A Day in the Life of an ABWK AmeriCorps Member

Sometimes the worst days can actually turn out to be the best days, and today was one of those days. It all started when I put our unmarked white van into drive. There was no expected squealing of tires spinning on ice, or rocking against a snow bank—our tire was frozen solid to the ground. Mai and I finally made it to Menards in a different van after scraping off a layer of ice that covered the rear doors while Kendall went to our site to start wrapping up our project. You have to love the changing seasons!

By lunch time things were looking great. Kendall had finished painting the dining room, Mai and I had finished a coat of paint in the upstairs bathroom and it was covering well. All we had left was to cut three pieces of base shoe, install them along the stairs, caulk the downstairs bathroom, touch-up painting, reattach the sink to the wall upstairs… etc. Maybe we were a little ahead of ourselves and looking back now, I don’t know why we thought we’d get out of there early.

While I was working on the sink, Kendall sat in the bathroom with me as moral support as my frustration grew. I fought hard to return the sink to its proper position, reattach it to the wall and calk around the edge. There was no room to pull the sink away from the wall to drill a hole to install a butterfly anchor, so I slowly punched a screw through the previous hole that was accidentally mudded over. After trying everything I could imagine, I realized I wouldn’t be able to tighten the screw all the way; I couldn’t get a screwdriver or drill behind there. I felt like nothing I was doing was right. Finally, I tried to find a bolt so I could reverse the screw so the head was in the wall, and use a wrench to tighten it all the way. I slowly tightened the bolts and screws as best I could and eventually made the basin stable.

I rinsed my hands in the sink after caulking the joint and instantly heard the water flow onto the bathroom floor. Shutting off the water and looking behind the sink I discovered the tail of the drain was no longer attached to the trap. It had broken at a thread.

The next three hours were full of phone calls, the generous help of three site supervisors, and thankfully a fixed drain! As Kendall and I were on our way to Menards to pick up a new part, I had a moment to step away and saw the situation as a blessing. The piece could have dislodged or started leaking at any moment and the fact that it happened with us there; we were able to save the homeowner the cost of a plumber and the supplies… not to mention we learned something about plumbing.

After nine hours out on site, we returned to the office for a final surprise. A taxi van had tried to turn around and sunk into a pile of snow and ice. Kendall and Mai were on top of helping the guys get out. It took four of us rocking the vehicle to finally get it out of the rut. The two guys thanked us for being their saviors that evening. I had to laugh. If everything that happened earlier that day hadn’t occurred, we would have never been there for those two guys. It was another day as an AmeriCorps; we were getting things done for America.

-Kelly McDermott

Get more information about AmeriCorps positions with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.