LIVINGSTON – Sixty volunteers gathered on Saturday, Nov. 16 to aid a community in Livingston through service projects such as raking leaves, cleaning out gutters and trimming hedges. Rock the Block is a partnership between Upper Cumberland Habitat for Humanity (UCHFH), Envision Livingston and Hutchinson to beautify a neighborhood in Livingston. The event was planned by a committee of community volunteers: Trent Carter, AmeriCorps member with Habitat; Barbie Roberts of Envision Livingston and Jessica Feazell and Bryan Dyer of Hutchinson.
“Through my experience at Rock the Block, I have got to hear some really touching personal stories from the residents,” says Bryan Dyer, committee member and employee of Hutchinson. “Then helping these same people beautify their homes afterward makes it all worth it to me.”
Of the 51 homes in the neighborhood, 23 were impacted by this event. Many residents expressed their gratitude through helping the volunteers with the projects and providing snacks and drinks for those involved.
“It was such a joy to see a neighborhood transformed in a matter of hours and to see the attitudes of residents change just by providing some assistance with their yard work,” said Trent Carter, AmeriCorps member and community outreach coordinator for UCHFH.
Envision Livingston is a citizen-action committee formed to encourage residents to take pride in improving and beautifying properties and to recognize and award those who have made efforts that result in pleasing appearances to homes and other properties within the Town of Livingston. Community unity and outreach is their number one priority. For more information, call Barbie Roberts at 931-823-1687 or follow them on the Envision Livingston Facebook page.
Upper Cumberland Habitat for Humanity constructs and sells homes to qualified low-income families. Serving both Overton and Putnam County, UCHFH is a non-profit Christian housing ministry that builds simple, decent and affordable homes in partnership with God and families in need. UCHFH has recently expanded in Overton County with a repair program called Neighbor 2 Neighbor. N2N is for residents of Putnam and Overton counties who need repairs done to a home that they currently own and live in. For more information on UCHFH, contact Trent Carter at 931-823-1710 or visit their website, www.uchabitat.org.
