The next 2 projects!

This Thursday (the 28th) and Friday (the 29th) there are two bigger project going on that we need a lot of help with. First, Thursday is the Extreme Yard Makeover in SE Portland. We will be out there starting at 10am and going until the late afternoon. We have all the materials we need at the site, but we need people, people, people!

The project after that is the next day, Friday, and we will be help a woman in need move from Vancouver to NE Portland. She is renting a large U-Haul, but she definitely could use some help with loading and unloading the truck. It would be great to get 5 or 6 people for the move. The more people we get, the quicker it will go.

Please feel free to call us at 503-953-6018 or email us at wevegottimetohelp@q.com to sign up for one (or both) of these projects! Thank you!!

Extreme Yard Makeover on Thursday

Well, the 4th (and final?) installment of the Extreme Yard Makeover is happening this Thursday the 14th. Here is just one of the before and after photos from the work done so far.

Front yard before...


...and after.


Pretty dramatic change, huh? That being said, there is still some work to be done. Here's a list of what needs to happen before we can complete this project:

Concrete pieces laid down for a pathway (we have the concrete pieces)
Small concrete wall erected for the herb garden (we have the concrete pieces)
Arbor built for the backyard (we have the lumber for it)
White picket fence scraped and painted (we have the paint and brushes)
White picket fence reinforced
White picket fence gate re-hung
Gravel laid down in between the concrete pieces for the walkway (we still need the gravel)

Like we said, there still some work to do but we should be able to get a lot of it finished on Thursday. There are no special skills needed for this project, just a willingness to get your hands a little dirty!

So please, if you have some time to give on Thursday to help out a neighbor, come on down and lend a hand. Email us at wevegottimetohelp@q.com for the address if you can make it!

Extreme Yard Makeover update

Well, yesterday was PHENOMENAL! We had over a dozen volunteers show up and take time to help someone they don't even know. It literally gave us chills. Things are changing. There is a new type of thinking and a new type of community emerging from these dark times. It is tremendous to see that change and lucky enough to be a part of it.

A huge thank you to all of the wonderful volunteers yesterday: Aaron, Mel, Meri, Mary, Brooke (and Captain Jack), Kelli, Abby, Julie, Dwane, Cindi, Lucas, Ryan, Louanne and Seth. Absolutely incredible!

It was a great day and we got so much work done. There is still more work to do and, hopefully, we can get some more people out there within the next week or so. We still need to rototill, lay bricks down around the flower beds and build an arbor for the large grapevine in the back. If there is anyone that would like to volunteer to build the arbor, that would be great!

Seth and Trevor are going over to the project this afternoon with a truck and a trailer to haul all of the debris away to the dump. Let's get another group together next week and finish this project up! Who's coming with us?

Here are some photos from yesterday. We will be taking more and posting them soon. Thanks again to everyone yesterday. You are all tremendous human beings!


4 trees had to come out along the back fence.


Cleanup after the trees came down.


Weeding, weeding, weeding!


This area of the yard...before


...after.


Digging out a new herb garden!

Overgrown rose bush...before

...after.

Some of the 12,000,000 bricks that needed to be separated into various piles.

Just a couple of the yard debris piles.

We can't thank you enough for all of your hard work!

Got Time to Change a Life?

We've Got Time to Help. We've Got Time to Help strengthen communities. We've Got Time to Help each other. We've Got Time to Help pay it forward. We've Got Time to Help others stand strong when they are at their weakest. We've Got Time to Help shine light even on the darkest of days. We've Got Time to Help total strangers. We've Got Time to Help change the way communities think. We've Got Time to Help promote social responsibility. We've Got Time to Help show our neighbors that we care. We've Got Time to Help change the world.

These are just a few of the phrases that we have used over the last couple of months. They are but a few of the reasons why we started We've Got Time to Help.

This is the first major call that we have made for volunteers. We have many, many projects and we could use some more volunteers to help us get them done. We get calls for help almost every day and only a portion of the projects actually make it to the blog. A lot of them are taken care of almost immediately.

Our next big project is, what we affectionately call, The Extreme Yard Makeover. We could definitely use some more people on this one. This is a great chance for everyone to get out and help a deserving family while meeting others in your community who are as committed as you are to Paying it Forward. Please give us a call at 503-953-6018 or email wevegottimetohelp@q.com to find out more details.

You don't need any specific skills, just a willingness to get your hands dirty. Even if you can only spare an hour or two, it would be such a big help. It will be a lot of work but it will also be a lot of fun, and even more importantly...it will be worth it.

Believe me, we understand that it's hard. It's hard to volunteer to help someone with their yard when you don't have time to tend to your own. It's hard to help a total stranger when you have a world of troubles on your mind. It's hard to step out of your comfort zone and meet with a group of strangers. Please know that we completely understand.

We come home almost every day tired, sore and wondering if we are in over our heads. Then, we get up the next day and do it all again. If it wasn't worth it, we wouldn't do it. But we get up every day, with smiles on our faces (and Ibuprofen in hand), with a strong feeling of community, and the knowledge that we have, even in some small way, made a difference in someone's life.

Let me tell you, my friends, it doesn't get any better than that.

Extreme Yard Makeover

See our project page for the story that started it all at http://moreprojectinfo.blogspot.com/2009/03/project-19-extreme-yard-makeover.html

Well, one of the volunteers, Meri, was gracious enough to go out and survey and assess the yard we are working on. Let me tell you, Meri knows her stuff! Thanks, Meri!

What we need, is to get a big group together for a 2 day yard party, for cleanup and trimming, before we can get started on all of the building and planting. It should be a great time! Lots of fellow volunteers and some good, old fashioned work. We were hoping to schedule it for April 1st and 2nd (next Wed. and Thurs.). The sooner we can get plants/trees/shrubs in the ground, the better.

After the prep work has been done, then we can move onto the really fun stuff...planting! Like we said, this is a big job but it is going to be so worth it and this family is truly deserving!

What we need is a lot of volunteers (we were hoping for at least 12) that can volunteer for at least one of the 2 days (both days would be great!). Trucks would be a great help as we will probably make a yard debris run or two. This will be our first large scale work party and we would love to see everyone out there!

Please give Seth or Michelle a call at 503-953-6018 to sign up for this fun project. Thanks to all in advance!