Sun Project

Every October our stake participates in the Oceanside Sun Project.  The first year we went, we got really bitter about the whole thing.  It seemed to be a service project in which we paint a house while the residents sit inside and do nothing.  Our obnoxious mayor goes around taking publicity photos instead of helping.  We later learned that the city has a deal with the owners of these houses, pursuant to which the city handles the maintenance in exchange for the owners' renting the houses at below-market rates, or something like that.  So we're serving the city by participating.  In any case, it is still a service project in which we paint a house while the residents generally sit inside or sometimes - like this year - stand outside on the sidewalk and watch (which was disconcerting).  But we help make the low-income neighborhoods a little nicer, so that's good. 

When I say "a little nicer," I stress "a little."  We (including kids/youth) paint a whole house before lunch, so it goes without saying that we do a really bad job.  This year we painted the concrete-block fence in front of the house and stopped very sloppily (like mid-block) because the fence goes around the whole neighborhood, and we were just working on this one house. 

It was harder for me to be productive this year because we had a Dolly.  She didn't want me to put her down for a while.  Eventually she did a little painting and then just watched the goings-on.  At one point she pressed her forehead against the freshly painted fence to watch the big trucks going by.  Then she sat down by the freshly painted house, putting the back of her head into that paint.  So she looked as if she'd been hard at work.  She was really incredibly good for a long period of time.  And she was a hit in my Sun Project shirt. 

She ate two crunchy granola bars (which took her a really long time) and then part of a Luna bar.  She was in heaven.

When the house was nearly done, most of us went to the park to enjoy lunch (donated by Chick-Fil-A) while a select few finished up.  We spent a few minutes at the playground before we left.