The Miracle Foundation has been doing a bit of “spring cleaning” in the midst of a blazing hot summer!

We kicked things off in June by gathering volunteers, interns, and staff members to prepare the exterior of our 100-year-old “home” office for a fresh new coat of paint that would last. Thank goodness we had Barbara Joubert, TMF’s Travel Coordinator and resident handy-woman. It just so happens Barbara has a background in building design and years of experience with remodeling. She was indispensable in guiding us through this process! With sandblasters, gloves, scrappers, masks, and grubby clothes the crew was quite the sight. It took several days in the hot, humid Austin weather to finally make some progress.  Then our local fix-all/painter Fernando Grone gave the house a beautiful new butter cream coat of paint with white trim and the perfect pop of color—an orange door!

On Saturday, July 17, 2010 the house make-over continued with the tackling of several outside projects, including the shed. The shed has been or “go-to” storage house but as TMF has grown so have our supplies. We simply were running out of room in the main office and in the shed. Thus, it was time for some much need re-organization!

Temperatures soared into the 90s, but that did not stop our highly motivated and giving volunteers and staff members who helped with the clean-up starting at 8 am. While a handful of volunteers painted, planted flowers and washed windows, others stood in front of the shed, ready to take on “the beast.” The beast was an old oversized (very heavy!) wooden cabinet that was taking up far too much room inside the shed. After a collective deep breath, the beast was finally conquered. All items inside were removed and the cabinet was hauled out.

Other items from the shed—the metal filing cabinets, showerheads, and forgotten saris—were also removed and closely evaluated.   A few ‘for keep’ items did find their way back inside. Some were not so lucky and ended up in the trash pile, while others found new homes.

As 1 pm rolled around, volunteers and staff were elated to see the shed straight and in order, its windows clean, the yard cut, and beautiful flowers planted.

The outside of The Miracle Foundation was not the only make-over recipient that day. As workers labored under the sun, a select few took on the inside. Fernando once again came to our rescue, fixing some of the office’s troubled foundation spots and repainting the main room with a fresh coat of orange. The vibrant wall color popped under the newly renovated Ambassador photo gallery. Much thanks to volunteer, Tony Becker and TMF’s Barbara who worked diligently at creating and implementing an innovative way to showcase our fabulous Ambassadors.

Other achievements like rearranging furniture, a little redecorating and organizing also helped to pull things together. We even have a beautiful new Indian-style lantern hanging outside the front door (be sure to check it out at night when you drive by).

All of this would not have been possible without the help of the many individuals who took time out of their day to work tirelessly in the heat. The Miracle Foundation is extremely grateful and would like to thank the volunteers, the staff and Lola and Chapman (the dogs) for their hours of work! Please feel free to stop by the 6^th Street office and say hello and see all the new improvements. 🙂