With the sweat, dedication, and love of lots teams from St. Petersburg, Florida, other BMH volunteer groups and a wonderful partnership with St. Marks Methodist Church in Hatchet Bay, we have been able to give the building new life!  There is now a brand new roof, the exterior has been re-stuccoed, it has its first primer paint coat, and the kitchen and bathroom are near completion.  Soon everything will be complete and it will be used for youth meetings, community gatherings, after school programming as St. Marks’ church hall amongst other uses.

The time and energy that has been put into making this building a place of gathering has affected the lives of those that have given of their time to work on it as well as positively changed the community.  One of the best parts of the whole experience of working on this building has been when people like C.J., a resident of Hatchet Bay, comes to work the entire day with volunteer groups or when the children come running from the school building still dressed in their school uniforms because they are so ready to be with the volunteers they don’t even take the time to change.  It makes you realize that a new building is a wonderful thing, but changing lives is what our focus should always be.