The Growth of Hope

I was part of the first One Brick Builds trip to help in Columbia, SC for Hurricane Joaquin relief.  I signed up to go with no expectations, but I was quickly impressed. 

On our first day at the SBP site, we were unable to access the tools we were expecting, but that did not stop the volunteers.  Quickly volunteers went into the house to access what needed to be done, so that they were prepared once the tools arrived.  Another group of volunteers went to the back of the house and utilized tools that they found to start the work without the professional tools they were expecting.  It was amazing how much work got done, even before the tools arrive, but once we had the tools, even more work was done!

The second day, we were tired, but there was still so much energy in the leaders, which carried through the volunteers.  We were able to finish even more than was projected in the SBP plan and our leader was so pleased. 

The last day in Columbia, we were working with Habitat for Humanity, but our SBP leader came to help us!  We were more than individual volunteers, we became a team.

At times, you will not have all the resources you are expecting and especially at these volunteer sites you can imagine how lost a home owner would be with no resources.  For a short time, on a much smaller scale, it put us, as volunteers, in the shoes of those affected by the hurricane.  Without SBP, Habitat for Humanity, and the One Brick Builds team, it would seem impossible to fix up these homes.  I was amazed by the spirits of the SBP team, the Habitat team, and by far the positivity of the home owners.  They were now able to see a future for their home.  To have hope.

I am so proud to have been part of this process, to have met the volunteers that I worked with, and to have grown from this experience.  Had this been a quick and easy process, where we had our tools, our organization, and everything was finished on day one, we would not have seen the real steps it takes to rebuild.     

Thank you One Brick Builds, for having these opportunities and keeping hope in the world.