I've had a fortunate life, I'll be the first to admit. Sure I've had my struggles, things have been hard but at the same time, things have always just seemed to fall into place. Along the way I've met some people who have done things for me that have just been, you know, awesome.
I have a class right now that requires some community service. So I've always been quietly impressed with Habitat for Humanity, and decided you know what? Why not. What have I found? An amazing group of people. Seriously. SERIOUSLY.
Today I took a vacation day to see how it was during the week. Today's task was pouring a basement, putting that big ole beam in, and some other tasks getting the foundation ready for the floor to be put in, and framing to start this weekend. There's this core group of guys who are retired, and have been doing this forever. One is 80, and he's been doing it for around 20 years - 3 days a week of hard work. Another, a guy from Iraq who's hoping for his own Habitat home, was one of the hardest workers I've ever met (I thought he was going to try to move that beam on his own - seriously). None of em, not a one, are getting a paycheck - they're all there out of the goodness of their hearts. Which is a whole lot of goodness, folks.
We were done by 1:30-ish, and I felt tired but good afterward, and am planning to go back to the same house on Saturday. After that, I'm planning on once a month (at least) volunteering. It's pretty easy to do, you just show up to the jobsite and start working. Good old fashioned hard work, nice people, and enough good karma to fill up memorial stadium.
By sheer accident, really, I came upon Mission Bean Coffee recently. This company is owned and operated by the People's City Mission of Lincoln, which itself is a simply fantastic organization focused on helping those most in need with everything they can. I first met Pastor Tom several weeks ago, then met with a guy named Sasha who's running the Mission Bean part of the mission. Both are just amazing people with the best outlook on life you could imagine.
Mission Bean's brews are right on great, I like good coffee and it's up there on the top of my list. I dig the Dark Roast and my wife digs the Hazlenut Cream. Best part? The profits and revenue go directly to the mission - each bag sold provides two meals (you out-of-Lincolnites can order them online). And these are Charles Dickens'-esque soup lines at the mission, they hire professional chefs to make high-quality meals. Pastor Tom said they aim for "Village Inn quality or better" because, in his words (summarized a bit) people come in there with nothing - no home, no food, and many times little dignity left - why not do everything you can to give them a great meal right off the bat to start some good feelings? Awesome. Just.. awesome. Walking through the mission they had commons areas with nice looking couches, big ole LCD TV's, computers and - really - all the amenities you'd find in a nice hotel. Amazing.
Both of these organizations have left their mark on me. Often we race to see how much we can make off everything, forgetting that sometimes making nothing can feel better than a million bucks.
4 comments:
Good for you, my friend. You have joined the great see of humanity working to make things better for others. We often get obsessed with trying to make more and buy more, but looking around and helping others is a real joy that provides us with something money can't buy. It is people like you who make great communities.
I've done several days of volunteering at Habitat, and for me it was a total win-win..they got my labour, and I learned some new skills.
I would absolutely love to take a summer off to follow a build from start to finish.
Dave P.
Big Oak - So true, my man, so absolutely true. I couldn't stop being impressed when (albeit briefly, as we were busy and I was a "new guy) talking to the "regulars". Heck, one physician was there, I'm not sure if he took off work or not, but seemed like he's been there quite a bit. Bunch of awesome folks doing awesome things.
Dave P - I'm with you! I like doing my own home projects, with varying degrees of success (or lack thereof..) and just today doing these basics I've already picked up a couple cool "tricks". I wasn't a slouch before, I have some basic skills, but man I learned some good stuff.
I too would love to go start to finish. This home is actually right at the start, as they just finished pouring the basement when I was walking up, and it's really awesome to see that stuff. I can drywall, I can paint - but framing, and laying a floor? That's good stuff. I was just thinking next summer I'll have plenty of PTO, and since they only work Tues-Thurs... :)
Good for you for doing some volunteering. It's kind of addicting.
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