The folks from Grace Klein Community asked if any of our clients might need a food basket, so Frank has been contacting people he felt may be in need. A client in the Chelsea area that we had helped a few times came to mind. She was one of our first clients in 2008 when her husband was on hospice, and she was helping to raise two granddaughters. Now a widow, she told Frank the food basket would be very much appreciated, but she was in desperate need of repairs to the floors in her home.

Frank scheduled a time to meet with her and assess the damage. He found that the entire foundation was bad, and the joists were dry-rotted. Knowing this job needed more extensive expertise, Frank consulted with Jason Waltman, owner of Grace Klein Construction. It has been determined that this home’s foundation is infected with termites. Their recommendation—short of demolition and rebuilding—is to replace soft spots in the flooring. This patch will not solve the client’s foundation problem, but it will prevent the danger of her floors collapsing.

Last Saturday, January 21, 2012, five volunteers braved the rainy weather to work on the flooring in a bedroom of the home. Places in this bedroom floor were so “spongy” that it just crumbled during removal. They worked on shoring up the subfloor, and secured new plywood flooring.

Matthew 25:40

2011 Review

At the end of November, 2010, we were at a crossroads of sorts–wondering if God wanted us to press on with Hearts In Hands as a ministry. Our funds were so low that we couldn’t have helped even one person in need. But we felt God’s urging to trust in Him.

Then just before Christmas last year Hearts In Hands was awarded $1000 from Medical Social Service Organization in recognition of our work with hospice patients. Further encouragement came from The Hospice and Home Health Fund of Alabama in the form of a donation in appreciation of our assistance to patients. We began planning for a fundraising dinner to be held in March at Frankie’s Market Cafe  in Helena. Thanks to the efforts of Gene Jones, our volunteer Marketing Director, and Frankie and Angie Caccioppo, we were able to boost our funding enough to take on and complete some of the big pending projects:

• Four wheelchair ramps
• Metal roofs installed for two homes
• One home exterior painted
• Repaired and replaced water damaged ceilings in one home

In addition, tornado relief was delivered in early May, a mower was repaired and a donated washer and dryer were installed. It has been humbling to feel God’s supporting hands on this ministry.

In early March we held our first Board meeting and recognized the following members:

• Chairman—Jeff Pesnell
• President—Frank Burder
• Vice-President—Harris Cannon
• Secretary—Steve Roberson
• Treasurer—Jimmy Beard
• Marketing Director—Gene Jones

During discussion at this meeting we talked about how we can best ensure the people we meet on our projects are (or get) connected to their local church. Often, due to their health issues, our clients become disconnected from their community and become “lost.” It was decided that going forward we would request volunteers and/or pastor from the client’s church to be involved in the project in some way. If the client is uninvolved in a church, we seek assistance from one close by. We also ask that lunch be provided for the volunteers for the sole purpose of taking some time to pray and fellowship with the client and local church members. If one of our clients appears to be in continuing need of assistance for food, we submit their names to Grace Klein Communityfor their food distribution program. In this way someone continues to monitor the client’s situation and provides us feedback if another need arises.In August, effective November 22, 2010, we officially became recognized by the IRS as a tax-exempt public charity—a HUGE blessing that we hope will boost our future funding.

As we begin our fifth year, please add Hearts In Hands to your prayers:

• Pray that God will guide the leadership of Hearts n Hands to bring glory to His name. Without the power of His Spirit guiding us, we cannot accomplish His mission.
• Pray for faith that if we follow His leadership, He will provide funds and workers to accomplish His mission. Hearts n Hands must always be driven by faith.
• Pray for wisdom in screening clients and projects. God may not ask us to meet every need of every hospice client in Birmingham.
• Pray that God will connect us with the clients He has chosen for us.
• Pray that God will grant us opportunities to share our faith while we are in contact with each client. Pray further that we will make the most of each opportunity and by His grace speak boldly in His name about His gospel truth.
• Pray that the Holy Spirit will continually remind us that no matter how great a client’s physical needs are, their spiritual needs are infinitely more important. Pray that God will enable to us meet spiritual needs as well as physical needs.
• Pray that God will use the work that is done through Hearts n Hands to bring glory to His name. Pray that people will see Christ in the the projects that we complete, and turn to Him as a result of this work.

We pray God’s blessing on each and every one of you as we look forward to 2012.

On Saturday, December 10, 2011, two Hearts In Hands volunteers and three volunteers from The Foundry returned to the home of a widow living in Alabaster (See Updates 9/10/2011 and 9/19/2011). She had endured several bad storms this year (including April 27th) before we could repair her badly deteriorated roof, and her ceilings were already in dire need of replacement.

Badly damaged bedroom ceiling

Interior damage from leaking roof

The volunteers were able to patch a section of one of the ceilings by cutting out the damage and replacing with new drywall. However, the bedroom had a tile ceiling so badly damaged the best solution was to install a suspended ceiling. After mudding and taping the patched ceiling and calculating supply needs for the suspended ceiling, the volunteers called it a day and committed to return the following Friday. Before The Foundry guys left, Frank gave them a Hearts In Hands angel to take back with them.

On Friday, December 16, 2011, volunteers returned to put the final touches on the drywalled ceiling and install the suspended ceiling. The client prepared a nice lunch for the volunteers, and after the short break they got back to the job. Ceiling work is very challenging (and painful!), and we and the client are so grateful for the volunteers’ dedication to this project.

On Saturday, October 15, 2011, a group of our friends from the Catalyst men’s group in Calera traveled to our ramp project in Maplesville. The ramp was to be constructed for a 97-year-old lady who uses a walker and wheelchair to get around. She loves to go to church! Pictures of the stairs she used to have to navigate are below. As you can see, they were unsteady and inconsistent in height as well as too steep–pretty difficult at best.

Dangerous steps

Seven volunteers constructed the ramp in one day, and also installed a donated washer and dryer.

A few weeks ago our friends at Grace Klein Community called about a single mother of four living in Ensley. They had come to know her through their Food Box Ministry. They asked her if she had any other needs besides food, and she asked if something could be done about her roof. They also learned she did not know God and His love for her. They have been praying for her heart to be opened when she sees God’s love through volunteers pouring into her while they worked on assisting with her needs. GKC had the funding in place to pay for the roofing materials and contacted Hearts In Hands to see if we could assist them in calculating the materials needed and perhaps in installing a new metal roof. Fresh off of our last project, Frank enlisted the help of our friends at The Foundry to install the new roof. We met the six guys at the home Saturday morning, October 1, 2011. Volunteers also came from small groups at The Church at Brook Hills, bringing breakfast and helping hands to work in the yard and fellowship with the family. The yard work was completed, but the roof will have to be finished next Saturday.

Seven volunteers from The Foundry came out last Saturday, September 17, 2011, to help us work on our client’s roof. Due to their collective experience and hard work, the client’s roof is now completely recovered with a new metal roof! She is so relieved to have this worry taken off of her shoulders. She had been concerned she would not be able to stay in her home and would have to move. She made the workers lunch, and her daughter led the team in prayer at the end of the day.

This project has been a long time coming together–and this lady has had to endure several bad storms–but we finally began this project today! We received a letter in April from a widow living in Alabaster who is in dire need of roof repairs (see photos below).  A friend in the roofing business (who works out of town) had visited the site to calculate the amount of metal  needed, and his company helped us get it ordered at cost.

Unfortunately we couldn’t get to this project before the tornado system came through April 27, but a couple of volunteers went to this home on April 28, 2011, to lay tarps over the deteriorating roof to prevent further damage from any more storms. The home still leaks some, and we’ll need to get this roof fixed soon!

God supernaturally provided donations and skilled workers for this project! Six men came out from The Foundry–two experienced in metal roof installation–to help us get this project started. Unfortunately, some materials were omitted from our order and we did not have all of the necessary lengths of metal to get the job done today. The Foundry guys have graciously offered to return with us next Saturday, September 17th, to get this much-needed repair completed.

We received a referral from Vitas Hospice Care for an elderly man on hospice whose home has been condemned. A cousin had offered to open her home to him, but the hospice company was told the bathroom needed repair. When Frank visited this home, he found there to be more problems than just an unusable bathroom. There was no way to walk from one room to another, and the kitchen is also unusable. Frank called the hospice company back to let them know to send out someone to assess the home. A few days later, Vitas called Frank back to let us know the patient had been placed in other housing. Thank you for your prayers in this case.

We received a request from the Alabama Department of Public Health to build a wheelchair ramp for a disabled elderly client living in West End. It was becoming difficult for her to use her steps to enter and exit her home. She had fallen and broken an ankle in past attempts to exit, and a wheelchair was soon to be a necessity. Her daughter, a grandson and a granddaughter with special needs also reside at the home, and the granddaughter also uses a wheelchair.

On Saturday, June 4, 2011, five Hearts In Hands volunteers and two volunteers from the client’s church, Forge Temple, and the client’s grandson went to work on the ramp project. Temperatures were scorching, and the ground was dry and rock-hard. Little progress was made with post-hole diggers, and the ground had to be broken with a pick to anchor the posts. Difficult work!

All the volunteers were bolstered mid-day by a wonderful lunch prepared by the client’s daughter and served in a shady spot in the yard. Then it was back to work! The volunteers persevered and worked until late afternoon when they ran a little short on supplies. A Hearts In Hands angel was attached to the porch and presides over the project with the client’s favorite Bible verse, Psalm 27:4

Two volunteers returned to the home on June 7, 2011, to complete the ramp and add a rollover for the threshold.