ECHO - N Fort Myers Florida January 6 - 13 2018 week 1

This was our first week at ECHO in North Fort Myers, Florida.  We have had sun & warm weather as well as cooler & rainy weather.  ECHO has a big list of projects for us to work on & we were able to start several of the projects.

We are camped at Riverside Camp & Retreat Center in LaBelle, Florida.  It is about 20 miles each way to get to ECHO.

The Mennonite Disaster Response team is also parked at Riverside.  They are working in the area on Hurricane Irma recovery.

On Sunday we attended Alva United Methodist Church.  The Mennonite Disaster Team was also attending there and spoke to the congregation about their mission.

After church the team went to the Alva Diner for lunch.

We held our team meeting Sunday afternoon outside in the camping area. Nancy provided ice cream and cookies for the meeting.

After Monday Morning Devotions with the employees of ECHO we were taken on a tour of ECHO farm. The team very much enjoyed seeing the farm and learning about the mission here. The damage from Irma was evident in the trees all around the farm.

Chuck had to check out his work from last year.  It held up very well through the hurricane. There was no damage to the bunny cage barn that we built last year either.

One of our big projects is to paint the benches in the outdoor classroom.  The benches were never painted before.  The legs needed to be repaired also. The benches were removed from the building and plastic laid down before we started painting.

The first job was to move all the supplies for the different projects we have to the job sites. John used the Bobcat with pallet forks to move the stacks of lumber to the areas around the farm.

Sally started the bench project by cleaning the benches.

Betsy & Jane put new screen on the pavilion and then replaced screen on three other houses.

Gary and Mike worked on enclosing the east end of the Alternate Technology (AT) shop.They started by removing the bamboo that had been placed on the end and fixing the framing. Dennis helped decide on how to place repairs on the building. 

Susan & Sue painted primer on the outside classroom benches.

Chuck & John worked on the opposite side of the AT building. Their job is to help build a new lean-to on the west end.

On Wednesday we held our devotions in the A frame. As the shop classroom was busy.

We finally were able to start painting the benches. The colors are very bright.  We have yellow, blue, purple & orange.

Mike & Gary put the sliding on the end of the building they had rebuilt and trimmed out the corner.

Sally, Susan, Nancy & Sue put together the new power washer. They read the directions as they were putting it together.

John worked on getting the old power washer also running. 

We found several frogs & geckos while power washing.

Chuck & John used scaffolding to work on the high parts of their side of the AT Building.

Dennis did some power washing on one of the houses we needed to get cleaned before we are able to paint it.

Mike & Gary checked their work after installing the door.

We went to the Log Cabin BBQ Thursday night.  The food was very good and enjoyed by all.

Friday night we had a campfire, the wood was a little green and did not start burning very well but Dennis used his skills with lighter fluid to get it going.

Saturday night we had a potluck and enjoyed great food from all of the team. We then watched the movie "Joshua."