By Nancy Ost (Westminster), Renovation Project Coordinator

This project unfolded with such synchronicity, it truly had to have God’s hand at the helm. We didn’t attract a hoard of volunteers, but it became obvious that each one had his/her role divinely assigned. Even before the actual construction began, along came Judy Hartley, the great de-clutterer and organizer, to help me sort the donated clothes that are available for our guests when needed. When these were sorted and put in new bins, the room began to open up. (and the mouse-droppings more visible!)

Westminster’s stalwart Trustee, Pete Wrede, found the time from his regular demanding job to go in and unhook the defunct hot water heater, whose former use is very vague.

Now God really showed up and sent in Tim Owens and a team of strong adults and eager children from his plant church in Colonie called Renew. From whence they heard about this project is all a bit of a mystery, but they lit the fire that burned through the next week into project completion. You see, this little group of devoted bright-eyed folks took on emptying the room of boxes and boxes of food, heavy shelves, and the hot water heater! They smiled and said, “what’s next?” The condition of the space from years of mouse residence was beyond embarrassing, but no one batted an eye (hardly).  And this all happened on a Sunday afternoon.

The next day, the room showed its sad face to me, Hank Woller and Mike Asbury, the construction crew. We planned, measured and made lists of supplies. Mike stayed and cleaned with his invaluable mighty shop vac, while Hank and I went to Home Depot to buy the materials we would need.

Each time I needed a person to do a job, someone would say, “can I help?” So on Tuesday morning Shirley Noble and Andrea Carver appeared and were happy to tackle the washing down of walls that was needed to prepare for new paint. No one ever winced at the job that I said needed doing next, no matter how distasteful.

While the ladies washed, Hank and Mike began the carpentry, cutting and installing paneling that would cover the gaping holes in the current walls. While this was happening, Dixon Southworth, began the painting of the upper wall portion of dark paneling, turning it into a bright sunny-feeling room. Dixon showed up three days with his quiet steady painting ability ever flowing.

Mike and Hank provided their construction skills for three days also. What a thrill it was to watch as each piece of new wallboard went into place creating a beautiful new space.

The next day Carolyn Smith came in and asked for a job. I put her to work scrubbing the grimy chrome shelves. We had to set up a system where we carried them out into an outside foyer to hose down from the soap residue. The next day, I was bemoaning that fact that I was alone and couldn’t carry the final shelf unit out for rinsing when Carolyn showed up again. Imagine that!

Then there was the day when we realized the electrical wiring in the room was a problem. Oh no -  Westminster’s commonly-used electrician is notorious for not getting on board in a timely fashion. Well, I was told he responded if something was an emergency. I figured not having power to the four cooling/freezing units in the room was an emergency and, lo and behold, he was called and showed up. The next day, he sent his son in to rewire the room, removing unneeded outlets and installing new ones. I told you God was at the helm!

On Friday afternoon, Hank and I admired the week’s work, a true miracle, a clean beautiful, mouse-free storage space. One of those projects where you say, “what took us so long?” Everything in its own time.

When volunteers were arranging for available work days, one couple signed up for the Monday of the following week of construction, as we had assigned eight days for the project. I initially told them that I had no doubts we would be done by then, but would keep them in mind. Light bulb moment – as I was painting and pondering the fact that we still needed to put all the food items back into the store room and the week was ending, I remembered Linda and Bob who said they were only available on that Monday. Guess what? Of course, Linda and Bob said they would love to help with that, as would Hank. So now Monday is here and I am happily anxious to watch this project come to its beautiful completion, returning shelving to the room, organizing items with the staff of the food program. This has truly been a miraculous transformation and an inspiring project which embodies the mantra of FOCUS – doing together what we cannot do alone.

My heart is forever grateful to all those who came when tapped on the shoulder by the divine.