The seven of us chatted nervously about what we were going to encounter as the van slowed down and stopped in front of a small, run down, ivy covered house. The only information we were given regarding our work site was that the couple that lived here had no relatives to help them and their money was sparse. The woman had a terminal illness and her husband had taken a leave of absence from his job to take care of her. We piled out of the van and observed our surroundings. My team had nominated me to be the greeter so I made my way to the front door. I stumbled on the cracked walkway leading to the porch and climbed the decaying steps. The wood on the porch bent with every step I took and I held my breath hoping it would hold me. Butterflies filled my stomach as I reached through the torn screen and knocked on the mildew covered door. An old man looking tired and sad opened the door just a crack. I introduced myself and team and told him we represented a group called Catholic Heart Work Camp. We were going to do as much as we could to clean up and repair his house and yard. He smiled ever so slightly and said he was expecting us and to let him know if we needed anything. .
We unloaded our tools from the van, decided on who was going to start on what and said a short prayer that we would all be safe doing our jobs. Each day that week, our team arrived at the small house eager to see the man smile. We rebuilt the steps of the porch, scraped and sanded old paint off the house and re-painted, scrubbed down the siding, cleaned up the debris in the yard, pruned the bushes, pulled weeds, nailed the gutters back on and trimmed back the ivy vines that were wound around everything. Our adult leader put a new screen in the door after we had scraped and painted it. Each day while we worked, we talked and laughed, took time to eat and pray. Occasionally we would catch a glimpse of the man watching us through one of the windows and he would wave or nod quickly and then move out of sight.
