A Great Experience – Volunteering with All Hands and Hearts

Volunteering with All Hands and Hearts in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico was one of the best things I have ever done. Puerto Rico, especially Yabucoa, needs help, and All Hands and Hearts is making a huge impact.

If you aren’t aware of what happened in Puerto Rico, here’s a quick summary:

Puerto Rico was hit by category 5 Hurricane Maria in September 2017. Parts of the island were destroyed by this powerful storm. Homes were ruined, power was nonexistent, and already struggling people were left hurting. 8 months later, and they are still struggling. Hurricane Maria touched down in Yabucoa first, and only 40% of their power has been restored.

8 months. I don’t know about you, but when my wifi goes out for an hour, I’m pissed and want to know what the problem is. Can you imagine not having electricity for 8 months and not having any idea if or when it will be restored?

I can’t. National Geographic released an article that does a decent job of showing the devastating effects of Maria.

Harvard just released a study putting the death toll at around 4,600 people.

4,600.

Suicide rates have increased.

Roofs are leaking. Mold is growing. Windows and doors need to be replaced. Electricity needs to be restored. The people there need help. And hope.

Thankfully, the heroes at All Hands and Hearts are there for them.

All Hands and Hearts is a nonprofit organization that helps communities after natural disasters. Over 50,000 people have volunteered with them, and they’ve impacted over a million people. Their work sounds incredible from their website, but witnessing it first-hand was even better. Read ALL about them here.

Or watch this video of one of the founders here.

A mountain-side home in Yabucoa

I wrote about my week of volunteering during my plane ride home and wanted to share it here:

Life-changing. That’s what this week was. I had been looking for and hoping for something like this. Something that would give me a sense of purpose and allow me to help those who need it. Thanks to a series of events and a long google search, here I am.

Here I am with the knowledge that an abandoned school in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico is full of volunteers. Full of strangers who are now friends. Full of people from all walks of life who showed up because they wanted to do good for others. And full of kind, loving, weird humans who are making SUCH a difference in the world.

It’s not just Yabucoa. It’s the world. Everyone who experiences what is happening with All Hands and Hearts goes back to their part of the world with a renewed hope in humanity. I will go back to Nashville with hope and love in my heart, knowing that I’ve witnessed something special. Hope and love spread. I will wake up with a new, better mindset. And that will affect me and everything and everyone in my life.

All Hands and Hearts is changing the world through every single person involved.

Every person who volunteers, every person who works for them, every person who gets assistance, and every person in the communities in which All Hands and Hearts is embedded. We are all making the world a better place.

I wanted to go to Puerto Rico to help after seeing videos and photos of how Hurricane Maria had destroyed the island. The fact that they are a part of the United States, but we didn’t make them feel that way really affected me. I hated knowing that they felt forgotten, abandoned.

Southwest flies to San Juan, and I happen to have a lot of Southwest points. I’m also in a transition period in my job. One night I spent 2 hours googling “volunteering in Puerto Rico,” “serving in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria,” and every other form of these you can think of. I also scoured facebook pages and tripadvisor forums. I was so determined but thought I failed to find anything worthwhile. My search seemed futile, and I gave up.

I booked a plane ticket to Puerto Rico anyways and hoped my tourist dollars would help. (Even if this post doesn’t convince you to volunteer with All Hands and Hearts, I would 100% recommend taking a vacation to Puerto Rico. It truly is an island of enchantment.)

Weeks later, I received an email stating that I had been accepted as a volunteer for a week in Yabucoa with All Hands and Hearts.

What? Where’s Yabucoa? Why don’t I remember filling out this application? I can’t justify going to Puerto Rico twice in one month. I don’t know anything about home repair.. can I even make a difference?

But after a billion questions and emails with All Hands and Hearts staff, I found myself booking a 2^nd flight to San Juan.

A bunch of the amazing humans of All Hands and Hearts hanging with the locals in Yabucoa

I had almost zero expectations.

I did think the accommodations would suck. And that the showers would be ice cold. I thought I would feel very inadequate, having no experience in the work we would be doing. And I thought I’d be so ready to leave after a week.

I was wrong about all of these.

The work is hard.

All Hands and Hearts talks to the community and asks what they need most. There are 3 types of work in Yabucoa: Roofing, Sanitation, and Critical Repair.

Roofing involves prepping the roof – removing old, destroyed sections, laying down concrete, etc. and applying sealant. I did this for my week. It’s not easy, it’s hot (duh), and it’s also Puerto Rico’s rainy season. Our patience was tested when we would spend 2 hours leaf blowing the roof dry, only for it to downpour again. You’re back at square one because the roof has to be dry to lay sealant. But the views and satisfaction of fixing a roof make it oh so worth it.

Sanitation involves removing mold and spraying to kill it. I was told it’s like hot yoga. You’re in a PPE suit, so you’re covered in sweat. Then you make small movements to scrape the mold, sometimes while squatting or laying down. It’s a hilarious description but sounds miserable and difficult.

Critical repair teams repair windows, doors, and other things.

Drying the roof before we can apply sealant

Each team has a Team Leader and 2-5 others. What’s incredible about each team is that it’s a bunch of strangers thrown together for a day, learning new things, in tough conditions. It sounds like a recipe for disaster, yet everything works out. You get it done because you all have the same, passionate goal of helping the people of Yabucoa. All Hands and Hearts doesn’t expect you to be a professional roofer. They just want you to learn, work hard, and be there with them.

All Hands and Hearts has a list of over 900 homes in Yabucoa that have requested assistance. They prioritize first by focusing on the elderly, homes with children, and those with disabilities. They then do assessments of the homes to see which ones need help most.

The people are so grateful.

The woman living in the home of my first roof repair cooked all 6 of us lunch. Her neighbor told us that whenever we come back “home” to Puerto Rico, we always have a place to stay at his house. At our second house, the mom and grandma made us so much coffee. I’m usually a 1 cup a day person, so I was jittery as heck by the end of those work days. The people there have so little, but they go out of their way to show their immense appreciation.

Lunch made by the wonderful homeowner at our first roof

The locals love us, whether we’ve done work on their homes or not, and I have a feeling it has to do with the hope that I felt. They’re not forgotten by us. They’re watching the most caring people rebuild their little town.

Let me try to explain the caring people who find themselves in the company of strangers, in a place far from home.

They are there because they have a calling to serve others. That is the basis of everyone’s journey to All Hands and Hearts.

Because of this, the volunteers and staff are the most amazing people. Heroes, really. They’re kind, fun, accepting, respectful, and loving.

I have never experienced such an accepting group of individuals. There was no judgment. Only love.

One volunteer said he thinks we are all a little broken or we are all running from something, and that’s how we end up there. Maybe he’s right.

But there, under our pavilion, brokenness is accepted and uniqueness is encouraged. People can be themselves. 100% themselves. And I just don’t think that’s easy to find in our worlds.

Everyone stays at an abandoned school building. They finally got electricity back after months without it. (Hallelujah!) Local women cook delicious dinner, and they provide breakfast and lunch on work days. Bunkbeds are set up in the school rooms. The base can hold 90, and there were 40-50 while I was there. The showers are great. And no one snored!

The pavilion and school building

You work from 8-5, shower, then go to the local colmado/bar. Everyone talks, celebrates the day’s successes, and hangs out with the locals.

All Hands and Hearts holds nightly meetings to discuss progress, add meeting notes, and listen to goodbye speeches.

The goodbye speeches are a big deal. People come from all over, they develop friendships, and they are greatly affected by this place. Whether you’re there for 3 days or 3 months, it can trigger some deep emotions.

One of my team members quoted this during his goodbye speech:

”I slept and dreamt that life was joy.

I awoke and saw that life was service.

I acted and behold, service was joy.”

Team sealing “the roof from hell.”

One week changed my life.

I plan to do many more trips with All Hands and Hearts. I called it a fantasy land, and it was that for me. Sometimes I question what I’m doing with my life, if I’m making a difference, etc. But there.. I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Helping others is my calling. It’s why I’m a nurse. Being able to serve others with a team of new friends who wanted to do the same.. It was my ideal world.

Me in front of the completed roof!

If you would like to donate to All Hands and Hearts, please make a donation on their site. Every bit helps!

If you would like to volunteer (and you should), visit their site to apply.

Thank you thank you thank you to everyone involved in All Hands and Hearts for giving me hope and for being there to serve. The world is better because of you.

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