Surgance Central

First Workday on Sewell Parent Cottage = Remarkable Results

The first workday on the C.T. Sewell Empowerment Elementary Parent Resource Cottage provided a powerful demonstration of what uncommon partners can accomplish when they come together on a common ground issue. Fifteen volunteers from Lowes, three local churches (Hope Baptist, Life Baptist, and Oikos Church) and Grace Village Vegas joined together to complete the demolition of the interior of the cottage in a whirlwind four hours. I’ve seriously never seen a group of people work so hard and so cooperatively on such a project! 

I had anticipated about 6 hours of work to complete the demolition, but our crew worked way ahead of that pace. In fact, we would have finished in a little over three hours if we had not run out of room in the construction dumpster donated by Republic Services! We had to spend about forty-five minutes finding enough room for the remainder of the discarded materials, so that slowed us down considerably. 

Over and above the speed and efficiency of our volunteer crew’s work, I was most struck by the incredibly positive attitude of every volunteer. Everyone was fully and happily engaged in every task they were asked to perform, whether the incredibly fun job of busting through a wall with a sledgehammer or the more menial task of sweeping up debris. It was particularly heartening to see the managers from two local Lowes stores covered in dust and sweat, working right alongside their employees. And one of those managers had spent the previous several days in bed with the flu! That’s a manager I would work for any day! 

I went home Saturday extremely tired AND extremely proud to be associated with such terrific partners in our community. I’m truly amazed at the quality of individuals and companies that have stepped up to the plate to make this project a reality! Seriously, when else would a pastor of a church and a national home improvement retail chain ever partner to do ANYTHING? That’s the power of uncommon partners brought together by a common ground issue. And the results are truly remarkable.

If you would like to make a contribution to enable Surgance to continue to lead community transforming projects like this all around the world, we would greatly appreciate your tax-deductible donation of any size through Network for Good:

Dr. Larson's Vision for Sewell Elementary's Community Cottage

Yesterday we had a great meeting with Dr. Larson and the staff at Sewell Elementary in Henderson to strategize the renovation of their "Community Cottage."  I grabbed some video of Dr. Larson sharing her vision for the building and wanted to share it with you all.

If you would like to make a contribution to enable Surgance to continue to lead community transforming projects like this all around the world, we would greatly appreciate your tax-deductible donation of any size through Network for Good:

rejuveNATION Las Vegas

Things are heating up out here in Las Vegas, and I'm not just talking about the 85 degree weather we're having this week! (Sorry for the bad weather metaphor, but Brian makes me do it. It's in my contract.) In all seriousness, I had a GREAT meeting today with Phil Thompson, a friend and owner of local architectural firm Visual Insights, along with Joe Haun, owner of civil engineering firm Hauntec. Both of these gentleman are donating their services and expertise to our project to help Sewell Elementary transform a run down mobile unit into a beautiful and functional learning center for the adults in their community. 

Here's a pic I snapped today of the building we're going to be applying lots of tender-loving-care to over the next few months:

Phil and Joe have also given me a number of leads and made a couple of personal introductions to some companies that are going to be vital to completing this project. I'm so grateful for men in the community like Phil and Joe who are eager to use their skills to invest in the the lives of others! Surgance IS people like Phil and Joe finding out how they can use their skills and knowledge to bring about positive change in communities! EVERYONE has something to contribute!

Surgance Partners with Elementary School to Establish Parent Resource Cottage

I just left an incredibly inspiring meeting with the administration of Sewell Elementary in Henderson, NV, along with Brian Audia, Surgance President & CEO, and rejuveNATION National Project Foreman Roy Mallory.  The ladies at Sewell have a HUGE vision for their school and community, and Surgance is honored to be partnering with them in an exciting new project to bring that vision to fruition.

Part of their vision for transforming the declining community that surrounds the school is to open a Parent Resource Cottage on the campus from which to provide the school's families with services such as literacy development, GED resources, training in marketable job skills, and providing technology for basic life necessities.  They also want to invite other social service organizations to keep regular office hours at the facility in order to better provide their services to the community.  

A local businessman has donated a mobile office "cottage" for the facility, and the school has secured a grant from the city of Henderson to cover the cost of moving the unit and setting up the basic infrastructure.  Clark County School District will set the unit up on the property and install electricity and HVAC. And that's where Surgance, through rejuveNATION, comes in.

As you can see from the above photos, the cottage needs a significant makeover, inside and out, to create the positive and empowering environment that the Sewell teams envisions.  As I said during our brief meeting to inspect the cottage, "It's a bit like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree... It just needs a lot of love!"  The building will be relocated to the school property in a month or so, after which we'll immediately begin setting up teams of volunteers to begin working on the renovation project. We are already working to secure partners from the business community to provide resources and services for the project, as well as mobilizing the community at large to get involved.

What is most exciting to me about this project is that it has the potential to become a model that is scalable and reproducible on a national level.  Imagine that, Surgance helping to expand these ladies' vision by helping other schools across the country to set up similar centers!  That, my friends, is turning ideas into impact!