One word to describe WorkFest Week 1: Amazing. This past week was a roller coaster of emotions for me. Sunday night all the schools arrived and we got to meet the girls that would be working with us and at that point I was still excited and pumped for Monday morning. Then Monday rolled around and we got out to the worksite and I quickly came to the realization that I was one of the three people in charge and my group was looking to me for instructions. Now I've been in the Housing program since August but I still have a lot to learn and I felt like I was just being thrown out into the water and this was my time to sink or swim. Needless to say by the end of day 1 I was exhausted both physically and mentally and I was thinking how could Tony (our crew leader) and Bryan (our Housing manager) think that we were ready to lead a crew of 7 college students? I know I certainly didn't have any faith in myself on that first day, but by the end of day 2 I realized that I needed to stop worrying so much and just trust that God would give me the tools to accomplish his work. I then quickly learned that I knew a lot more than I thought and the rest of the week went pretty smoothly once I learned I could swim.

Our group this week  included 7 girls from all different schools and most of them had never even picked up a hammer before, but by the end of the week they were hammering nails like it was their job. They were also very patient with Rachel, Nancy and I (their crew leaders) which was a blessing because there were times we had to stop and call Tony or just think about the situation before we moved on. But by the end of this week our crew had put in four windows pulled off old siding on four walls of the trailer and put up new sheeting. They also put up new vinyl siding on two sides of the trailer as well. So for having a slow start on Monday morning we finished up the week very strong.

The trailer that we are working on is for Jane and she lives by herself and has lived in this trailer for many years, but she was so delighted to have all of us there this week. She loved interacting with all the girls and telling them stories and she was just so happy to have some company during the day. She couldn't get outside to see the work we had done but we showed her pictures and she was so excited to see the progress.  On Thursday it started raining during our lunch so we all packed in her living room and sat on the floor next to her chair while we ate lunch and she was as happy as could be, because she said it felt like she was having a picnic and she hadn't done that in years. It's little comments like this that let you know even the smallest things can brighten up someone's day.

So this afternoon a whole new group of college students will be coming in and we will do it all over again!

Kate Stefanowicz is a long-term volunteer in CAP's Housing program. She lives in Floyd Volunteer House