Tag: volunteering

Uskichitto Week One

Saturday February 22, 2025

When we last posted, we had just arrived at Uskichitto Retreat Center (pronounced “Whiskey Chitto”) in LeBlanc, LA.  The retreat center has five cabins to house campers for summer camp season.  The cabins are also used during the off season by businesses, clubs and church groups for weekend retreats, meetings and work sessions. We have full hookup camp sites and laundry facilities.  This a three week NOMADS project, but we will only be working the first two weeks.  Mariel and Shannon are our leaders.  It’s so good to work with them again.  We haven’t seen them since the annual meeting last year.  We have team members, Pam and Dennis who we worked with at Camp Sumatanga last year and Lou and Gabriela who we just met.  They are relatively new members from Iowa.

There is lots of work to be done at the camp, but our highest priority is replacing the flooring at the pavilion.  Monday morning it was all hands-on deck to empty out the pavilion of all the sound equipment, furniture, etc. and remove the toilets and sinks from the restrooms and store everything in a nearby building.  That done, we began using various tools to remove the old flooring. Most of the tile actually came up fairly easily.  It was all the glue that remained on the floor that was the problem.  The camp director rented us a machine that made the job easier but there was still lots of time spent on our knees scraping. It was decided that we would be using epoxy paint with color chips to replace the old tile.  After scraping all the old glue up there was dust and dirt everywhere.  Then, we began the process of cleaning the concrete mopping numerous times to get it clean.  With that huge job completed, Thursday afternoon we etched the concrete and then mopped the concrete until clean again.  The mop water had to be clear.  That’s where we left it for the weekend. 

How we had fun all week

When there was a little down time throughout the week, a few of us were able to complete some smaller projects, the repair of some leaky faucets, replacement of some steps, repair of a “soft” spot in a bathroom and window cleaning in the cafeteria.  We worked hard this week and we were rewarded with a fantastic Cajun meal Thursday night prepared by some of the ladies from Squryes UMC. The weekend will bring rest, laundry and perhaps some sight seeing.

Congaree National Park and On To Our Next Project

February 16, 2025

We returned to the US from Antarctica on Tuesday, January 29.  We made the drive back to South Carolina and pretty much just collapsed.  So very thankful for our sweet Debra who fed us the next few days while we recouped, washed clothes and reorganized everything in Fred.  After about 3 nights of sleep we felt like we were back among the living.  We still aren’t caught up on everything but we rarely are.  The great news is that Randy is feeling better and once we had rested, we were able to help him and Debra with cutting down some additional trees.

February 6 the four of us visited Congaree National Park.  It’s the only National Park in South Carolina and none of us had ever visited.  It’s located close to Columbia and is basically a day use park with no RV parking or camping.  Congaree has the largest intact expanse of old growth bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the southeastern US. There are some really huge trees in the park.  There are several nice hiking trails.  We chose the boardwalk trail and enjoyed our time in the park.  Interesting how we travel such distances and sometimes miss gems so close to home.  Congaree is a little known gem.  We would recommend a visit.

Over the next few days, we spent most of our time preparing Fred and ourselves for our next NOMADS project.  We departed SC on Valentine’s Day in route to LeBlanc, Louisianna.  We stopped in Atmore, AL to do some shopping at Warehouse Market and Bakery.  It’s one of our favorite Amish stores and we stocked up on some goodies. (Recommend a stop if you are driving by Exit 54 on I-65 in Alabama.)  We will enjoy them while we are working at Uskichitto Retreat Center helping them make some repairs to their facilities and prepare for camping season.

Balloons and Trees

Thursday, October 24, 2024

After leaving Selma, on our way to South Carolina we made a too brief stop to visit Anne’s brother south of Atlanta. We had a great time visiting some sights around Peachtree City, sharing meals and catching up.   

Since we arrived at Max’s brother’s house we have been enjoying our time here catching up and clearing trees downed by Hurricane Helene.

The four of us did take a weekend camping trip to North Carolina to see the Carolina BalloonFest in Statesville. We camped at Blake Farms RV Resort which is a small family-owned campground.  There are large full hookup gravel sites, a short hiking trail, and all the miniature golf you want to play – at no charge.  There is also a general store.  We recommend it to anyone needing a campground in the Statesville area.

Saturday was our day to spend at the BalloonFest.  We were up early to be able to see the first balloons go up at about 7:30. There were about 25 balloons in the morning flight and there was a competition to see which pilot could drop their streamers closest to the center mark.  Later in the day there was a mass ascension of balloons and later still there was an evening glow.  It was a day of great fun.  We particularly enjoyed the special shape balloons.

We are back in Johnston currently, still working on trees and enjoying time with family.

Week Two of Disaster Rebuild in Selma, Alabama

Monday, October 14, 2024

Last weekend was shortened due to working on Friday with the Fannie Mae employees. Saturday became our usual Friday meaning there was laundry to do and groceries to purchase and the team went to Hancock’s Barbecue for an early supper.  Excellent barbecue!  It was worth the schedule change to be able to work with the FM people.  On Sunday, we welcomed one additional team member, Dave, for a total of nine Nomads.  We began the work week much like we ended last week, working with the Fannie Mae employees.  The FM folks from last week left on Saturday and a new group of about 25 arrived on Sunday. They were just as enthusiastic and fun to work with as our first group last week. At the request of our construction coordinator we again divided the team to four houses and accomplished much more work than if we had only worked in our traditional role. On Tuesday evening the NOMADS were invited to the closing dinner of the Fannie Mae SERVE360 project.  The FM leaders were very appreciative and complimentary of NOMADS assistance and are interested in possibly pursuing additional joint projects in the future.  The NOMADS members were also very complimentary of the working partnership, and we were sorry to see the FM members leave.  It was such an amazing way to meet new people of different cultures and be able to share our life and faith stories.

On Wednesday morning the team resumed normal operations with members working in two houses.  We continued to work at Marie’s home and were pleased to present our first Selma Bible to her on Wednesday afternoon.  Bible presentation is always a highlight of the week. There were just a few small items to be completed on Marie’s home – items that couldn’t be completed until the paint was dry.  Next week’s team plans to complete those items Monday morning.  Since we worked last week on Friday, Wednesday was our last workday and we turned leadership over to Carolyn and Gene and departed Selma on Thursday morning. Please continue to remember the Selma team in your prayers as there is still much work to be done.

We will be back in South Carolina for a few weeks and hope to have some fun adventures to share.  Until then, stay safe and always remember to try to make someone’s day a little brighter by showing Christ’s love.