Meet my Neighbors: Make it Happen 2012

Ty Pennington has -nothing- on Springfield when it comes to "Extreme Home Make-overs".

The Make It Happen event started in 2010 with Miss Maggie’s house (read about it and find pictures  here) on 2nd Street. Preservation SOS organized a day where the neighborhood would show up to make small repairs, paint and landscape Miss Maggie's house.  The experience was just as amazing as the transformations you see on Studs'R'Us HGTV and they happen here, in our neighborhood!

Since then there have been two other successful Make It Happen Events (see a few pictures of Oscar's and Kenneth's home transformations here), all because of a nomination and participation of caring neighbors. 

This summer, Preservation SOS teamed up with The Well at Springfield, and together we were excited to Make It Happen for Ms. Mattie!
Ms. Mattie is a senior, long-time Springfield resident of more than 30 years who lives in a cute little bungalow in our neighborhood. More than 50 neighbors gathered over the course of the day to paint, landscape, and fix up the outside in order to help Ms. Mattie. All supplies were donated. Hard to believe, eh? That is Springfield, in a nutshell.

I stayed, scraped, and painted until the heat got the better of me and made me slink back into the cool darkness like a Vampire at dawn. These projects bring out the best in all of us, and they nourish our souls, for a lack of better description. Here are a few pictures of the event that happened in July.

 Eager volunteers arriving in the early morning (to beat the heat -and- the clock)

 Supplies, supplies, supplies!

 Scraping, digging, spreading gravel

 Teamwork!

 Neighbors lending a hand

 Lunch break!

Two neighbors went all out and set up a fantastic lunch buffet 

for the volunteers. OH-MY-GOD, it was SO good!

 Amazing transformation (and a hint of things to come at the Ugly Duckling)

Big change