The Samaritan Women

January - February 2009 Newsletter

2009-02-13T18:26:00.006-05:00

Happenings
There's just an absurd amount of good stuff to report! Please forgive that this newsletter is lengthier than most.

The roof replacement project for the TSW Residence is now complete, thanks largely to the crews from Our House and Turner Roofing, and to the Maryland Historical Society for awarding us the grant to pay for it.

We had a couple set-backs with the cold weather and burst pipes. Those of you who craned your necks to paint the ceilings will just have to come back and do it again. sorry!!

The biggest news is the ground breaking of The Samaritan Women Community Garden. Our goal is to meet the challenge of urban "food deserts" by growing local produce and selling it at neighborhood farmer's markets as well as donating produce to food banks and shelters. Over the long haul, this industry will also provide produce for our culinary arts program, provide a community service outlet for our residents, and offer a source of sustainable income so that we can make the TSW Residence available to more women.

With a great amount of help from First Fruits Farms and Charm City Farms, and some heavy-duty machinery from GM Bushhog, we've been able to mow down and plow about 3 acres of land and prepare the ground for planting. In fact, Roy of Charm City Farms has agreed to serve as our farm manager for this growing season to help us get this going. February 28th is our target date for the first planting and we'll be aided by local youth groups and our regular volunteers. Come on out and join us!

We'll be meeting next month with the Maryland Master Gardeners and Parks and People about how they can get involved. And much to our delight, we're now discussing a partnership with RICA to have their kids work in the garden as part of their horticulture curriculum!

If you haven't been out in a while, you're going to be totally captivated. The back property now looks like a beautiful state park, just waiting for the opportunity to host family or church picnics, youth retreats, and those looking for a natural haven to contemplate and pray.

We also are in the process of scheduling a site visit with Councilwoman Helen Holton this month. She's been following our progress via the newsletters, but this will be her chance to see it all for herself!

An Appeal for your Help:
Despite otherwise good news, it's a really rough time for nonprofits right now, at least where grant funding resources are concerned. We're one of those organizations that (because we're new and still in development) don't make it to the top of funders' lists. But God has more ways to get His work done than we can ever imagine.

So we've posted on our website an updated list of the various supplies, products, materials and in-kind services that we could use. There's everything from paper towels to a truck on that list because we believe that everyone can give on some level. So we're asking each of you to consider our needs and ask: "who do I know who might have this..?" It happens often enough that someone knows someone who knows someone who just happens to have exactly what we can use.

Or, mobilize your church, company, nonprofit, or neighbors to collect these things or raise funds for an item. If you know of a skilled tradesperson willing to donate some time, we need that too.

Volunteering:
Assume that every Saturday is a date for working at TSW, but if you want to schedule your own group on a particular day, just email me (jallert@thesamaritanwomen.org).

You can also check the Google calendar on our website www.thesamaritanwomen.org/calendar.html . Starting in the late spring, we're going to need 30-50 volunteers per week, even during weekdays, to help with harvesting and replanting, so don't be shy about recruiting your friends to come "get dirty" with you.

Some of the groups already scheduled or expressing interest in volunteering are:

UMBC Alternative Spring Break, Catonsville, MD
Chapelgate Presbyterian, Marriottsville, MD
Grace Community Church, Fulton, MD
Church of the Nazarene, Bel Air, MD
New Hope Lutheran, Columbia, MD
First Lutheran, Ellicott City, MD
Southeast Community Church, Louisville, KY
The Vineyard Church, Millersville, MD
Emory United Methodist, Ellicott City, MD

and we know we'll be blessed by our faithful regulars: Mosaic, Mind the Gap, Bethel and St Mary's !!

Prayer Requests:

Prayers of huge thanks to Bethel for bringing over a vanload of prayer warriors to lift up this ministry.

Pray that we would hear positively from some of the grant funding organizations we've solicited.

Pray for the safety of all our volunteers as they work to bring about this big vision.

Pray that we'll forge the right partnerships for the distribution of food and that families in the area will be blessed and bodies will be strengthened by this resource

What an adventure! Thank you ALL for being a part of it.

November-December 2008 Newsletter

2008-12-19T09:26:00.006-05:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE
I’m sorry we weren’t able to pull off a Christmas party for the volunteers. Trying to have “holly jolly” in a house with no heat seemed like a lot to ask, so we’ll celebrate our work in the spring.
Here’s hoping that you have a glorious Christmas and happy New Year.

Happenings
MAJOR NEWS – two of our most faithful volunteers, Beth and Kevin, just got engaged! Whoo hoo!!

We’ve got several new partnerships forming. The Burtonsville Baptist Church has been up for a tour and would like to get more involved, specifically their men’s ministry to use the facility for retreats and as a service project. We’re also working on new relationships with Central Union Mission, Helping Up Mission, Open Doors, and the Gabriel Network.

The roof replacement started in November. The guys from Our House have been contracted to do the tear-off and Turner Roofing gave us a generous discount in their bid for the install. We had a couple scary days with the shingles off and the rain coming down, but the new roof is going on now and it’s going to look great!

We continue to write grants for getting funding support. It’s a very difficult climate for philanthropy right now, with a lot of funders saying that they have shut off all new funding, but we are staying the course and confident that we can ride out this economic uncertainty. If you have ideas or contacts in the fund-raising or corporate philanthropy arena, please let us know.

There’s (finally) some clarity about what we want to do with the 19 acres of undeveloped land. We’re pitching for funds to do a feasibility study in early 2009, but the vision is to create the Largest Community Garden in the State of Maryland. We’d have individual plots for family/group gardening, a community picnic area, a visitor’s center with gift shop and tool rental, and also major plots to generate produce for local farmer’s markets, food banks, shelters and soup kitchens. Can you see it? Some day our residents might be retailing TSW private label jams and picklets! Ha!

It’s a massive undertaking, but can you imagine the impact it could have? Not only providing high quality organics to the local community and fostering community revitalization in the neighborhood, but also providing a means of economic sustainability for TSW’s ministry work. We’re going to be forming an Advisory Board for this initiative, so if you know of folks with expertise in any of these areas, please pass along their names and contact info.

Donations
You’re going to love this one: I got an email from Mrs. Green’s North Harford High School drama class in Pylesville, MD. They wanted to do a charity project as part of their putting on a production of “Les Miserables” so they collected a couple boxes of items for the TSW residents and made that donation this month. How cool is that?

We also received a contact from a woman who was clearing out her mother’s condo in moving her to assisted living. She donated a full diningroom set (seats up to 12!), china cabinet, server, a full bedroom set, and other nice furnishings. The Our House guys moved it all in two hours (and I got to drive a big honkin’ u-Haul!!)

There are a lot of little things that we need, both now and when we open our doors. If your neighborhood, church, or workplace would be interested in collecting items we could use, please let Jeanne know and she’ll send you the list.

Volunteering
For the die-hards among you, we’re still going to have opportunities to volunteer of the winter months. It’s all dependent on weather, so please check with me if you’re unsure, but there are Open Work Days posted on the TSW calendar: http://www.thesamaritanwomen.org/calendar.html If you want to schedule a date to bring a group, just let me know. Keep in mind – there’s NO HEAT in the houses.

One project we would like to accomplish over the winter is to clear as much of the land as possible while the overgrowth is dead. So beyond legions people waving machetes and sickles, we’re going to need use of larger landscape machinery. If you know of any firms that might donate a day’s use (or more) of land-clearing equipment, please let us know! And if you know of any Scouting Troops that might be interested in this project, please send contact information to Jeanne (jallert@thesamaritanwomen.org ).

Prayer Requests
Please know that your prayers matter greatly. Here are a few prayer intentions we would welcome:

Most urgent right now is funding to support replacement/upgrade of the major systems (plumbing, heating, sprinkler, electrical). Those projects have to happen before we can go much farther with the cosmetic renovations.
It’s supposed to be a heavy winter in terms of snowfall. We have a lot of old trees and a new roof. Please pray for the protection of the property from the elements.
Pray for the expansion of our network, both in terms of good partnerships, advisors, and tireless volunteers.
Pray for the young women and families we intend to serve with this ministry. Pray that we stay the course, for them.

In Gratitude

Thanks to Emory United Methodist Church in Ellicott City for donating another storage cabinet and a big box of Bibles!
Thanks to the North Harford High School – Mrs. Green’s Drama Class!!
Thanks to the McKennas and Maryland Glass and Mirror for their generous end-of-year donation.
Thanks to Joe Hauser of Joseph Hauser Carpentry for his help with drywall repair.
Thanks to Steve and the Our House guys for all their hard work this month.
Thanks to Len Johnson for his steady commitment to wood stripping.
And thanks to ALL OF YOU for your labor, encouragement and support.

Creepy No More

2008-11-20T16:37:00.004-05:00

Here's a little boost of encouragement for those of you who braved the disgusting and creepy basement last fall. And for those of you who hauled gross old mattresses, appliances, and other toxins out of there. Just look at it now!! So thanks to all those who ripped out ductwork, swung sled hammers, scooped with shovels and hauled bucket after bucket of cinderblock outta there.

Pray for NO Rain

2008-11-15T16:32:00.005-05:00

We did get the grant from the Maryland Historic Trust to replace the roof and the guys from Our House are plugging away at the tear-off.

But the weather is not being as cooperative.

Pray there's not much damage to the exposed roof, but especially for the safety of our workers!!

The Blitz from Bel Air

2008-11-15T16:19:00.005-05:00

After spending all day last Saturday getting as filthy and exhausted as they could, the Diehards from Bel Air Church of the Nazarene just HAD to come back for more! We were spared the rain for a few hours, so they stripped more wood, cleared out the rest of the basement, hauled cinderblocks to the dump pile, ripped down the metal & plaster ceiling and left the basement broom clean! Just a few more work days and it's ready to be painted!! Whoo Hoo!

Now...when are you coming back??

THEY DID IT !

2008-11-08T21:29:00.003-05:00

They finally wore me out! ...

The "new zealots" from St Mary's were unloading their crew (and breakfast) by 9am. And they brought a whole new crop of recruits!! Our "fiercely loyals" from Mind the Gap were not far behind. Everyone started tackling their favorite projects. By mid morning the next wave arrived: our "new converts" - about 25 youth and adults from Bel Air Church of the Nazarene.

Then it really got crazy. Here's just a bit of what was accomplished today:

painted the foyer ceiling and walls

touched up trim in the Parlor

sanded and painted the back hallway

sanded and painted the ceiling, sanded and painted the walls and trim of our (newly-named) "St Mary's Chapel"

continued clearing the driveway

removed two huge thorn bushes and reclaimed the wisteria

torched a huge pile of landscape debris

continued the never-ending (but endlessly gratifying) task of wood stripping

FILLED the dumpster with shingles and demo debris

finished gutting the kitchen

sanded and primed two bedrooms

cleared the path to the outdoor chapel and installed a set of steps

and by relentless pursuit and some wild adventures on the Kuboda, we cleared the basement of several hundred pounds of crushed cinderblock and left almost the entire basement broom clean! As one volunteer said: "they got all the creepy out of that basement!"

The St Mary's crew never stopped working. They were on a mission! And our new chapel is going to be a great testimony to their commitment.

Beth and Kevin finally called it a day on the outdoor chapel, but it's a sure bet they won't be able to stay away from it.

By 7pm --once Terry got the BBQ to crank up some heat--the Bel Air group enjoyed some burgers and fellowship on the back patio. What a motley crew that was. if it weren't for white teeth, you couldn't have seen some of them. They were so filthy! Again, testimony to how hard they worked today. And can you believe it, they are already talking about when they can come back for more.

As for me, I'm exhausted after this 11-hour marathon of fellowship and service.

YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING. What a great day of each and every person leaving their own special mark on this place.

St Mary's "WARRIORS" !

2008-10-27T20:10:00.002-04:00

Who says Sundays are for relaxing when there's a chance to serve?

The youth from St. Mary's Egyptian Coptic Church in Savage, MD uprooted rocks, dismantled a furnance, hauled cinderblock, stripped wood and painted ceilings. If our success continues to be measured by how dirty we got, it was another GREAT day!

THANKS ST. MARY'S ! !

(and leave it to our Freecylers--Beth and Kevin--to score a computer for the office!)

What great photos

2008-10-20T19:14:00.002-04:00

Check out the amazing photos taken by volunteer Joann Kim of Bethel Church
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joannkim12/sets/72157608081331692/

The Spirit Moves Us!

2008-10-11T20:52:00.004-04:00

It was just an amazing day all the way around. We had teams from four congregations: First Lutheran in Ellicott City, St. Mary's Egyptian Coptic in Savage, Mosaic Christian in Hanover, and Bethel Korean in Ellicott City. But there were even more behind the scenes: Emory United Methodist donated tables and furniture. St Peter's Lutheran in Bel Air donated oak pews. And later in the day we had even more volunteers--from churches in Virginia and D.C.! We were blessed with fantastic weather and a seemingly tireless spirit.

THANK YOU ALL for such a productive day. Thanks to Bethel for buying all the pizzas and St Mary's for all the drinks and snacks, and Beth & Ruth for all the home-cooked goodies. And thanks most of all for each of you who put your hand into this work and gave selflessly.

August 2008 Happenings

2008-09-13T21:41:00.004-04:00

Mind the Gap held their Summer Picnic at Ventnor Lodge in August. That granite BBQ patio is sure coming in handy!

Mosaic Christian and Southeast Community churches continue to bring in waves of new volunteers. They are truly a force to be reckoned with when they set on a task!

And Mind the Gap is holding strong on its commitment to bring at least one new volunteer each time they come. Yep, people are won-over, one heart at a time.

Beth and Kevin have now taken up FreeCycling and Craigslisting as a favorite past-time. They've scored bags (and bags) of Christmas decorations, a BBQ, office supplies, and who knows what will be next!

We continue to forge promising new relationships with complimentary organizations. Let me take a sec and introduce you to some of these amazing ministries:

The House of Hope in Silver Spring, MD is part of the national House of Hope initiative. They seek to provide residency and counseling to teens in a similar way to The Samaritan Women--and what's really amazing is the Maryland founder was inspired to start her organization as a result of the same Women of Faith conference that fueled our initiative! Clearly there is movement afoot!

The Good Shepherd Center is just down the street from us in Catonsville. Their program provides a residency program for about 100 girls. Can you imagine? 100 girls! Put that one on your prayer list.

The Christian Professional Network encourages and educates Christians in a range of professional capacities. Who knows where this might lead; maybe we can get some pro bono support from these committed professionals!

Hope Ministry, out of Bethel Presbyterian in Ellicott City is awesome! For the past four years they have been loaded up a van 2 Sundays/month and go into Baltimore to make an intentional outreach of the Gospel (with food and gifts) to women who are enslaved to prostitution and drugs. They said the one thing they can't yet provide to the women is a safe place to live. Hmmmm.

We've also had conversations with CCBC's Project Second Start about how their vocational and life skills training programs might be of value to TSW residents.

Upcoming Events

All systems are “go” for replacing the roof on Ventnor. In the new few weeks we’ll have the guys of Our House doing the demo and then the chimneys will be rebuilt, and then we’ll get a handsome new roof! whoo hoo!

We have a big group of volunteers coming from Chadds Ford, PA on Oct 1st. They are the Medical Affairs Group of Endo Pharmaceuticals. How exciting to see the word of Samaritan Women getting out!

Salem Lutheran will be holding its church council retreat at TSW on Oct 4th. Our first public gig!
Ephesians Life Ministries will be doing its first public workshop at The Samaritan Women on Oct 18th. The topic is “Who Am I?” – discovering of your purpose in God’s plan.

Calendar of Events
Here are our upcoming Volunteer Work Days. We need to make a pull-court press to get Ventnor ready for the winter, so there are a lot of days available to work. Come when you can!
Sat. Sept 27 - open work day
Thur. Oct 9 – Kids off school – put ’em to work!
Sat. Oct. 11 – open work day
Fri. Oct 17 – open work day

In Gratitude
Thanks to Cheryl Crowther and all of Thomas Somerville for their INCREDIBLE donation of plumbing, kitchen and bath supplies. Who would have thought some toilets and sinks and faucets would bring such joy—but then, aren’t we ALL looking forward to having a REAL bathroom someday?

Thanks to Mike Cook for attending to the kuboda's flat tire and trapsing all over Howard County to get it repaired! yeah Mike!

And thanks to Lauren Spears - vet extraordinaire - for fixing another "flat" - the blow-out that Scott had in his paw. He wasn't so amuzed by the pet collar, but he's all clean, healed and handsome once again!

July 2008 Newsletter

2008-07-30T19:00:00.004-04:00

Here’s an update on what’s been going on since our May newsletter.
Happenings
SO MUCH work is getting done thanks to our amazing volunteers. Thanks for all your hard work to:

Mind the Gap (MD/VA/DC)

Mosaic Christian Church (Fulton, MD)

Four work teams from Southeast Christian Church (Louisville, KY)

50+ teens from UMBC’s Upward Bound program

34 teens/adults from a church in Okalona (Louisville area) Kentucky

individual volunteers (Mike, Becky, Al, Lil Erin, Big Erin, Jon-Jon, the list goes on…)

We got word from the Maryland Historic Trust! The Samaritan Women is able to get a grant for the replacement of our roof – a project that can be started as early as September. Could mean an exciting weekend of Volunteers scaling the roofline and ripping off shingles!!
We’re excited about the progress from the Home Builders Association of Maryland (HBAM) Remodeler’s Council. Members are responding to issues such as the sprinkler system, kitchen and bathroom design, and donation of much-needed plumbing fixtures!

wow! Bozzuto Homes (a member of the HBAM Remodeler’s Council) offered up several pieces of furniture from one of their new model homes. We’re going to look pretty spiffy now!

In addition to this blog, we also have a Facebook Group for The Samaritan Women. FB’ers – join us!

We’re moving forward with Ephesians Life Ministries to bring together our mutual assets and needs. This fall we’ll be making counseling space available to Ephesians to see clients and exploring ideas for joint programs to educate families, clergy, and youth leaders in issue of adolescent addiction and family counseling.

We presented to the Catonsville Rotary Club and are looking for a date to present to the local Boy Scouts of America. Wheels are starting to turn in how they can support our efforts.

Calendar of Events
Here are our upcoming Volunteer Work Days. You are always welcome to join us for all/any part of the day.
Aug 9 – open volunteer day
Aug 16 - Mind the Gap volunteers
Aug 30 – open volunteer day
Sept 13 – open volunteer day
Sept 27 - open volunteer day

Prayer Requests
We’re still hoping to hear from several of our grant requests from foundations. Please pray that we will receive news from them to guide us in future planning.

In Gratitude
Thanks to Tony and Shannon of Metropolitan Sprinkler Company for researching our fire safety needs and coordinating with the Baltimore City Fire Marshal.
Thanks to Michael Cook of Colleague Consulting for working so hard to keep the weeds and lawn under control!!
Thank you to board member Lynne King for offering her expertise to manage our bookkeeping and accounting.
Special thanks to Jim & Brian of Cornerstone Kitchen and Baths for their work on the kitchen and bathroom designs!
Thanks to Joe & Cindy Loverde of The Loverde Family Community Foundation for all their help in making local connections.
Thank you to Donald, Nancy and Steve of the Remodelers’ Council for keeping TSW top of mind!
And THANKS to the McKennas for stealing me away from the project long enough for a nice dinner --gosh, a meal where I'm not drinking out of someone else's water bottle and wiping off plaster dust! How wonderful is that?

Prepping the Kitchen

2008-07-24T13:42:00.011-04:00

We're SO excited about the potential with the kitchen! There's ample space to make this truly a "teaching kitchen" where the girls will be taught culinary arts, food handling, catering, etc. Because the kitchen is a later addition to the house, we have a lot more flexibility in the design. The Home Builders Association of Maryland (HBAM) has lined up a kitchen & bath designer to work with us and the volunteers have had a BLAST dismantling the room to prep it for renovation. This summer volunteer teams from Mosaic/Southeast Christian Churches cleaned out all the junk, and began demo of the stucco on the walls. To our delight, they exposed a full granite wall adjacent to the main house--a fabulous architectural element we plan to incorporate into the kitchen design.

2008-07-18T08:37:00.005-04:00

"A Force to Be Reckoned With!"

Twenty six people from the Okalona team from Louisville, KY drove up for the weekend to work on The Samaritan Women and support the Mosaic Christian Church planting.

WOW! - This team kicked up some serious dust and totally blew through the To Do List! THANK YOU ALL for your boundless energy and willingness to do any job.

Moments to remember :

The freezer luge (where it took 7 guys and the Kuboda to extricate that gross freezer from the basement)

Tearing down the rest of the kitchen wall - it looks SO good now!

Michelle or Garrett on the tractor.

Kids taking out their issues on the defenseless kitchen cabinet

The endless task of scraping wall cracks - thanks Girls!

Paint-scraper Ben - who never got out of the kitchen!

..and Joey spooning with Daisy!

At the end of the day, happiness is... "good service, good fellowship, good laughs... and a FULL dumpster!" Whoo Hoo.

Mind the Gap is UNSTOPPABLE

2008-07-12T17:54:00.007-04:00

What's most amazing about the Mind The Gap group is that they'll do ANYTHING we ask, and not only do they do it with gladness, but they keep coming back for more. You all are remarkable.

De-creeping the Basement

2008-07-05T13:19:00.003-04:00

The basement has been the creepiest, filthiest part of the house and it's been a process of "peeling back the layers." We're finally starting to see the full footprint of what we have to work with.

There really is a lot of space. Some of the ideas for the basement include: a laundry facility, surplus storage, a workout room, crafts room, a billiard or ping-pong room. Great ideas!

Mosaic & Southeast Christian Churches GET BUSY!

2008-07-05T08:32:00.004-04:00

Clean hearts, dirty hands from the Mosaic Mission Team (and Southeast Christian Church of Louisville, KY). We hauled more bathtubs, ripped out some stucco and drywall, cleaned out the basements and attic alcoves, hauled sticks, painted more of the porch, and made a massive scrap metal mountain! You are awesome! Thank you.

Green Acres

2008-07-02T15:14:00.001-04:00

"He thinks my tractor's sexy..."

The two Erins take our newest family member, the Kuboda, out for a tour of the property.

Thanks to Bill and Jim for helping us find a deal on this equipment!

Upward Bound Kids at TSW

2008-06-20T14:34:00.001-04:00

About 50 high schoolers from UMBC's Upward Bound program gave their service hours to working at The Samaritan Women. The guys cleared decades of brush out of the driveway and even learned how to create a genuine "Abe Lincoln" fence! The girls were painting mavens on the porch!

There was no shortage of work to go around. Thank you UMBC for setting this up!

Connection Point

2008-06-15T12:06:00.000-04:00

A Volunteer Powerhouse!

On June 13th we hosted a team from Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY and the newly-forming Missions Team of Mosaic Christian Church in Hanover, MD. Now granted, they DID get some of the more fun jobs, but they also did their share of grunt work. Kevin found his bliss on the tractor while the other guys hauled cast-iron bathtubs and the women put the first coat of paint on the walls!! We ended the day in prayer and a promise to come back again in July. Whoo hoo!

Mind the Gap Returns for More!

2008-06-08T14:43:00.001-04:00

They are fearless; they are relentless! ...and we love them!

Just think: all that mudding, and sanding (and then going back and fixing all the goobers that make Steve crazy) and priming is all going to be worth it someday!

May 2008 Newsletter

2008-05-07T14:54:00.000-04:00

Awesome Happenings:

A while back one of our regular volunteers from Mind the Gap introduced me to Carl Kuhl, who’s planting a new church in Hanover (http://www.mosaicchristian.org/ ). Mosaic is going to adopt TSW as one of their congregation’s service projects!! They have a group of 20 coming up from out of state in June to give us their volunteer labor (all the way to MD just to work on this project and support this new church—how cool is that?). Today I got an email from one of their volunteers (from Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY http://www.southeastchristian.org/ ). She’d like to mobilize her single moms Bible study group in prayer and to collect in-kind items for the TSW girls (Bibles, journals, craft kits, etc.). Amazing!

The University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC)’s Upward Bound (http://www.umbc.edu/upwardbound/ ) coordinator contacted TSW and toured recently. They offered to bring upwards of EIGHTY kids (ages 14-19) to give their service hours to TSW in June.

Two weeks ago I went to visit Richard 'Benny' Bienvenue of Our House (http://www.our-house.org/ )to tour their program. This very successful boys youth home in Montgomery Co. has received several national recognitions, state accolades, and was even showcased in People magazine and on the Oprah show as a national model. They have a very unique model of teaching the building trades to young men, as well as academic continuance. Benny has been a generous mentor ever since our first meeting!

The Maryland Home Builders Association came out to tour this past week and was inspired to see how their members could help. They are currently entertaining ideas for taking on a project within Ventnor Lodge and donating their expertise, labor, and materials ! We can only hope they choose the bathrooms! Ha.

Please pray for...

Next Tuesday we present our project to the Beechfield Community Association and seek their official endorsement.

In June we defend our grant proposal before the Lutheran Home and Hospital Foundation. Pray that it goes well with us!

We give thanks for...

Our neighbor, Jim Lancelotta, for all the donated equipment, labor and support he continues to give TSW.

Tom Brandt of St. John’s Episcopal Church for all his help and prayers.

Steve Allert for refurbishing the new tractor and bush hog! Wooo Hooo.

February 9, 2008 - Mind the Gap Volunteers

2008-05-05T13:22:00.001-04:00

Another AWESOME workday with Mind the Gap and other volunteers. We cleared about 200 feet of brush for a new fence and loaded yet another dumpster! We're getting ready for spring!

Nov 17, 2007 - “Mind the Gap”

2008-05-05T12:54:00.001-04:00

“Mind the Gap” – a group of young adults who meet regularly in the Maryland area for Bible Study also devote at least one day a month to charitable service projects. For November, they chose The Samaritan Women---- and they worked HARD!

When we started...

2008-01-05T19:17:00.002-05:00

Here's a little glimpse of what it was like before The Samaritan Women moved into the property. After the news story broke about the people living (unofficially) in Ventnor Lodge, there was a lot of damage inflicted against the property by vandals. Over 40 windows were smashed, the front porch was destroyed, the kitchen was trashed.

In October 2007 were able to secure the propery and start the clean up. I'm sure only sites after Katrina rivaled what we saw! But we persevered, and even through all the trash, you could see the potential. (you couldn't SMELL the potential, but you could see it). We did get a little postscript coverage: (http://www.wbaltv.com/video/14251851/index.html)

We spent the first several months just peeling back layer upon layer: filling up over 4 dumpsters with trash, washing down walls and floors, repairing windows, adding security, and trying to reclaim the bare bones of the property so we could see what we really had to work with.

The saddest part was perhaps seeing how human beings are (perhaps forced, or choose) to live. It just makes you stop and wonder, "where was their family?"

... why don't we take better care of one another?