House Blessings

On Sunday we had house blessings for four houses on one of our blocks. We began working on these four homes in late fall and pushed hard to get them completed by Christmas. We called for final inspections on them right around Christmas time. We had a couple small things to fix after the inspections on two of them and we passed the final inspection on the first time on the other two homes! Two of the homeowners have moved in are getting settled back in their neighborhood. The other two ladies haven't moved in yet because of the last snow storm we had and now the ice storm. I think one of them is going to be moving in as soon as the weather cooperates long enough. It is really exciting to drive through the block and see lights on and personal touches to the houses. On Sunday, our flood recovery team, Gayle, and a few others gathered in each of the four homes to welcome the homeowners back and say a blessing for the home. Gayle is the Pastor at Lovely Lane UMC and she lead the house blessings for us. Each home owner was presented with a prayer shawl made by local church members. They were all very thankful and grateful for all of the volunteers that put so much work into their houses to make them homes.

Working with Winter Weather

I wrote this during the icy weather the other day and couldn't post it because the internet went down :( so here it is now!

As I watch the windows and vehicles collect ice on this yucky day I feel compelled to tell you what our work has been like this winter. As the weather started turning colder we all started bundling up and wearing lots of layers. Some days I feel like the kid from A Christmas Story with all of my layers and warm clothes. We tried to get as much outside work done as possible while it was still nice outside, so we don't have to be out longer than necessary now that it is cold. We do our best to keep all of our volunteers in homes that have the furnace turned on so we don't freeze our fingers and toes off. To help heat the houses before we get the furnace turned on we have some small propane tank toppers that put out a little heat. These heaters don't warm a house up very much, but it makes it bearable to work in the house and if you bring marshmallows you could roast them in front of the heater! We also have a great big gas powered heater that puts out a lot of heat. This heater really warms a place up and makes a fairly comfortable work space, it doesn't heat the house like furnace, but it does a good job of keeping our volunteers warm on the really cold days. The only time we have unheated houses is if we are still doing demo work, and you are typically working hard enough then to keep yourself pretty warm. After we get the houses demoed and cleaned up we have the furnace guys come install and turn on the heater so we can keep making progress on the houses and so we don't have drywall mud freeze and crack on us.

Oak 5 Joins The Team

Hello everybody, my name is Harry and my team and I recently joined Block by Block in their efforts to continue the flood recovery in Cedar Rapids. We are an Americorps NCCC team based out of Vinton and are very excited to be involved in the recovery. We started last Monday and have been extremely humbled by the opportunity to serve our country in such a manner.

Let’s start out with a little background of the team. This is the second of five projects that we will take part in this year. The first was at a YMCA camp in Agusta, Michigan working primarily with 5^th and 6^th graders as cabin councilors. Before that we participated in a month long training schedule with the rest of the teams from Vinton. All of us come from different backgrounds and all but two of us come from different states. It’s been quite an adventure so far, learning how to live in such close proximity with ten other people who start out as strangers but are already very close as friends.

Our first week with Block by Block was also quite an adventure. The first half hour or so of most days was taken up with specific trainings that have to do with what we’ll be doing for the rest of the seven weeks we will be here. The rest of the morning and all of the after noon was spent doing hands on work. Most of our time has been spent gutting houses, although some of the time was spent painting and doing finishing work as well.

Three times a week we start our mornings at 6am with 45 minuets to an hour of P.T. (Physical Training). The other two days we don’t need to be in the van ready to leave until 7:30am. We live at the Iowa Brail and Sight Saving School in Vinton. The 40 minute van ride into Cedar Rapids each morning is just about the perfect amount of time to wake up.

Once again, we are very grateful to be able to join in the flood recovery. Thank you so much for everyone’s time and hospitality. If you see some one wearing a grey shirt with a big A on it feel free to stop and say a few words, we love to talk with community members and hear their stories.

Closing thought for the day-“The time is always right to do what is right.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Yours in service,

Harry