Meridian, MS - Habitat for Humanity (Post 3)

Over the past two days, we have completed a lot of projects for Habitat for Humanity. Yesterday we spent the day working to restore the outside of an older home. We repainted shutters, windows, and doors. In addition, a few of us filled in holes in the home around the windows and doors. One of our favorite parts of yesterday was meeting a new site coordinator, Larry, a local musical star. He spent the afternoon serenading us as we painted and shared stories about his youth. When we were done volunteering for the day, you could see a big difference in the appearance of the home. Once we were done volunteering, Mr. Stanley (a group of us volunteered at his home on Monday) stopped by to drop off fresh baked cookies. In the afternoon, we returned to Bonita Lakes to play soccer and hike. We spent the rest of the night enjoying tacos and playing Mafia (we got way too into it). 

Today, we re-visited Mr. Henderson’s house, which half our group had been to Monday. We replaced baseboards, painted walls and cabinets, hung curtains over closets and windows, and did a deep clean of the entire house. We were accompanied today by Chris, a local Habitat volunteer, that brought a unique atmosphere to the work site. Today Love’s Pantry brought us steak and potatoes for lunch, and we got a chicken buffet for dinner at one of the local church’s. One of the best parts of volunteering so far is all the appreciation and “Southern Hospitality” that we have received. Every one is polite, says Thank You for your volunteerism, and remembers to welcome Mizzou to the SEC. After dinner we went thrift shopping and then to Bingo Night at the local Knights of Columbus hall. We went to Bingo to support both the charities the Knights of Columbus provides for, and for our site coordinator Roland that is a prominent Knights of Columbus member in Meridian, as well as one of our favorite Habitat staffers. Although no one won anything at Bingo night, most of us had a lot more fun than we expected. Bingo is INTENSE! Bingo was a great way to end the night and we can’t wait to start service again tomorrow!