Weekend engagement number 76...a church repair day.

We have been trying to help a small church rebuild after storm damage for about 6 months. Billy, Randy, and myself decided to help because the small congregation was older.

They wanted to begin services again on the last weekend of October. We couldn't possibly finish by then, so I asked my Church in Tulsa for help. They responded by rerouting the planned weekend repair day at my church, to this small Cleveland church.

When I got there with supplies we needed, I saw this:

They sent about 20 people to help, I was proud of them! This church is 70 miles away from here, but it was sure good to see them.
We were told to paint everything, but these couldn't be covered, so we left them intact:

The congregation was happy we left these alone, against instructions:

One of these kids is now a member, so it added a little continuity.

This was the room that lost it's ceiling when the tree fell through it:

Jack (below) and his wife (above) moved into this repaired area, and painted everything except the pictures above!

Where Jack is painting the ceiling was Gone when we started:

It really looked new when they finished!

Painting done in the young adults room:

Lots of furniture needs to be returned when the paint is dry.

The sanctuary received some water damage:

This floor was about 50% replaced due to swelling and soft spots.

We had chili and corn bread, but I was driving to get some more paint, so I didn't get pictures of that!

One of our volunteers from the homeless meals painted the sanctuary:

This guy works hard, and tries to not be noticed!

The ladies did mold remediation:

They also did painting preparations:

We used bleach and live steam on the mold.

The back of the sanctuary when we were done:

A rare picture of Randy...taking a break! He is rightfully happy with the results, he did all the sheetrock repairs. We hired the carpeting done, due to the tight schedule. They came in the next day to lay the carpet.

The front of the sanctuary with the baptistry:

There was a little time to visit as the jobs list just disappeared! We had people walking around, looking for something else to do, reluctant to leave. It was a special feeling of accomplishment for a job well done!

We had twice the number of volunteers as they have congregation, but it was nice to be able to get them going again. We had two locals come by to ask about them reopening, that stayed to help fix it up!

I guess in a way it was both a party, and an event....

They have had two services there already, so this church is functional again!