Nailed It! [West VA] - Day 2

January 6, 2014

There was ice not only on the cars this morning, but inside on the windows, as well. We were supposed to stay in an abandoned church, but the broken heating system, and below freezing temperatures drove us toward Oak Hills, a nearby more established town. 

There, we had a little extra time, so we got breakfast at a little place called Café One Ten. [Origin of name unknown.] They had the best music playing – Soft Rock station on Pandora, if anyone is interested.

Huge supply closet

Upon arriving at the second SALS location in Oak Hills, we were welcomed into a very homey atmosphere. We immediately started work – fully representing our busy-body Rutgers selves. We did some heavy lifting and spent a good amount of time assembling bunk beds. Although we were meant to sleep in these bunk beds the duration of our trip, the beds were also to be used by the many other volunteers that would come in the future. Vickie, our main point of contact, told us SALS was expecting about 100 volunteers in a few months, and thus, the beds assisted in establishing a true volunteer site.

Assembled bunk bed

We all also got a tour of the building. The entrance opened into a family-style dining area, with a large kitchen visible in the back, and hallways to the left. Turning left down a hallway led to old classrooms (now converted into rooms with beds) and bathrooms, while a right directed one to the old school gymnasium. It was being restructured. There are three floors total. We slept, cooked, and ate on the first floor. The second floor was to be explored and worked on another day. Some families lived on the third floor. There is also a basement filled with a ridiculous, unimaginable amount of things, primarily hardware/construction-related.

Old gymansium - can you see me on the scaffolding? So high!

For lunch that day, the SALS staff provided us with delicious turkey soup and grilled cheese. We went grocery shopping to Grant's Supermarket as a group in the evening. We broke up into teams to get ingredients. I was on the breakfast team, and our cart had things like bagels, eggs, butter, cereal, and oatmeal (including the one with dinosaur eggs – please tell me someone else remembers the awesomeness of that). There may or may not have been two tins of refrigerated cinnabon dough, too. #indulgence. After we collected our groceries, we came back and made tacos for dinner.

oh hey Rico

xoxo, Yatee