Wednesday 7/11/12




Today was day 3 at our worksite doing chore services. My team and I have been helping an elderly woman for the past 3 days paint her house, and painting the trim. We are painting her house lavender! It’s adorable, but the painting is a lot harder than you’d expect, especially in 100+ temperatures! It’s all worth it though. Tomorrow all we have to do is touch up our mistakes and then finish the trim. It’s hard work but it’s all worth it, especially when Amanda comes outside to check on us and see how we’re doing and her face just lights up, you can tell she really appreciates what my team and I are doing. Amanda is the cutest little thing, the first day we met her hair was all done up and her makeup was perfect just for us!



Yesterday we helped in a retirement home doing things for the elders in their apartments like cleaning the bathrooms, mopping the floor, vacuuming etc. My partner Madison and I helped this woman named Sarah out. We walked into her home and you just saw her big smile, and you could tell she was just a genuinely happy woman! She looked great, I couldn’t believe when she told us she was 82! We cleaned her bathroom, vacuumed and mopped her floors. She appreciated it so much, and she gave us wonderful advice and told us lots of stories so we got to know her on a more personal level. She told us about how she found beauty in everyone, and how she was born naturally a spiritual person. It was the little things we did for her but she appreciated everything we did. The last time she had help in her house was 3 weeks earlier!! It was such a good feeling knowing that we were helping a genuine woman who actually needed the help and truly appreciated it. Sarah gave me wonderful advice that I took to heart. It was overall a good experience and makes you feel awesome knowing you made a difference and did little things to make someone who’s going through a hard time get by in life.


Alex Knolles




Hey everyone,



Alright so its day three and we just finished destroying a refrigerator that was infested with pounds and pounds of rat poop. Day one and two were fun. We did a lot of repair work on the walls because we had found over 20 holes and we wanted to make the house look nice. We have a lot of work ahead of us and we hope we can finish it all in the remaining two days we have left. We have also been working on restoring a bathroom, painting the interior walls, patching the roof, and general cleaning. Dorothy, the woman who owns the house, has been very appreciative of our work so far. Yesterday, Tom Blackeagle, the site coordinator for the Yakama Nation reservation, stopped by to check up on our progress. He taught us about the Native American culture in the area, which is rich in tradition and storytelling. He is just an awesome, inspiring guy who has dedicated his whole life to serving people in his community. We are looking forward to two more great days at Dorothy’s house, and we’re praying that the thermometer drops below 100 for us! See you all back home!



-J.P. and Jessica