Lining the street with their cars and along the lake, there were 54 volunteers on the hottest day of the year, cleaning, painting and planting. The owner, through the encouragement of Robert Waples (Neighbors Helping Neighbors), applied to Rebuilding Together of the Palm Beaches and SWA's Paint Your Heart Out and her house was accepted for this make-over. Members of her neighborhood, ROLOH, as well as other members of neighborhood associations across our City and beyond, worked in the sweltering heat on Saturday.
Robert Waples has already received a donation for a complete home office/den set (its beyond nice, he says) and he is still looking for donated furniture for the living/dinning room as nothing is salvageable. He says, "Fortunately her bedroom furniture is not in the same condition and we do not have to try and find new bedroom furniture (still trying to get a mattress for Collier)." So if any of you have anything to donate to this worthy cause as well as a mattress for the Collier Avenue project, please contact Robert (561-909-8708).
This street has special meaning for me. Virginia Drive was the very first street on which I ever lived in Lake Worth. My Mom, a single parent who was secretary to one of the big wig commanders at the Air Force Base, bought a little house there in the 50's, the summer before my 7th grade. I think it cost all of $10,000 or $15,000--can't remember which. We watched it being built and would stand in the frame saying, "This is my bedroom." We didn't even have a tree. There was no grass or landscaping included. There was no air conditioning and we had a septic tank. We put in a well within a very short time to water the grass that we planted in the front. She did not have enough money to sod the back. There weren't a lot of chemicals back then, I guess, because my brother and I had to do yard work all of the time--weeding that back yard was constant and the weeds seemed to always be ahead of us. Our back yard was used to bury two parakeets. We did plant some fruit trees there, as I recall. Everyone loved oranges and mangoes.
Yesterday, this fabulous group of people turned out to turn a house around and to help a neighbor. Those living near the property are excited and many were pitching in with masks, hauling out everything in the house. The inside walls will be treated and the interior disinfected and cleaned thoroughly before being painted. I asked Joanna Aiken with SWA the color of the house and she said, "Mist Green. It is one of the 10 colors to choose from," she said. It is really a great color.
During past political campaigns, I always was greeted by a huge dog who barked his lungs out, pouncing on the front jaloused windows. During the clean-up she was tethered in the back yard under a tree and was as friendly as can be, wagging her tail and taking it all in. I guess she knew that friends were there and her home was being repaired by an awesome group of caring people.
5 comments:
Just a small post-script to this--
Robert Waples does phenomenal work. Lake Worth is lucky to have someone of his caliber and with so much heart. We are a city filled with hope and promise and there is no way that it will fail when we have citizens such as these. I am proud to call many of these people "friends." It overwhelmed me yesterday to see so many working so diligently and with love on behalf of someone who really needed it. God bless them all.
Thanks to everyone who came out. And Thank you Lynn for posting this story.Was it hot? Yes!!But it was worth it to see so much accomplished!Everything was very well organized. Water was provided,and everyone was reminded to drink,drink,drink!I was so proud of all the young people that came out. They will always remember this,and carry these efforts on when they live in neigborhoods and have children of their own.Itr was great to see all of the people from the neighborhood associations. Too bad the news didn't report something great like this happening in our town. We are not Lake Worthless,we are LAKE WORTH-A-LOT!!
Thank You Lynn! It is with heart that we all come and give back to our community and to prove how much heart that is in Lake Worth and Palm Beach County we had people from as far away as Jupiter, Boca Raton and Royal Palm Beach attending...One volunteer who came and stayed with me to the very bitter end of just sweeping and mopping the floors was just layed off from work on Friday and still came and volunteered. Going back to an old saying...It does take a village and our village is one that really cares about the citizens of our city and county! To all the volunteers that came out and gave so much of themselves we thank you for being who you are and caring...
Who makes that paint? Can you buy it commercially?
Where was Habitat for Humanity on this project? Robert should have gone to any one of the RE stores and asked for a donation. They should give back to the community that supports them. Not only when the media is present and they get press.
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