Helping Hands: June 2009

Getting ready for Helping Hands 2009 is no mean feat... and the team behind the project have been planning with military precision since 2008!

We have been involving local Councillors and local media (including the Essex Chronicle) in searching for the perfect opportunity to MAKE A DIFFERENCE. We are often asked WHY we volunteer our time, with nothing in it *for us*... and the answer is easy! We (along with 13 million other volunteers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, as well as volunteers from other faiths) believe that serving other, serving our community is the right thing to do.

The annual Helping Hands day is observed throughout the world - and is not just confined to our efforts at the Galleywood Common! From Brazil to Botswana, and America to Africa... Helping Hands brings people together to build something worthwhile... to make our communities better.

For more information on Helping Hands projects throughout the world visit www.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/

Helping Hands help Haiti Earthquake victims start to rebuild their lives
Helping Hands cleans up areas affected by Tornadoes
Helping Hands clean up after Hurricane
Helping Hands help school in Brazil
Helping Hands in Africa
Helping Hands help 300 Brazilian Hospitals
Helping Hands youth in USA, Finland, Philippines...
Helping Hands 2009 (USA) - links to media coverage of the multi-state projects...
Helping Hands in New Zealand
Helping Hands help flood victims
Helping Hands in Tonga
Helping Hands youth in Australia

"...when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, you are only in the service of your God." (Mosiah 2:17)

Monday 22 June 2009

Counting Down... 5 days to go!

We are dropping 3500 info-filled leaflets in the area to invite our local community to *get involved* with our mammoth Helping Hands 2009 project this coming Saturday! If you live in the Chelmsford area - please stop by and get your hands dirty, wet, paint-covered and more with us...

From 8am-8pm, everyone is welcome at the Galleywood Common. Whether painting, weeding, building, sewing, pruning, sanding, or cleaning... there will be something for everyone! Bring a picnic and enjoy the day making new friends, renewing old ones from previous year's projects... and contributing to a worthwhile community project.

Helping Hands: Where many hands make a difference!

2007 Helping Hands Feedback

"What can I say about the weekend - you were all so fantastic! I can't believe the difference one day and the hard work and generosity of so many lovely people giving up their free time to help us has made to the hospital. Every project has been a credit to the teams who undertook them; the on-site administration had everything running smoothly; the children singing were enjoyed immensely by the patients and even the little ones in the creche - for whom it was a very long day - were very well behaved. It's such a shame the weather couldn't have been kinder to us.

I didn't leave the hospital until nearly 10 pm as I took the opportunity to walk the site in the peace and quiet of the evening to take it all in. I must confess that I sat and had a few tears on a bench, in the rain, as the improvements you have made were quite overwhelming. Could you please convey my personal thanks, from the bottom of my heart, to all the wonderful people who helped to make this happen. The hospital has become a much more welcoming place for patients, visitors and staff and a credit to the community. Thank you all, once again, and all I can say is... Groundforce - eat your heart out!"

Laurie Payne
Mid Essex Primary Care Trust Manager

2005 Helping Hands Feedback

"I am actually still glowing from Saturday! It's only when standing back from everything that has happened over the last few months that I can begin to appreciate it's impact fully. I can honestly say that I have never been involved in something that has been so rewarding, humbling and uplifting all at the same time - it really was an amazing experience!

Everybody involved was so keen and enthusiastic, I was walking around the site completely overwhelmed at the sheer effort being expended and I was equally amazed at the quality of the workmanship and the level of detail being applied to every aspect of the work that was being undertaken."

Head of Ipswich School

Ideas for HH Projects!

1. Spruce up, sanded and painted iron railings, swept paths, removal of moss, rid balsam

2. Abbey: removed weeds without damage to frail (original) stonework, metal fence painting,
Gardening….cleared stones, weeds, old roots; planted ground cover

3. painting, decorating, ground clearance, gardening, plumbing, carpentry, repair leaky roof, carpet cleaning

4. Community Farm make-over: litter-picking, weeding stinging nettles around paddocks, cut overgrown hedges, paint stable, repair picnic benches and old fences

5. Garden make-over: created paths, cut over grown trees, weeded and cleared ponds.

6. Weeding, painting and planting. Litter-picking around a park. Grounds by old building not worked on since flood of 1999, grounds overgrown and railings needed paint.

7. Clear undergrowth and brambles; decorated activity room in centre.

8. Clean up community park.

9. Cleared church yard of 5 foot tall weeds for elderly congregation, cleared flower beds and paths, weed rose beds, rubbish pickup, tidied rose garden and gazebo, rejuvenated a neglected nature reserve, created outdoor area for environmental studies at nursery school.

10. washed and painted toddler's playroom ceiling, mended fencing, cleaned children's desks, washed all slides and outdoor big toys.

11. Cleared larege areas of knee-high grass, created new path, scraped and painted large buildings, re-plastered external walls and repainted the following week, painted murals, stained benches, but back foliage, cleared tennis court which was invisible, cleared large rubbish dumps, sewed cushions for a local school, stained fence, created a rockery and planted flowers, trimmed all bushes and cut back ivy from buildings, repaired broken walls with new mortar and bricks, replaced broken fence posts and installed new fence panels, created new raised flower beds, sung to patients and played violins for them.

12. Cleared overgrown church yard.

13. For recreational area: children built 40 birdhouses whilst adults put up new fences, painted old fences, cleared grazing land of Ragwort, wattle fencing created from natural materials constructed in the river to hold back relentless erosion of the river bank.

14. Clearance of pond undergrowth, plant garden, repaired and constructed fencing, reconstructed a pergola, plant sensory garden, put chicken wire on bridge surface, built potting bench with access for wheelchair-using children, cleared undergrowth, built 2 child-sized benches, lay special mesh path for wheelchair access, added a post at exit for hanging wind chimes, mobiles, etc., constructed play area in field play area, classroom painting, children's project painting canvases to hang in outdoor playhouse, mural painting.

15. Clearing weeds and planting shrubs for sensory garden, transformed a well-used children's playground, painting benches, bins, railings, clearing bushes, cutting trees, litter picking, clearing graffiti, painting mural, gardening, painting picnic tables, washing playground apparatus.

16. Weeding around headstoness, clearing entrance to cemetery, barking around graves for easier maintenance, cutting back trees and bushes, planting, helping older people with their allotments who had fallen behind.

17. Gardening and litter picking.

18. Repaired and improved a workshop building for adults with learning disabilities, made new front and rear doors, lay a completely new first floor and new stable doors, cleaned and painted 11 pieces of playground equipment, cleared out copse and streams.

19. Sanded and sealed garden furniture, bandstand, resituated children's sand pit, prep work on school walls for later painting date, garden work at local residential care home, concreted lunch tables in a children's area, painted wall.

20. Landscape gardening, general tidying up, painted fences, cleaned and prepared charity farm for annual Open House, built fence at a country park.

21. Painting and gardening and assisted with a river project.

22. Cleared and turned over weed infested border, trimming grass on roadway.

23. Work at a school.

24. Cleared overgrown vegetation, cut down and pruned laurel bushes and trees.

25. Pruned trees and tidied to created better access for locals to enjoy walking withing a beautiful woodland area,
cleared community garden.

26. Built a new bridge, lay new paths, painted farm buildings, forestry work, weeding vegetable gardens and work in fields, repaired clothes, completed craft projects.

27. Cleaned up bridges, created a wildlife garden and other embellishments at a primary school, cleaned litter at a park, made repairs at a museum, cleaned up banks of a river.

28. First date postponed due to heavy rainfall…continued working in several shifts to paint fences and clean areas.

29. Refurbish and paint benches.

30. Planted garden, packaged and loaded care equipment for local chairity sending goods to Romania, power washing and external cleaning at local primary, landscaping and general repair, gardening and landscaping, clean up of grounds.

31. Clean up, painted walls, removed stones and planted shrubs.

Helping Hands

Friday 26 June 2009

Counting Down... 1 day to go!

Wednesday 24 June 2009

Counting Down... 3 days to go!

Monday 22 June 2009

Counting Down... 5 days to go!

Helping Hands projects (past & present...)

IPSWICH STAKE HELPING HANDS 2011

Contact Us

Labels

2008 Helping Hands feedback

2007 Helping Hands

2007 Helping Hands Feedback

2005 Helping Hands Feedback

Followers

We recommend...

Ideas for HH Projects!

Blog Archive

Helping Hands

Friday 26 June 2009

Counting Down... 1 day to go!

Wednesday 24 June 2009

Counting Down... 3 days to go!

Monday 22 June 2009

Counting Down... 5 days to go!

Helping Hands projects (past & present...)

IPSWICH STAKE HELPING HANDS 2011

Contact Us

Subscribe To

Labels

2008 Helping Hands feedback

2007 Helping Hands

2007 Helping Hands Feedback

2005 Helping Hands Feedback

Followers

We recommend...

Ideas for HH Projects!

Blog Archive