First Work Day

Team 1: We are assigned to build a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house upon a pre-existing cinderblock foundation.  We were all able to experience a variety of power tools and carpentry skills in creating the supports of the floor of the home.  By the end of the day, we had all the floor supports finished, and had about half of the plywood floor in place.  We used well over a thousand pounds of wood and about 45 pounds of nails to get this far.  We enjoyed a lovely devotion after our lunch break lead by Victoria, and loved getting the time to talk to and bond with the carpenters helping us on our project. 

-Victoria Kuhn, Jane Drumheller, Haley White, Fiona Asbury, Mark Dager, Nathan VanBrunt, Ed Tennant, Squire Galbreath, and Sarah Miller

Team 2: We were assigned to clear vegetation covering an entire wall of an apartment building and build a decorative wall with cinder blocks in place of the vegetation. The morning was very successful; we cleared all of the vegetation and roots and built the wall efficiently. Unfortunately, we were told that we had to move the cut-up brush back to where it was and take down the wall (it was put in the wrong place). Although we were frustrated, we knew that this project wasn’t about us, so we had to be flexible and obey our carpenter.

-Amanda Kuhn, McCartney VanBrunt, Grace Pereles, Meredith Srour, John Galbreath, Maddie McGill, Sean Miller, and Pam Drumheller

Team 3: Our assignment is to take out the existing porch on the house and replace it with a brand new wooden deck.  Before arriving, we had no idea that the porch we are taking out would be cement.  We started with taking out the wooden banister that surrounded the porch.  That was pretty easy, most of the boards were coming apart so that part was not hard to demolish.  The hard part came next.  We had to take 8- and 10-pound sledge hammers and start whacking the cement, and only little pieces would come off at a time.  We worked hard all day and made a dent in the porch, but we desperately need the reinforcement of jack hammers, that hopefully our carpenters will bring tomorrow.  Despite the frustration of slow progress, it was really satisfying after many hits with the sledge hammer, a piece of cement would finally come off. 

-Emily Petti, Lia Sohl, Carolyn McGill, Stefanie Baarman, Jack White, Lynda Tennant, Noah Pereles, and Kendra Grams