Peeking through the Vines.
In August, we began promoting our Wheels 4 Barton Pay It Forward Campaign, where for donations we receive for an accessible van, we are serving our local community. We chose three local organizations to work with, Raleigh City Farm, Read and Feed, and Habitat for Humanity of Wake County. We’ve started Paying It Forward- and we’re having a blast!
Cleaning the walls make a great prayer for the family moving in.
On September 11th, we spent a reflective and phenomenal day working on a house, which is part of a Habitat for Humanity project (finishing 8 houses and starting 8 more in Apex).
And today, we played downtown Raleigh with Raleigh City Farm, planting seeds in a raised bed and cleaning up trash and vines that surround the farm plot.
Later this fall, we’ll go through volunteer training and read to at risk youth, collaborating with Read and Feed.
Barton and Megan at Raleigh City Farm.
What we’ve learned through this fabulous project:
• Volunteering is a great way to meet new people in the community making a difference.
• Volunteering creates time to serve others, instead of being so focused on the worries and challenges that take up space.
• Laughter and good spirits. Everyone is so positive and optimistic; it’s contagious!
This is our dream, an accessible Honda Odyssey mini-van with a motorized side ramp and a removable first seat so Barton can sit upfront. It’s a tool so that we can reach even more families impacted by disability (and all families)! We’re getting closer, and hopefully by December, when our non-accessible Honda dies, we’ll be able to move forward.
Contribute to Wheels 4 Barton and keep us busy in our community!!
Barton and Megan Cutter washing dust off the walls.
A Poem on September 11th
Dust
Side by side,
we wash dust off of walls
with white rags
moving in slow strokes wall by wall,
smoothing out imperfections
along the way.
As we work, we remember how dust fell on New York City
how streets, cars, and faces were covered
by dust, blood and tears.
We wonder about the soul of this house,
the hands that built these walls,
the lives to be lived inside kitchens and bedrooms.
Each person’s task essential,
creating a community quilt
built upon hope, dedication and perseverance.
We wipe away built-up layers,
creating a smooth surface, ready for a splash of color.
Wringing rags out in a bucket of water,
swirls of murky white
drip down the side.
And we begin again.
~Megan M. Cutter
© 2013