What a Little Paint Can Do

     When you volunteer at BMH you most likely don't see a project from the beginning to the end. Every week the volunteers jump in to serve at a job site where ever the last team left off. You may be the first team on the site or you may be the team to celebrate the last of the work on the residence home. Most teams end up somewhere in the middle of the repair.
    There was a team in October working on a home where we had helped during our stay in December. Each home has a different level of up grading and repairs to be done. Some homes are in need of a new roof and some necessary small repairs while another home needs a total makeover and major construction.
     I had never seen a home from the beginning of the job until Miss Mae's home.

improvements begin with removing the old

     Miss Mae lives on Cupid's Cay just beyond the view of the beautiful white Wesley Methodist Church and the Haynes Library in Governor Harbor. Her front porch looks out over the empty lot at the shipping dock where cargo and goods come in to the settlement. The entire home is a bit smaller then a two car garage. It seems it's wall have survived many a storm in it's day.
     The crew arrives for work and it is the first day to begin the job. The floors are so worn and unstable you could fear you would fall in at any moment. The work will begin at the front of the house to the kitchen and the bedroom. All of Miss Mae's items have been relocated and the removal of the old wood begins. From the floor boards to the weak joists, everything is tossed out to a pile outside in front of the home. In no time 2x4's and plywood make a new and stable floor on day one. It's really stunning to see the change already. At the end of the work day the bed is restored to the bedroom for Miss Mae but the kitchen is now just an empty dark space.

     Day two the team returns. Time to scrap and paint for some workers (me included) and others will be building new wooden shutters for the two open holes in the kitchen. I can't call them windows there is no screen or glass, just a framed opening. 

     Scraping paint in a well worn kitchen wall doesn't always go well. The walls are made of a mix of materials, some wood and some plaster. The wood is pocked with holes from nails and some historic termite damage. The goal is to make the home safe and livable. If a wall is not crumbling down it remains. 

     It doesn't take long for the small room to be prepped so it's on to the paint. Two five gallon buckets hold a pastel 'island pink'. One of the two buckets only holds a few inches in the bottom and it is not the exact match to the new 5 gallons. One bucket of paint on the island is over $200. (compare to home $40) We are directed to mix the two so the room will not have a line of start and stop for the two shades. We do the best we can with the one roller and three paint brushes. We fill the pock holes with caulk so the paint covers more smoothly. By the end of the day the two rooms are remarkably different and the light streaming through the windows is now shining off the bright pink walls. The whole space appears bigger than before. And this was just day two.

     At the same time shutters and new front door have been completed and now the kitchen cabinets are being made. All of these things are measured and built right on site. There is no door to order from the hardware store. You won't find a cabinet built at a shop and ready to install. It's all created right there with the instruction of the site leaders.
   

Site Leader TJ working on the plumbing under the new cabinet.

By the end of the week Miss Mae's kitchen has come a long way

Miss Mae looks forward to the repair of the rest of her home.

     There is so much more to Miss Mae's story, this is just the story of her home. The spirit of the volunteers and the joy of restoration is transforming - for everyone. God is Good.