we headed for Mullens. I had worked at the Way a couple of years ago but when we arrived I was surprised that it had actually been completed and was a functioning youth center, complete with a pool table, ping pong table and a full basketball court. I had been a bit anxious as to how the boys would do once they got back to home base at the end of the work day but as soon as I saw the Way facility I was sure the boys would be able to entertain themselves.

My other concern with the boys was how they would do at Reflection but that worry turned out to be groundless as both boys fully participated each evening. They interacted seamlessly with the other PV volunteers and spent time talking to the homeowners that we served during the week- I was really proud of them. We led a Reflection one evening and used the Martha and Mary bible story as the example of how important it is to spend time getting to know not only the volunteers but the people we meet in WV. Both boys did a great job at the job sites and had meaningful conversations with the people we served.

The boys got to work on a number of job sites including St. Vincent de Paul, a drywall site, a porch site and a stairs and flooring site. They learned how to snap drywall and how to operate a cordless drill. It was hot in WV so they learned the importance of taking water breaks and at the end of the day when they felt a chill coming on they learned to head to DQ for a blizzard!

During a Reflections one of the PVs made the very important point that it is vital that the younger generation participate in the program in order for it to continue.  We do have a significant number of young folks involved in the program and it is important that more be included. In retrospect I probably should have gotten my grandsons involved earlier and recognizing that I will invite more of them to come with me next year – I have 6  : ).

The PV Volunteer organization won’t survive unless we the volunteers continue to provide time, treasure and prayers. Also important is a growing volunteer base that can provide the energy to continue building, serving and believing.