When visiting Riverside’s Village Riverside mobile home park, most of the homes seem in good condition from the street; however, with a closer examination, there are a few aesthetic issues. This was the case for the home of a senior couple by the names of Donnie and Gloria. The front of the home at first glance looked fine but the original paint was stained and faded on the sides and rear of the home.  They have lived in the home for many years and Donnie decided to paint the front of the home a chocolate brown color, yet Gloria hasn’t liked that color for years, so what Gloria wants – Gloria gets! At least that is what Donnie says. Gloria has now picked new colors and the time has come to round up some volunteers to paint their home.

Habitat for Humanity Riverside HFHR put a call out through the Volunteer Up website and we received 11 good hearted individuals to brave the weather and conduct a A Brush With Kindness project to paint their home. Luckily half of the paint crew had painted with HFHR several times, and of course we had several new and energetic volunteers to help as well. The morning of the paint day was a questionable one because the forecast was for rain until 8 a.m. and on this morning the weather people were right. However it had not rained very hard at Donnie and Gloria’s home. This was a good thing- we could paint!

Jenine and Amanda, two of Habitat’s UCR interns came along to help with sign-ins, photos and of course painting. They made sure that they wore their painting clothes. Once everyone got signed in we moved quickly to get the home painted, since there was a small chance that it might rain again. Our volunteers Dennis and Paul took care of the high peak areas of the home while all the other volunteers worked on the rest of the home. Our other volunteers: Joanne,Carin, Adam, Matt and Yolanda, took care of the detail work and helped the new volunteers feel comfortable on their first paint day. It is always pleasing to see how the volunteers come out with one purpose in mind, give of their time and spirit for others.  By the time the home is painted, new friendships are made and most volunteers return to help with many more projects throughout the year.

Our volunteers completed painting the home despite a few sprinkles around noon. Donnie came out and was so pleased with colors and the great job the volunteers did for him and Gloria. Thank you HFHR volunteers for spreading sunshine on Donnie and Gloria’s day right after a
morning rain!