Tom Cashman's 2009 Lotts Creek Memoir

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Lotts Creek Work Trips

Tom Cashman's 2009 Lotts Creek Memoir

ADVENTURES AT LOTTS CREEK SCHOOL

Saturday July 18^th I met my friends Bob and Connie Lewis at their church, the Middleburg Hts. Community Church UCC. From there 21 folks started an annual adventure that this church has been doing for 25 years led by George and Sandy Uhl.

Our trip immediately needed a project, because an earlier mission trip had lost the top vent to the trailer George was towing with the church's 12 passenger van. We came up with some material and fixed the trailer, so our equipment and food would not be soaked.

7 hours later we arrived in Lotts Creek and Cordia School, I met Alice Whitaker the current director of the school and niece of the founder of Cordia School, Alice Sloan.

We were assigned our rooms and discussed our agenda for the next day and the week.

Sunday, those who wished went to a local Church, the Lotts Creek Evangelical Free Church. Afterward, we came back to our dorm and had lunch. We brought our food with us for all of our meals. After lunch we went on a tour of the 3 job sites our group would be working at.

The 1^st place we stopped was the new (less than 10 yrs old) school.

A group led by Roger Hall would be painting locker rooms and other rooms requiring annual painting.

Our 2^nd stop was at the house that we deemed the kitten house, because of the many kittens that were running around. This house had a rotting floor in one of the bedrooms, George and Ed took lead on this project.

The third project was a new house that a group from Indiana had roughed in and put under roof in a week. Various groups had worked on it since and there were a variety of electrical and structural challenges. Bob Lewis and Tom the Lutheran (that was the name I was deemed before I even met these folks) took the lead on this project.

The people that went on this mission trip were as varied in their age as they were in their skill level. 3 retired couples; Bob and Connie, Jane and John, Roger and Carol, the half retired couple were our leaders Sandy and George. Sandy has just retired from teaching but George has 5 or 6 more years to go, he works for the Cleveland sewer system. The not paired folks were; Laurie a pretty good pinochle player even though she is extremely hearing impaired; Sue a regular at our Habitat Cleveland builds and a great brownie maker (didn't make any for this trip though); Ed an avid bell ringer and me, Tom the Lutheran. That makes I think 12 older adults. The younger folks ranged from Sarah 23 to Danny 9^th grade.

Sarah is a teacher but grew up coming on these mission trips. Then there was: Kyle, his cousin Dave, Jenny, Cierra, Scott and his bother Patrick, Taylor and Danny.

A different assortment of younger folks worked with us on our project through the week. Sandy and George are amazing at having activities other than the projects to keep the young folks (and the older ones) enjoying themselves. The kids went swimming most afternoons, on Tuesday we went to Pic'n and Grin'n a local talent show where we saw and heard the most amazing 11 year old Banjo player. A movie on Thursday and various board and card games. Bob, John and Kiel were avid photographers and documented the trip digitally.

There were many challenges in the project that I was involved with, but it was interesting to see how all the people involved put their heads together to solve the problems.

Everyone young and old seemed to get along very well.

The building we stayed in was what used to be, I think, the girl's dormitory. But two couples stayed in a log cabin; and Ed, so that he could practice his bells, stayed in the boy's dormitory by himself. The accommodations were clean and somewhat Spartan, everyone was expected to sign up for cleaning duties, there were morning and evening devotions also open for volunteers.

We worked generally from 8:30 to 4:30 coming back to the dorm for lunch. If you were going swimming then you would knock off work about 3pm. One afternoon the ladies went shopping at a craft shop.

As I observed the folks that I shared this adventure with, I found myself
analyzing what motivates people to embark on this type of adventure.

The general accepted reason for doing this is that you have come to help those less fortunate than yourself. I ask myself, is that the reason I came on this trip? I have to say no, oh yeah that's part of the reason, but the adventure to me was a big draw, almost like Don Quixote riding off to do battle with those terrible windmills. Maybe the disciples felt some of this when they were sent out to proclaim Gods love.

Maybe by going with a group that you're not familiar with, on a mission to help and show love for God's people gives you a different feeling of community. The dynamics of the group, the older young people looking out for the younger ones, and the group as a whole working as a unit and feeding each other not just with food. Having your feet washed and washing each others feet, overlooking the flaws in the other people at the same time knowing that they are doing the same for you because you are there for a greater purpose. That greater purpose may be a floor in a house so that the mother doesn't have to worry about her kids falling through, or painting some locker rooms so kids starting school in the fall will feel welcome, or putting some drywall and drywall ‘mud' up so a family can have a safe house to live in. These are the windmills the Middleburg Hts Community Church mission were battling and though it may seem like "The impossible dream" from Don Quixote, because no matter how much you accomplish there are endless projects and windmills to challenge. That challenge may actually make you want to come back to your own backyard and challenge some windmills there.

I, Tom the Lutheran, want to thank the group from Middleburg Community Church for allowing me to share the adventure with them, maybe they would share it with you.

Tom Cashman

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