I admit, I have a pretty strong work ethic. But this weekend, volunteers from across the community kept up a staggering work pace that – well frankly – outpaced me!

We began at 8:00am Saturday morning. The goal? paint our admin/counseling building, affectionately known as The Pink House, dig an 80’ trench 18” deep, bury phone lines, build raised garden beds out of leftover aluminum siding and finally fill the garden beds! This was such a huge project – who would be crazy enough to help?

We started slow with just 3-4 volunteers at first; then one more… then another. Then a crew of 8 boys and 3 adults came, a few families with members of all sizes and – BOOM! – at the highest point, we had 31 folks hard at work! In total, 40 people came out to help. Many of these volunteers served as part of CityServe, a community service effort in conjunction with Fairbanks CityFest. The Pink House got painted (brown!), the trench was HAND dug, line buried, and when I left at 9:00p.m., the Midnight Garden Fairy, her family and crew were going strong — building the coolest raised beds on the planet! (and they really did work until midnight!)

Through a fierce windstorm, a 3+ hour power outage, rain, not enough tools, and wrongly purchased parts, volunteers were resourceful, and generous with time and pocketbooks as they ran trips to stores for more of everything. We are so blessed!!

Tipping our paint brushes to all our Fairbank’s Friends including Pastors Andy & Mary Ekblad and the CityServe organizers, Clearchannel Media for helping to get the word out, and all of our wonderful volunteers… If not for you!

– Marylee