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| Spring 2002 | a publication for alumni, family, and friends |
What happens when you put 21 Wesleyan students, a campus minister, warm weather, a couple of sweet ladies in need, paintbrushes and garbage bags together? Things get done. Relationships form. Memories are made. Lives change. Less than ideal weather conditions couldn't stop our group from loading into two 15-passenger vans for the long drive to Atlanta on March 2. Snow and icy roads caused an unplanned overnight stop in Kansas City, Mo., but on Sunday we reached our destination - Camp Wesley, a small niche in the woods just south of the city. Our energy was high, the temperature was low and the wind was biting as we cleaned up the yard, swept the roof and scraped the paint off a home owned by Ms. Bussie. It was one of the coldest days Georgia had all year.
Another project brought us to Ms. Johnson's fire ravaged home. The house had burned two months earlier and destroyed or damaged almost everything this tiny but feisty 80-year-old woman owned. On our second day at Ms. Johnson's home, an Atlanta housing inspector brought us unexpected and anxious moments when he told us the house had been condemned. The yellow warning sign had been removed without us knowing, and Ms. Johnson was breaking the law by being in the home. He gave us until 1 p.m. to salvage items from the front yard, clean it up and fence off the house. It was 12:30 before the truck finally arrived and we could begin work. Fencing had to be taken out before we could form an assembly line to pack the truck from floor to ceiling with what was left of Ms. Johnson's possessions. The timing was perfect. We tied the last piece of fence to form a blockage around the house just as the inspector pulled up. He agreed that all requirements had been met and no charges would be pressed against Ms. Johnson. We found out later that a judge had lifted an injunction and allowed her back into her house to retrieve her remaining possessions. On the last working day, we split into two groups to paint the interior of two homes. Ms. Hunter had been waiting for her house to be painted since Atlanta hosted the Olympics in 1996. Walls in the living room, bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom were soon splashed with cheery shades of green, lavender and yellow. Another group worked at Ms. Freeman's house. She is a former evangelist who entertained with stories and songs while workers cleaned out the kitchen and painted it. Our trip wasn't all work because we did have a chance to spend some time exploring Atlanta. We spent a night dancing at the clubs, shopped at The Underground, visited the Martin Luther King Jr. Center, toured Georgia's capitol building and tasted 46 flavors of Coke products at the World of Coca-Cola. We also walked through Olympic Park, and did anything else we could squeeze in before the 22-hour drive home. Our weeklong trip that was planned for helping those in need, turned into a week of eye-opening experiences, brand new relationships and lifelong memories. That's what you get when you combine a group of people with a little hard work, laughter and love.
Dakota Wesleyan University |
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Danita
Thomas
Leaf fights
and leg wrestling added a little excitement to our day as we painted the exterior of the
one-story house. It was two days before the sun gradually warmed the siding enough for the
yellow and brown paint to stick. 