Greetings from Yuma! First, let me apologize for taking so long to blog our third installment of Wandering and Wondering! We have been busy, it's just my own procrastination in putting together a blog on what we have been doing since Episode 2. We have been active in our winter experience.
We have not been as active in "house builds" with other teams this season. Instead, we have been active in other projects.
The main project was the demolition of the CASA House Casita. A Casita is usually a small house or room attached or near a main house. In CASA's case the Casita was built right behind the mission house and was intended to be used for a couple or individuals who might be helping with the CASA mission over an extended time. We did have a young couple who was interested in joining the CASA mission team on a full-time basis. They lived in the Casita with their children for a short time before they accepted another mission agency's offer to partner with them. Since that time the Casita was used mainly for storage.
Recently we lost the availability to store our equipment trailer at the location it has been at for many years. As a result, we are now storing the equipment trailer beside the CASA mission house. Since the house doesn't always have someone staying there in between builds and during the summer the danger is greater that someone could try to access the tools and equipment in the trailer, in other words steal our tools and damage the trailer doing it! In order to protect our resources, CASA's board decided to demolish the Casita and build a garage to store the trailer in.
In early February Deb and I along with 4 other friends from the Sundance RV Resort deconstructed the Casita. Our goal was to salvage as much of the lumber, windows and doors, etc. to be used in building the garage. We were able to accomplish this task, saving most of the siding, the two by fours, rafters and other construction materials. Below are some of the pictures from that stage of our project.
Once the Casita was down, Memo arranged for and helped widen and lengthen the concrete pad for the new garage. Our crew of Deb, myself and our Canadian friends once again put on our toolbelts and picked up our tools to build the garage. We were working on the garage at the same time the Faith Baptist build was going on, so it was nice to have some help from the younger guys raising the rafters! In a short week we had the garage built. Deb and I then took our time over the next week or so to repaint the garage and put the trim on. The garage is completed! Pastor Miguel and a CASA house neighbor welded the security grates and doors for the garage. A large roll-up door was the final touch. We now have a safe place for our equipment trailer and shelves for storage.
Our second project was to frame and install a couple of walls in a San Luis Nursing Home. The needs of this Home are great. It houses a number of individuals who have either severe physical or emotional needs. Several of our young people associated with our student ministry made CASA's Director, Curt Van Ekeren aware of the needs of this home. While the owners of this facility own several very clean and well-kept facilities, this facility has many needs. One need we immediately noted was their dining area was under a large, covered patio. In order to keep the cold and wind off the residents a number of large tarps were hung from the roof's edge on two sides. The other two sides have a brick wall which blocks the weather.
The students asked, "What could CASA do to help these poor residents?" An earlier effort has been helping by re-engineering a large air handler to pull some of the "bad air" from the residents' rooms. The building at one time had an air conditioning system so all the duct work was in place. That unit long ago quit working and was disposed of. CASA was able to find a used air handler blower unit. We had the motor reversed so instead of blowing air into the rooms, it will pull the "bad" air out of the rooms and create some cross ventilation. It works pretty well!
It was also decided that we (CASA) would build two walls to enclose the dining area. Four large windows had been donated to CASA so we could not only keep the cold and heat out of the room, but we could also bring some natural light into the room. A week ago, Deb and I, Curt and Kelly Van Ekeren and Leonard Johnson (our good Canadian friend) drove down to build the walls. The work went well, and what a difference the windows made, making the room bright and pleasing to be in. Kelly spent most of her time cleaning and dragging multiple bags of clothes out of the storage room to be sorted and given to another charity if possible.
Here are some photos of that project.
Blessings. Please let us know if you enjoy reading this blog.
