This past Saturday is a day I will remember for a long time! It was amazing to see 225 motivated volunteers unleashed on 7 service projects in New Orleans for a day!
They painted huge amounts of three high schools, landscaped high schools, built houses, painted houses, hung sheetrock, helped at a halfway house, and tutored kids in English and math. How did all this come about?
Clint Ivey, a friend here in Baton Rouge, works with Herff Jones providing graduation supplies to schools. Last February Clint asked me to help him organize a day of service on Saturday January 17th in New Orleans for people who would attend the Herff Jones national sales convention that weekend.
About 400 people would attend and everyone was invited to arrive a day early and to serve somewhere. Clint focused on organizing the teams and I set up the opportunities to serve. The Herff Jones leadership was willing to pay for charter buses to take volunteers to service venues and to feed them Friday evening and Saturday.
About 225 people volunteered and they showed up ready to serve. We had three teams of about 50 people at three high schools to paint and do landscaping. (You won’t believe how much of a school 50 people can paint between 8 AM and 3 PM.) We had a team of 36 at a charter school to tutor students and help the librarian organize the library.
A team of 20 hung drywall for a lady named Brenda who is still trying to get her house livable after the flood waters of Katrina. A team of 13 worked with Habitat for Humanity to build and paint houses and a team of 6 served at a halfway house. It was amazing to see how much these 225 people accomplished in a day as I traveled around to the sites where they worked on Saturday.
These volunteers were such an encouragement to those they served and they were a wonderful example to everyone who saw what they were doing to serve others.
One high school principal asked if the team serving at his school could build a pond right in front of the school. Several of us thought that would be too much and that it would be better to let the volunteers just paint and pick up trash. When the 50 people on the team got to the high school Saturday morning, the principal mentioned the idea of a pond. A man who works with Herff Jones in California said ponds were his specialty and took over. He made a team of about 10 people, took up a collection of $1,800 from the 50 people on the team, went to Lowe’s. He bought decorative rocks, plants, and even lights to go under the water. When the principal saw it at the end of the day, he was blown away. That is the type of people who served Saturday!
There are more great stories that could be told, but I will stop here. It was a very meaningful day for those who were able to participate. One man who has been very successful with the company for over 30 years said Saturday was the best day he has ever had with Herff Jones.
One of the most amazing things to me was that as I thanked people from all over the country for serving, they almost always said, “Oh no, thank you for letting us be a part of this!” I saw Jesus’ words, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” in action before my eyes!
I will remember Saturday January 17th for a long time! The more I think about it, I find myself saying, “Thank you Clint Ivey for letting me be a part of this!”
What a blessing!
Clayton Hays
