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We wanted to help Milne with as many needs as they had. Therefore, on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday we did manual labor. There were three main projects: painting, fixing a fence, and cleaning up a central courtyard.
Painting
The main Building of the home looks rather grand. However, the paint has chipped and is peeling on both the exterior and the interior. We sought to address both areas, and so we did some painting on the front of the building. We repainted the front door, and the wrought iron balcony above the front door. Here is picture of us putting a new coat of green on the exterior trim.
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Amanda and Kelly worked on the
balcony from the top while Michael braved a couple of ladders to get underneath.
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The second painting project was much more labor intensive. We had to paint two hallways and one of the offices on the second floor. This was a big project and it took all three days of service to complete it. Here are various photos of us painting the hall and, to some extent, each other...
This is the painting crew on
Tuesday, after painting the hallway and a couple of shirts.
To the right is Julie and Jess, putting the finishing touches on the trim in the "beige" hallway. |
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On the left, Michael shows off his
newly designed shirt. Among those in the photo below, Kristin (second from right)
finds a way to make sure her shirt doesn't get mixed up with others'. (From left)
Jess, Mark, Michael, Brian and Dan revel in their day of hard work, while Terry (far
right) looks ready for six more hours of work! |
The Fence
Maurice, one of the maintenance "workers" at the Home, requested that four MEN help to put up a gate for a fence enclosure the Home plans to use to store its vans. Recently, the vans were vandalized, and so they are parking it inside the gym, cutting down on recreation space. The City of New Orleans got a work order to install the fence several months before, but they had not done it, and so Kareem asked us to do it. It was a big challenge, and only after we got some consultation and help from Kristin and Terry (Take that, Maurice!), did we figure the whole thing out. We finished the project on Friday, with extra help from Amanda, Kelly and Heidi. This is Mark and Brian, proudly standing in front of the finished project.
The Courtyard
The main building has a central courtyard with a fountain. The courtyard was in need of weeding and general maintenance. This was a job tackled by Heidi, Terry and Kristin on Thursday, and several of us on Friday. We cleaned up the courtyard nicely, but we were frustrated by the fountain, which leaks, and is in need of major repair. Still, it looks very nice right now. Here are a couple of photos of us hard at work:
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Top left, is Bruno helping out the
women. He liked working outside, so he could smoke his cigar. Bottom, Terry mobilizes the troops to get the project done. |
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Click here to see us working with the students.