The Art of Giving Back

Can you tell that I have a theme going here? Well I guess this happened my mistake.

I thought I'd share with you a wonderful venture that I have had this summer of 07. Our Ladies Ministries in our church decided they wanted to offer a mission type trip. But instead of going to exotic or far away places, they kept it closer to home. Our mission was called Divine Design and we were going to Pontiac, Michigan to help a wonderful place call Grace Centers of Hope (GCH).

Grace Centers of Hope is a rescue type mission program that offers rehab for those with addictions. Men and women alike must first go through their 1 year program, stay in their dorm like facilities before they can graduate on. GCH not only offers hope, they offer jobs in their thrift stores, offices and salvages business. Through the past years they began to acquire home on a street call Seneca. There are probably 20 homes of which GCH now owns all but 3. Once they graduate from this 1 year program, they have the opportunity to rent rooms in these homes and begin to get back on their feet. What I just love, is that they are not just rehab'd and then left to their own devices. They are helped out through every step of this process.

SOOOOOO.....that's where Divine Design came in. We had 20 women broken into 5 teams. Each team was given room(s) to basically start from ground zero and do a makeover on them. In May/June we began our planning, preparing and praying for our project.

My team of 3, Bobbie, Sara and myself was given 74 Seneca Street, a quite large home upstairs bedroom and paneled hallway. We knew going in that we had a queen bed and a few holes to repair in the walls, but basically nothing else. On July 30, we loaded up the church bus and headed off for the 1 hour drive to and from Canton to Pontiac.

Day 1. We needed to prep the bedroom and hallway walls. Cleaning and spackling were the majority of what we did that day. The windows also needed the framework cleaned off as well. Close to 100 staples were pulled and old hardware removed. It became evident that we would have to paint these too. Unfortunately we realized that the ceiling had been wallpapered, so we did not have time to do anything to it.

Day 2. The hallway was primed and then Bobbie used 2 small rollers and did a technique which gave a soft sponged like affect. We sanded and ended up doing 2 coats of primer in the morning and then gave it a coat of deep green as a base coat. Also, Bobbie ended up doing a spackling technique out in the hallway to cover the ceiling. It all turned out so well!

Day 3. While Bobbie and Sara put the Bellagio technique on the walls, I was busy prepping and painting the 2 window trims. This day we did any necessary fix ups from paint splatters and wood fixes, to vacuuming and starting to get everything ready for decorating.

Day 4. Now we were just down to the finishing touches. Our Ikea Ar moire was assembled, rods for curtains were put in place, curtains we ironed and hung, the bed was made, our chandelier was hung, furniture moved into place, mirror and headboard were splashed with paint and hung, a large rug was placed under a very marred up piece of rug(w/an iron impression em blazed in the middle) and the finishing touches; things for the walls, inside drawers and desk items were all set in place.

We were also privileged to have very generous donators so that we had extra money in which we used to place a rug in a very worn out bathroom floor with towels to match. We gave storage supplies and toiletries to the Mother, Donna and her 2 children Luke 11 and Judy 9. They were already living in this home as we worked. Donna loved what we had done so much, she kept telling us she just might move in that room. Our last day was finished up by having a Divine Design group walk through of each of the 5 rooms we had worked on. We did this before the Pastor and head of Grace Center’s of Hope and staff had their walk through.

This was truly a life changing event for me. Something I am so glad that I had the privilege to be a part of. I went in know that I have limited strength and came out know that GOD gives us just enough strength for each day. Each day I was exhausted, but a GOOD exhausted. Knowing that I had a little part of placing HOPE in the lives of others is what living is all about. Hope means changed Lives, Changed lives means they will be healthy and reach out to others too.