Gilford community united on a mission: House project lifts up volunteers as much as the owner

GILFORD — Wednesday was a beautiful day for yard work and house painting, and also for more enticing outdoor pursuits. But when the One Community Project was publicized by word-of-mouth and social media, a volunteer effort to help a friend in need turned into a community-wide mission that exceeded both the homeowner’s and the organizer’s dreams, attracting 40 volunteer laborers ages 7 to 87.

For roughly 10 years, Scott Hodson, executive director of the Gilford Youth Center, has been taking kids on weeklong mission trips through his church, Gilford Community Church, tackling repairs and rebuilding projects in the wake of hurricanes in Puerto Rico and New Orleans. For the past several years, their efforts have focused on needs closer to home.

“We chose a house that needed some work, and a person who needed help,” Hodson said. “It used to be just my church kids. Then kids riding by on bikes asked if they could help,” then the mission spread to adults. Last year, an elderly gentleman on Watson Road needed an enormous forsythia bush dug out of his lawn, and the campaign blossomed into four days of re-landscaping by volunteers, including one who came with a backhoe.

This spring, Hodson noticed Diane Anthony, a member of his church and a long-time volunteer in the community, scraping paint off the back side of her house.

“He knew I needed a little extra help, said Anthony, 71, whose home and yard were transformed on just day one of the four-day project. “I immediately became overwhelmed,” she said. “It’s a gift from this church. It’s an amazing place to be a member.”

On the first day of this summer’s One Community Project, elementary school-age youngsters and tweens in middle school, plus parents, church members, and handy, willing retirees who live in town — not just people who go to Gilford Community Church — gathered at Anthony’s house to tackle painting and yard projects that had become too costly and overwhelming for her to do in the four years since her husband died.

Children carried ladders and some older ones used power tools to extract screws from shutters. Volunteers dug up sickly trees and overgrown bushes and created a garden area lined with bricks they discovered under layers of brush. Handy adults went to work constructing a back deck. Originally just the rear outside wall was set to be painted. But because of the size of the volunteer force, the entire exterior will get a fresh coat.

Especially in the wake COVID, when social distancing and small group gatherings became a norm, this event is a bonding experience that illustrates the power of coming together and caring, with benefits to both givers and receivers.

“An event like this teaches us to stop our busy lives once in a while and do something for someone else, something for our community, something we can be proud of,” said Hodson. “Every kid here can be at the beach or home playing video games or at the ball field. Instead, they’ve all chosen to be here.”

On Wednesday morning, a small army trickled in, including 23 children, outside Anthony’s house. “It’s the most we’ve ever had in a single day,” Hodson said. People are hearing about it through friends and social media — the event was posted on Facebook — and coming to find out how they can help.

Clark Blackwell, 15, arrived with his mother, Chris Blackwell, a dentist who took the day off from work. What made him choose this? “Just to give back,” said the Gilford 10th-grader who spend the day painting shutters and outside walls. “The community has done so much for us,” he said. “There’s so many services that we use so it’s nice to give back to people. It makes you feel happy and grateful. If it’s being done for other people, maybe it’s going to come back for you.”

“I think it’s important that we demonstrate for our children what it means to be a community,” his mother said. “It makes me feel like I’m giving to others what someone like Diane has given to me. She’s inspired not only me, but my family.”

Evan Lovine, 18, of Sarasota, Florida, is using four days of volunteering here to satisfy his community service requirements at his high school, while he and his family vacation here at their summer house. “It feels good, I guess, to help people,” said Lovine, who spotted the volunteer project on Facebook.

Al Rollins, 87, has been here every day since Friday, including throughout Tuesday’s rain, measuring and cutting boards for the back deck that volunteers will build together. “If you don’t make plans, it’s hard to connect everything right,” said Rollins, screwing boards and supports in place after most of the volunteers had left for the day. “I’m going to miss playing basketball tomorrow because I’ll be here.”

One of the gifts to everyone has been bringing together a wide ranges of ages to work for a common cause with visible, important results.

“It’s wonderful to work with the kids,” said Rollins. “I think they get a sense of community and working towards a common goal. They help each other make that goal, even if it’s just holding a ladder.”

At a time when youth mental health needs a lift, volunteer projects can build self-esteem, sense of purpose, and outward thinking.

“We did this last year. It’s a great experience for them and me,” said Caroline Drouin of Gilford, a pre-school teacher who came with her sons Curtis and Jacoby, ages 7 and 11. “It’s great to see the community together for someone who needs a little help.”

Local resident Donna Snow said the yearly project is a continuation of her daughter Mary’s gold award project for Girl Scouts in 2011, before she graduated from Gilford High School in 2012. It’s remarkable, she said, to see the tradition continued — and thriving. “We’ve been keeping it up ever since,” said Snow. “We’ve never had trouble finding a house to do.”

What is the personal reward to the laboring team?

“Just to see the happiness of the homeowners and the relief they feel to get this work done, and the amazement that so many people would come to help them. This year has been great because there are so many ages,” said Snow. “Some of the kids are surprised at the things they can do, and that they actually have skills to help someone. Some have never been on ladders or behind a wheelbarrow until now, she said, and it helps that they have invited friends. “They get tired, but I haven’t heard any whining,” said Snow. “You give them a piece of pizza and it’s made their day.”

Though everyone was working hard, “Everybody was laughing,” said Anthony, admiring a new garden created where a overgrown rhododendron had been pulled out. “Tomorrow I want to dance,” she said, smiling.