I was fortunate to have an amazing mom who was totally hands on and taught me how to do everything in the house. My mom’s forte was incredible home cooking with mashed potatoes and the best gravy. I was taught how to cook, clean everything in the house and say yes sir, yes mam and thank you. The challenge was that my mom didn’t want more than one helper in the kitchen when she was preparing dinner. My dad flew B-52’s and was gone most of my preteen to teen years serving our country in Vietnam. Because of this my mom especially needed the help but had already taught me to look at what needed to be done and just do it, versus waiting to be told what to do.
I have had the privilege over the last 30 years to be part of many different nonprofits that serve the under resourced neighborhoods of Phoenix and before that San Diego. Over the last 13 years Barrio Nuevo has painted 232 houses. This represents over 6,000 volunteers who have given over 20,000 hours of help to impact the lives of our seniors and connect with our community and hang out with our kids and teens.
I will always get comments like you don’t need any more volunteers because you already have 20 helping do this house. My response, different from my mom’s, is of course not we can always use another 10-15! Yes, we can paint a house in a little over an hour with 35-40 helpers. My passion is to connect different communities in our city to see how ONE PERSON can make a difference whether you’re 5 years old or 90! It’s always an incredible morning when we paint with 40 to 200 volunteers. The friendships that are formed, the sense of accomplishment of seeing an old house now look incredible is very rewarding. More importantly is to see the look on the grandma or grandpa’s face of WOW! It’s so easy to say I love but to show it by doing something that does make a difference is what makes life ‘ROCK’!
Recently we painted a little church in our neighborhood. I had met the Pastor while we were painting his neighbor’s house. We talked a little after finishing Grandpa Earl’s house with 40 volunteers from a couple of churches. I ask Pastor Stanford if we could paint his church. He seemed initially surprised and taken back but said yes. The next morning, I drove by the church to get a sense of what was needed. Over the next month, sadly, Pastor Stanford, contracted COVID and ended up in the hospital for 22 days. I communicated with his lovely wife, Betty, during this time and had permission to still paint the church. Pastor Mumphrey came home, little did I know, that he was dying and wanted to be at home. I discover through a friend that he had passed. I then had the opportunity to show some kindness to Betty, his wife, and we ultimately painted the church with almost 100 volunteers in an hour plus. The group was so excited to have this opportunity to step up and bless this elderly congregation. I have been blessed by my friendship with Betty now over the last 4 months.
My mom was always quick to speak her mind and was always an encourager to those that were helpers! Sadly, for me, my mom passed just before I birthed Barrio Nuevo’s painting program. Please think about being intentional about getting involved with a local nonprofit, the city or a neighborhood church to see how you can impact a life and then also have your life transformed. Life is richest when I give of myself expecting nothing in return.