A Library In A Box For A Nigerian School
The Greg Raymond Ewing Library left our storage yard here in Chattanooga early Wednesday the 2nd of December. The Yates Towing crew got it loaded onto a flatbed for transport to Savannah. Hopefully, it will be in Port Harcort, Nigeria by January 5th!
Mary Grace had the opportunity to speak at the annual celebration dinner for Right Steps on October 24th. It was a great evening and it was fun to watch Mary Grace. Dr. Chi Ewenye, the director of Right Steps, delighted the girls with a traditional Nigerian dress made by the woman at Susanna Homes for Mary Grace and Anna Beth to wear to the dinner. They had head dresses to wear but they didn’t want to mess up their hair. Imagine that…
It was very good to have Greg and Amy Ewing with us at the dinner. The library is now known as the Greg Ewing Library. The fundraiser was extremely successful. Enough additional monies were raised to purchase a metal playground system for Right Steps School. This is an item that the board has desired to add to the compound for years. It was shipped to Chattanooga the week before Thanksgiving and loaded onto the library container.
I will be working at the library this afternoon. Several have expressed the desire to see it and this afternoon is your chance. We begin PACKING for shipping next week! I write that sentence with great joy.
Dr. Ekwenye heads back to Nigeria next week carrying a new sense of hope and determination.
“Today, standing here at this time, I am not thinking of the many children in Africa, in Nigeria, that will go to bed hungry,” she said. “I am thinking of love, of hope, of kindness, of generosity.”
The story ran in the Tuesday, October 27th Times Free Press. A huge thank you to Kevin Hardy who wrote the article and did a great job. He summed up the project well. Kevin also included a nice video of Chi talking to the group.
It was nice to meet Leslie Onstott, a staff photographer. She took some great pictures of the open house and the library.
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/oct/27/library-in-a-box-dreams-of-helping-nigerian/
Ken Snell from the North Atlanta Church of Christ brought Dr. Chi Ekwenye up from Atlanta on Thursday the 22nd. We had a hard time getting her to come into “The Cafe” at Clear Creek Church of Christ. She wanted to go look at the library as soon as she got to the site.
Joanne and Amy Ewing prepared a great spread for a short reception. We visited with Geoff Giseman from Shelbyville. He drove over with two new friends of ours: Mary Ellen and Buddy Koonce. Mary Ellen coordinated the collection of 13000 diapers for the ophanage. The church van was loaded down and now the container is with the diapers. It was enjoyable to see them.
We were so touched to see Mary Lillian and Frank Thomason. They came up from Dalton to meet Chi and see the library.
Kim and Will Honeycut, along with the awesome threesome: Simeon, Eli and Jessie, planned their return from vaction to be at the reception and open house. They have the ”World Next Door” free trade store downtown on Market Steet in Chattanooga. The Honeycuts also team teach a resource position at Calvin Donaldson School. They have been a trendous encouragement throughout this whole project. It was a joy to see such fantastic folks as the Honeycuts and Chi meet and visit.
Taylor Bowling became our official door greeter for the evening. Taylor’s parents, Laura and Jason, made so many parts of the library come together. Taylor’s sister Caroline was also very cute while Chi read to her in the library.
It was nice to see Carol Golden. She and Bobby have been a great encouragement. From cold beverages, fudge sundaes, helping with the shipping and literally powering the project with a borrowed generator; the Goldens have stepped in and kept us going.
Chi was very touched by Melinda Grohman and the Signal Mountain String Ensemble providing music for our reception. I was personally moved by all the Ensemble members who came to be apart of the reception.
It was good to see Buddy and Mackie Parks, Glenna Johnson, Exia Lane, Blayne and Laura Harbin, Sharon Sanders and Carol Fox. Exia was so kind to bring her bananna bread and pumpkin bread.
We were also blessed by Joanne’s aunt, Joanne Kerley. She brightens everywhere she is. I was glad she got to hear an meet Chi.
Steve and Marian May were also in the house for the reception. I appreciate them taking the time to be there, see the library and help out so much with the shipping.
Mary Grace introduced Chi to the group. Chi spoke with and about Mary Grace for several minutes. That was a highlight. Dr. Ekwenye talked about her work, the state of need in Nigeria and the children of Susanna Homes.
After Chi finished, we had a great ceremony naming the library after our good friend Greg Ewing. The library is now the Greg Raymond Ewing Library!
The second highlight was watching Chi get to see the library. Ken Snell prayed for the library. Then, Mary Grace took Chi through for the first time. Let’s just say we were late for dinner reservations later that night because of how long Chi wanted to soak up the library. It was awesome. It made all the long, hot days in August worth it.
Thank you to Melinda Grohman and the Signal Mountain String Ensemble for blessing our open house and Chi on Thursday. She and several members of the ensemble played for our reception during the open house. Chi was very touched that they would come and honor her with music.
Lorrie Allen and Larry Estepa hosted Dr. Ekwenye on the Mornings Show on Family Net TV/Satellite Radio. Chi visited the studio on Monday, October 19. Listen to her conversation on itunes.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?i=62163907&id=302180864
Read latest article about the project.
http://www.sigmtn.com/features/community/netarticles.php?articleId=1854
…But we got a ton done.
Jason Bowling and I spent last Saturday laying all the carpet. It looks fantastic.
Joanne, the kids and I got the last of the shelves up. We worked late into the night on Thursday to finish.
Mom and Dad were a huge shot in the arm today. They showed up at 8 A.M. and they didn’t quit until we finished at 6 P.M. I really appreciated their energy.
This morning, we got the truck. We got over to the storage unit. It took about 1 1/2 hours to load the books. We drove the short trip up to the construction site. I was going to pull right up to the container so it would be so it would be convenient to load right into the container. Then everything came to a screeching halt…
The rain had softened up the ground and the truck sunk right in the mud. We were quickly rescued by a nearby wrecker with a winch.
We were soon back to work. Mom quickly got our plan in order. The books look so much better on the shelf.
Dad checking out the stacks.
Mary Grace was glad to finish up a long day. She is excited to see the finish line on the whole project.
