Members from Magnolia Presbyterian Church woke up bright and early to join Habitat for Humanity, Riverside at Mission Village Mobile Home Park in Riverside for a Saturday morning paint day. Magnolia Presbyterian is no stranger to our A Brush with Kindness Program. In fact, they have been a great partner for many years now! This past Saturday, Brian Nelson, a veteran volunteer led the group from Magnolia Presbyterian. They came with a group of about 14 people. Some came a bit late, but we won’t name any names!
On Saturday morning because of the strong winds, Dave, Habitat’s Project Coordinator, mentioned that if it picked up a bit more, we wouldn’t be able to paint! Our volunteers were more than motivated to beat the wind so they all got started right away. They were each assigned a side of the house to paint so everyone grabbed a paint roller and a pan and got straight to work.
The home we were painting belonged to Sara who is a senior woman with her own residential house cleaning and cooking business. Her small business is covering her bills until she can retire. She purchased the home about 3 years ago and is thrilled to have a home to herself. Unfortunately, she could not afford to have the home painted. The paint on the home was so thin on the exposed exterior walls that you could see the brush strokes and the previous color of the house. Fortunately, Habitat for Humanity, Riverside volunteers were here to help.
Sara’s home is cozy and our small group had no problem taking care of the project during our paint day. Many of the volunteers have also volunteered with us before, so this home was no challenge at all! We even had time to paint the 2 sheds, which we left our stragglers to paint, but even that was no match for them.
Sara was such a sweetheart. Before we arrived to her home, there was Gatorade and water on the front lawn for all the volunteers. She wanted to make sure the volunteers were hydrated while they were painting her house! Brian also brought donuts, so the whole group was energized the whole day. This definitely got our volunteers highly motivated to finish the home on time. And they did! After the paint day was over, we had Sara come take a photo with the group. She was so thankful for our help and kept saying her home was beautiful!
Thank you Magnolia Presbyterian for your continued support and partnership!
