Sorry this post is a little late. Friday was the last day we spent in OK. It was a busy one. We split into two groups to finish off the projects that we started the day before. We finished putting the windows in fairly quickly and then proceeded to make the house look super clean. While with the other group we finished putting down some flooring and patching holes in the original subfloor. Shout out to Rachel Legg who crawled right under the house to put in new wood. It was really muddy down there, but we didn’t hear a single complaint out of her. We were able to get all the flooring set up for the next group to come in and continue to work on the house. A perfect way to wrap up our projects.

After spending the day on the worksite we went to the Oklahoma City National Memorial. This memorial is to remember those whose lives were impacted by the tragic events on April 29^th 1995. The entire group was quiet as we walked around and paid our respects. The memorial was very well done and had a lot of symbolism that Jill Hardy was able to explain to us. It is a definitely a sad place, but if you find yourself in OKC you need to check it out.

Please join us on April 12^th at 10:00 am at the Storrs Congregation Church as UCC UConn leads the worship service. We will spend this time to reflect on our alternative spring break and thank everyone that could support us. Hope to see you there!

Rachel a new member had this to say about Thursday: This morning we woke up to some more lovely Oklahoma warm weather. After breakfast we headed to a new house to work with Habitat for Humanity. The house had endured extensive water damage through the roof which rotted out the flooring in the back of the house. Several of us spent the morning ripping up the damaged flooring and plywood. After lunch we began reinforcing the structural components and replacing the damaged ones. Others in the house worked on fixing a door frame and replacing the front door. The rest of the group in the house worked on reinforcing the structural components of the bathroom. In the evening we attended a cowboy-themed dinner celebration and met some of the people aided in the relief effort. The night concluded with some group bonding.

Kenny wrote the following about his day: Today we got a chance to work with Habitat for Humanity again. The first house we got to was too small for the amount of people we have in our group so to be most effective a small group of us were told to go to another work site that was about a 10 minute drive away. The small group included Richie, Jane, Emily, and I. Chris from Humanity was in charge of our group. My task at the second site was mostly window trimming and replacing some of the windows with newer ones. I teamed up with a woman by the name of Brendy who told me she came down from Edmond in order to do some community service. I worked with her mostly while at this site.

The owner of the home had both a dog and a cat roaming around. The dog was friendly and didn’t really get in the way. The cat on the other hand constantly got in the way when we were trimming the bathroom window. It would not stop jumping and hanging on from the window sill that I was attempting to work on. It was a cute cat but it definitely reminded me of why I’m a dog person. I introduced myself to Carmine, the homeowner, and spoke to her for a little while. She took some time to show me some photos she had in her camera of some of the damage that had been done to her home. I was glad to look around the house today and see how far along it had come.

Our work was unfortunately cut short due to the poor rainy weather so we were not able to get as much done as we could’ve, but I still felt like it was a very productive day. I constantly had something to do so the time flew by fairly quick. This whole week has actually gone by very quickly and I can’t believe that it’s already Thursday. Even if the weather today was not as nice as it has been while here, I am still trying my best to enjoy it because before we know it our group will again be dealing with the very cold weather of Connecticut.

One of our members Peter had this to say: We woke up this morning to a cold, drizzly Oklahoma sky. After filling our bellies with eggs, sausage, pancakes, as well as all the fruit we could want ever want, the team headed out to yet another worksite. Todays mission: to caulk and paint the trim of a freshly finished home and clean up all of the surfaces in order to keep the building process moving along. Challenge accepted! Off we went to find paint scrapers, caulk guns, and vacuum cleaners with our characteristic fervor and determination. Around 10 o’clock, five of us were sent by Johnny, our project manager, to another house one block away. This house was still in the beam and stud phase of building and was a mess! So, out came the brooms and garbage bags. Once the house was deemed tidy, some of us were put to work caulking beam connections while others were put to the task of using a nail gun to secure diamond plates to the crossbeams of the home. By 3 o’clock we confirmed that our work ethic knows no bounds. We had successfully completed all the work that our project manager could find for us at both houses, while still managing to find time to sing and dance to the ever-impressive playlist of Logan, another worksite manager. After a good game of soccer back at our host church, we again satiated our hunger and reflected on all we had done today. Sadly, tonight was our last night with Steve; a saint of a man with a sense of humor to rival God’s with whom we have worked with in the past and love oh so dearly. After Steve set off towards home and his future mission work in Mississippi, a few of us drowned our sorrows in milkshakes from Braum’s, a local food joint, ending our most relaxing day so far on a good note.

Jillian a new member had this to say: The forecast for was for a wet rainy day.  We were set up inside a newly built house to clean and caulk.  I had a terrible time caulking.  Yes, it was very fun and entertaining; but I was terrible at!  It was a very emotional experience for me.  One of the other volunteers was much more apt at caulking, so I moved onto painting the frames on the doors.  However, that was just as frustrating because I was too short to reach all the way to the top of the frame.  In the end, with a lot of teamwork and with the help of some awesome music we got everything sealed up and painted.

Our group finished the roofing project from yesterday. Some people finished with the shingles while others cleaned up the shingles that were on the ground. It was incredible to see how fast we worked to clear the huge piles of shingles that surrounded the house. By the time we left, the yard was completely clean which felt really awesome.

One group of us went to a daycare build a play scape which had been started by a different group. There was a large pile of wood pieces and bags of screws and no instructions to put them together. Once we got into a rhythm, we worked hard to finish the play scape which looked amazing. As we were cleaning up the site, we picked up the tarp that the wood was on and the directions were underneath the tarp. However, on a high note, the little boy that was at the site was so happy that we built this play scape for him and his friends. The smile on his face made all of the hard work so worth it.

The other group went to a house to fix a shed. The siding was done incorrectly the first time, so we had to fix it. The property was very interesting because there was a lot animals there. The home owner showed us some baby goats. On the shed we put up upper paneling and closed gaps between the wall and the roof. It require a lot of cutting and a lot of participates learned to use a skill saw, which was really rewarding.

Monday was our first day of work and we had people on two different sites. Emily, one of our new members had this to say:

Today was a great start to the week! Half of our group went to reshingle a house. We began by scraping off the old shingles and continued from there. I’ve never worked on a roof before, and I was shocked by how much I enjoyed it. I started systematically scraping away and establishing a rhythm. We all slid into comfortable roofing roles: some working to pry up nails, others raking shingles and picking them up. Regardless of the job, everyone in the group began (and continued) work with a smile and a good attitude. I felt blessed to be a part of the work and the group.

Thea, a returning member wrote this:

After breakfast and devotion with a UCC group from Wisconsin, we were debriefed in the morning by Deborah, the tornado relief overseer / manager. Today we worked at this job site cleaning, mopping, scraping paint off tiles, doing window care, and cabinet care. The house was a 1 level home. It was such a privilege to enter into their future house today knowing that helping them in any way possible would be valued and appreciated. Kristin Sroka says, “Even though  our day was filled with cleaning, it made a difference when  we saw the little boy and he said that him and his family were going to live in this house.” She goes on, “We worked a lot, but balanced it with taking breaks, playing music, dancing, and more.”
We also got to play with the puppy black lab during our downtime. The family’s kid was adorable riding his electrical 4 wheeler around the front. We didn’t stay for long because we were planning to meet the other group for lunch at their job site. The turkey and ham sandwiches tasted delicious with all the fruit and gatorade, chips and animal crackers. It was so important to rehydrate and apply sunscreen for weather was in the 80s and the sun was beating down on us. No complaints though with the nasty New England blizzards and storms we had this season!! After lunch, we moved on to support the roof team until shortly after we had to go back to our job site to get the job finished. Aaron one of the Harvest Church relief guides helped us stay on task today. I hopetomorrow will be filled with much more peace, joy, and brotherhood and sisterhood. I want to see how God moves through our group, job sites, and host people. Amen.

Colossians 3:17

We are so excited that the group will be going to Moore, Oklahoma tomorrow! They will be doing disaster relief from tornado that hit in May 20, 2013. Please keep their safety in your prayers as they travel, work, and sweat for the Lord. We hope the group has a ton of fun and is able to help and connect with the families in Oklahoma. During the trip, the group will be posting about their experiences. So please follow so you can read about our trip.

Best,

UCC UConn Team 🙂

The Storrs Congregational Church sent the group off that is going to Moore, Oklahoma this past Sunday March 8th. It is a tradition of the group to be sent off by the church the Sunday before the trip. Keep this group in your prayers this week as they embark on their Alternative Spring Break.

Best,

UCC UConn Team 🙂