The moment we arrived in Greensboro, AL, we knew it was a special place. Getting to our house was very exciting even though all of us were pretty tired from exams and assignments we had just finished. Greensboro is a small town in west Alabama and happens to be the catfish capital of the state. The population of the town is just over 2,000 and most of the citizens are catfish farmers or work in a family business of some kind. The town’s population has declined over the years, increasing the poverty level and crime rate. HERO Housing’s mission is to help the town overcome these struggles by providing community revitalization, affordable housing and home care to those who need it.
On official day one, we met our fellow worker, Dexter, who helped us clear out an abandoned medical building that had a lot of furniture and wooden beams inside. We moved these items to a nearby house that had a lot of fire damage, but was still beautiful. After clearing out the building, we were able to walk downtown for a while and go to one of their many thrift stores and the library. After an exhausting day, dinner and sleep were very rewarding.
The next day, our team split and worked on different projects. Half of us painted the inside of the building that we cleared out the previous day and took up the floor boards. A few of us were able to meet Greg, an employee of HERO. We went to his house in Newbern, AL to get materials for the other project. This group helped a woman who was having water damage in her basement and they dug a trench that rerouted the water. After work, we were able to go see the Auburn Rural Studio, a program that is ran by the Auburn College of Architecture. The buildings and layout of the property were incredible and we loved exploring and finding Auburn logos around the campus. After our excursion, a few us also helped man named Myron move his storage trailer. After a lot of redneck engineering, we were able to level the trailer. Then it was time for a rewarding dinner of spaghetti and to relax and play Spicy UNO and Mafia, hit games among our group.
Our last full work day, an employee of HERO, Leigh Anne told us a little of the history of Greensboro and her work with HERO, which was very interesting and answered a lot of questions that we had about the town and its history. Our work that day consisted of clearing out a bicycle shop that was owned by HERO and organizing a local thrift store and some of us even found some items that we never thought we needed. After working, we went to a local gas station and watched the end of the Auburn game. We were glad to be able to cheer on our tigers, even with a loss. After a few board games, we debriefed and talked about all the work we had done that week. While writing encouraging notes to each other, we laughed about all the memories we made throughout the week and how much we loved this trip
