BDM trip Detroit

This was my first trip to our site in Detroit. This incredible building is the largest site I've visited in my sixteen years of disaster response. A monastery full of history.
The two home owners I worked for made my trip. Two African American women without a man in their life, made helping them such a blessing. Helping folks unable to help themselves is why we do this!!

Wonderful Spirits Can Be Found Anywhere!!

One never knows where they might meet people who will inspire you. Penny and I were on a trail in Gatlinburg, Tenn. on Thursday, March 30th. A woman wearing a University of Michigan hat caught our eye. She was a woman of retirement age climbing by a waterfall where only the youth dared to go. I know I didn't dare climb where she was climbing. As she come down I knew I wanted to make conversation with her. She was about to make the last leap on to slippery rocks when I grabbed her arm knowing she would surely slip and get hurt. When she landed she knew I had kept her from getting hurt, and thanked me. I asked her three times if I had hurt her arm or shoulder. She said I did not.
She took off her cap to show her hair was now growing back. Whether her head had been shaved, or had fallen out we don't know, but her body language spoke of a person who had received a second chance at life.
You would swear you were watching a ten year old climbing all over large rocks with the ease of a child. We left wishing we could spend time hearing her story. We gave her our blog card and if she reads this, I hope she knows she made an impact on us.
I will never forget the childlike spirit we met that day, and only hope to have the vigor for life as we all seen from her. I know she impacts people wherever she goes, with her joy for life.