Community Service Day
D.W.Q.M.: "Well ... it is a fact, Jamie, that I do tend to get involved. " -the Second Doctor
I haven't been doing many community service projects lately-I did quite a few when I was in high school, especially when I was in Key Club. In college, I only did a couple of things here and there. So, when the President of CWRU (*heehee*) announced the first (and hopefully annual) community service day, I decided to jump at the chance and do something.
The 'day' (actually, it was only a half a day) started off on the 17th, with checking in with our project leaders, and receiving our blue tshirt and a box lunch. The President said a few words, and then we met up with our group to be transported to the site. I was assigned to paint the home of an elderly gentleman. There were 22 people in my group, and that wasn't including the contractors who were on the site with us. When we got on the bus, our group leaders decided it would be a good idea to introduce ourselves, and say what department we were from. Out of the 22 of us, only 2 were students, and when they introduced themselves, we shouted, 'yay for the students!!' ;) Then we asked the driver to introduce himself, and he shouted 'DENNIS!' and then said, 'i was going to say i'm thirsty and can you bring me a beer?' lol, we decided at that point not to mess with the driver. ;) but I think he enjoyed it. The buses were from the Hopkins Airport Limo service...I think, although I'm not sure they are officially a part of the airport..at any rate, they provided the transportation.
When we arrived at the house, we were told that we would be painting alumminum siding (yup, even the siding needs to be repainted eventually!) , so we were going to use latex paint. Unfortunately the brushes were not the best to use, so we had to be sure to put a lot of paint on them. We were painting the house white, with a goldenrod trim. Most of us were given sections of the house to start on, with a few people on ladders (although we were not allowed to use the really tall ladders-only the contractors could do that.) I had to paint around cables-but I didn't break any! (i know this because they were phone cables, and I heard their phone ringing after I had finished. ;) ) One of our team leaders was given a disposable camera, so she was taking pictures throughout the afternoon. Also, we were given our own port-o-potty (yay, port-o-potties!*heehee*) and about halfway through the afternoon, some of the runners came by with water and snacks for us. They couldn't stay long, 'cause they had to get to the other sites. Next year they said that each site was going to have it's own cooler, so there wouldn't be the need for so many runners.
After a while, some of the volunteers started doing some yard work-pulling weeds, sweeping the driveway, raking the lawn. I even mowed the lawn!! When I was finished, Tom, who works in landscaping here at CWRU, said, 'Nice job! Hey, we have an opening in landscaping if your interested.' LOL. A photographer for the magazine (i'm assuming it's the CWRU magazine) came by and snapped a few candid pictures, and then a couple of group pictures with the owner of the house. We aslo had a chance to chat with him a little bit. It turns out he was a World War II Vet., who survived the invasion of Normandy. He has been living in this house since 1981. He really appreciated the work we were doing for him. And you should see the house!!! It's amazing what a new coat of paint can do for an alluminum sided-home!! :) Hopefully I will be able to get a hold of some of the pictures that were taken by my group leader-she asked me to email her in a few days-since she didn't know what was going to happen either. If I can get a few pics to share, I will!! :) I had a lot of fun, and the people in my group were awesome. I will admit, that this project (there were several to choose from) was my third choice, but I'm very glad that I got assigned to this one. I thought it was worth it-I definitely want to do this again next year!!!
I haven't been doing many community service projects lately-I did quite a few when I was in high school, especially when I was in Key Club. In college, I only did a couple of things here and there. So, when the President of CWRU (*heehee*) announced the first (and hopefully annual) community service day, I decided to jump at the chance and do something.
The 'day' (actually, it was only a half a day) started off on the 17th, with checking in with our project leaders, and receiving our blue tshirt and a box lunch. The President said a few words, and then we met up with our group to be transported to the site. I was assigned to paint the home of an elderly gentleman. There were 22 people in my group, and that wasn't including the contractors who were on the site with us. When we got on the bus, our group leaders decided it would be a good idea to introduce ourselves, and say what department we were from. Out of the 22 of us, only 2 were students, and when they introduced themselves, we shouted, 'yay for the students!!' ;) Then we asked the driver to introduce himself, and he shouted 'DENNIS!' and then said, 'i was going to say i'm thirsty and can you bring me a beer?' lol, we decided at that point not to mess with the driver. ;) but I think he enjoyed it. The buses were from the Hopkins Airport Limo service...I think, although I'm not sure they are officially a part of the airport..at any rate, they provided the transportation.
When we arrived at the house, we were told that we would be painting alumminum siding (yup, even the siding needs to be repainted eventually!) , so we were going to use latex paint. Unfortunately the brushes were not the best to use, so we had to be sure to put a lot of paint on them. We were painting the house white, with a goldenrod trim. Most of us were given sections of the house to start on, with a few people on ladders (although we were not allowed to use the really tall ladders-only the contractors could do that.) I had to paint around cables-but I didn't break any! (i know this because they were phone cables, and I heard their phone ringing after I had finished. ;) ) One of our team leaders was given a disposable camera, so she was taking pictures throughout the afternoon. Also, we were given our own port-o-potty (yay, port-o-potties!*heehee*) and about halfway through the afternoon, some of the runners came by with water and snacks for us. They couldn't stay long, 'cause they had to get to the other sites. Next year they said that each site was going to have it's own cooler, so there wouldn't be the need for so many runners.
After a while, some of the volunteers started doing some yard work-pulling weeds, sweeping the driveway, raking the lawn. I even mowed the lawn!! When I was finished, Tom, who works in landscaping here at CWRU, said, 'Nice job! Hey, we have an opening in landscaping if your interested.' LOL. A photographer for the magazine (i'm assuming it's the CWRU magazine) came by and snapped a few candid pictures, and then a couple of group pictures with the owner of the house. We aslo had a chance to chat with him a little bit. It turns out he was a World War II Vet., who survived the invasion of Normandy. He has been living in this house since 1981. He really appreciated the work we were doing for him. And you should see the house!!! It's amazing what a new coat of paint can do for an alluminum sided-home!! :) Hopefully I will be able to get a hold of some of the pictures that were taken by my group leader-she asked me to email her in a few days-since she didn't know what was going to happen either. If I can get a few pics to share, I will!! :) I had a lot of fun, and the people in my group were awesome. I will admit, that this project (there were several to choose from) was my third choice, but I'm very glad that I got assigned to this one. I thought it was worth it-I definitely want to do this again next year!!!
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