The Teaser
18 PAX crushed the frozen tundra in and around the Lake Norman area and placed a serious beat-down on the fresh snow powdered 3 acre property of Hope House in Huntersville. These highly skilled men of purpose used every piece of arsenal at their disposal: 4×4 Diesel Powered Pickups, 4×4 Mid-sized gasoline powered pickups, a bad-ass Jeep Wrangler Rubicon (winch attached if needed), even a full-sized soccer mom Suburban was spotted with our very own Outlaw inside. The mobile fleet of 4-wheel weaponry for this mission was so impressive that tickets could have been sold and a make-shift monster truck event performed. What we didn't see were any Toyota Prius' or Chevy Volts sliding in under these conditions and I'm sure none of these hard-chargers would even admit to owning one. One PAX, Canuck, even had the forward thinking to include a hand-truck in his 4×4 Ford Ranger, a very tactical manuver indeed for this special operation.
Words from "The Hammer"
At 9:00 am, Debbie O'Handley, the executive director, briefly spoke to the circle of PAX about the history, mission and purpose of the Hope House Foundation and provided an inspiring message and powerful prayer to begin our service project. During this discussion, the PAX learned Debbie is very familiar with the men of F3 and seems she was already given a nick-name, "The Hammer". We quickly let her know about FIA (Females In Action).
Assembling the Team
The #3rdF and #hopehouse_third_f channels on Slack were posted by YHC a few weeks prior to gauge interest, and in parallel, communicating with Debbie O'Handley on the specific needs. The PAX showed immediate interest and announcements were made during the COT's and a standard pre-blast was tweeted for this event. It was quicly determined that we could provide at least 4-6 PAX for this particular service project but leading up to even a day before the project it was unknown to anyone how many men would show up. Fast Forward to less than 12 hours before the event and YHC's AT&T-powered cell phone began blowing up with text messages from Moses. "Caesar, Einsein, and Stromboli will be there in the morning", a phone call from Moses, "Oh and by the way Soprano and Outlaw will be there", "Oh and by the way MacBeth will be there", "Oh I think Hippie may show up after 10", and on and on….. At this point, YHC is already having visions of an entire Army showing up on the property of Hope House. Reflection: Moses has always reminded YHC of a well trained Border Collie, always circling, always prodding, always nipping at men's heels, herding them to take action and in this case it proved effective. In short, a team of 18 men were assembled that laid the foundation for the work which was needed on Saturday morning. YHC inadvertantly tweeted 16 in #f3counts but that was incorrect.
The Thang
Immediately upon "The Hammer's" introductory message, PAX were instructed to divide and conquer as Debbie and her staff directed PAX to a large trailer on the property, containing volunteer donations. These heavy and random items were quickly removed in assembly line formation and loaded onto several awaiting pickup trucks. The items included furtiture, TV's, a mattress, and other miscellaneous household items which were not needed or not usable. Some of the PAX made Goodwill runs in their trucks, while others carried donations into the basement of the main house on the property to be sorted and used at some point in the future. Outlaw covertly made a much needed repair on hanging doors in a downstairs closet while activity outside continued in an organized. Overall it was a fast and efficient operation which finished much quicker than anticipated given a team of 18 HIMs.
Moleskin/Remarks
- Thanks Blackbeard for adding a new label called "3rd F" to post BB for events like this! Within 5 minutes of YHC pinging Blackbeard on Twitter, a new label was setup. Wow that's better than service at Chik-Fil-A
- Thank you Canuck for your donation of a sled for the residents of Hope House
- FNG-1 (Peter Clark, YHC's friend and neighbor)
- FNG-2 (Justin, MacBeth's nephew)
- FNG 3-5 have F3 names but not found? (Plumb Bob (Brooks), Atomic Dog(Dalton), and The Scorch (Jimmy))
- Several PAX gathered for coffeeteria at neighby Summit Coffee in Huntersville
YHC truly grateful to be a part of this project and overwhelmed at the eagerness, enthusiasm, and sheer effort the PAX displayed on Saturday.