OMG...

An invitation to the Rachel Ray show...thank you to Diane Moro Christensen the Board of Director's of Friends of Freeport was invited to a special Rachel Ray episode which will air on Monday November 25th. We loaded up Lois's car with five of us, and three more met us at the studio- eight people represented Friends of Freeport in the studio. She filled the studio with 121 guests- all invited and all "heros."  I felt unworthy of that title- I give my time to assist in the village of Freeport to help those staggered by last year's storm. In the audience with us- a bus driver from Buffalo, NY who stopped and prevented a woman from suiciding, two people who pulled a woman to safety from an oncoming train, an army regiment that had marched the entire Boston marathon and then assisted at the finish line when the unthinkable happened last year, a family that had adopted and fought for three african orphans who are now one big family here in the United States, a woman who's rescue dog saved her son's life, two of the teachers from Moore, Oklahoma who saved their students, Hamptons Hurricane relief founders, a group that delivered food to hurricane refuges in Babylon, and countless others.  Rachel Ray called the show "Thanks for Giving" and then turned around and gave, and gave, and gave.... I am amazed and humbled by the experience and am trying to process my day - still three days later. If you watch the show make sure that you have a full box of tissues..Alison asked the warm up guy for tissues after we used all those that I brought and those did not last very long at all, silly me I gave some away to other audience members.  Not quite sure what the point of putting on makeup before going to the taping was. (to my english teacher friends I am sorry for any dangling participles or half sentences in this post!)

Sad Day

Yesterday a gentle giant passed through the pearly gates. I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Henry Lenahan because of my affiliation with Friends of Freeport. He was a hoot to work with, and always had knowledge of better ways to complete the task you were immersed in, he was able to share his knowledge in a way that made you appreciate him. (There are others who don't have that gift, they TELL you how to do what you already know) I worked next to Henry pulling up the floor to a shed, a job he never should have been doing... he shocked the home owner (a registered nurse) telling her that his belly was "not just from beer," indicating that hernia surgery was on the horizon.. she then became his guardian, reminding him to stop frequently, he didn't really listen to her too well, as you can imagine, if you knew Henry. Henry brought us ice every weekend, and he had a shed full of tools that often made their way to job sites as well.
I knew there were medical issues, so did many others, but Henry seemed to soldier on never uttering a word of complaint (a strength, but also not letting us take care of him the way he would take care of others)
I can see his huge smile in my minds eye and know that he would want us to march forward keeping the mission of our group front and center.

let's do our work in Henry's honor and make him prouder than ever to have been a Friend of Freeport

what a day...

Today was amazing..
A group from friends of Freeport.. the rock and rebuilders aka the Rockstars did a four house tour of south Freeport. We started on Gordon place and insulated a crawl space and basement, moved to Jeffrey place and insulated a basement there, then in a caravan we drove to Norton street and insulated another crawl space.  All of these homeowners will stay warmer due to this work performed.  We then took a well deserved lunch break joining another dedicated group from friends of Freeport who had spent the morning removing dead trees, bushes and plants from the front of another home in Freeport.  After refueling we took a ride over to south ocean avenue and insulated one more basement...
am I tired? Yes....
am I itchy? Yes...
but it is the best tired and itchy...
Every weekend I find myself more and more amazed by the group that I have grown to know and LOVE!

Thank you for allowing me to be part of you and to learn so much.