Welcome to the Toolshed

“Hi, you’ve reached the smallest, greenest house in Green Hills. Leave a message for Chasie, Patrick, Tara, or Jeff, and we’ll get back to you.” -our answering machine

It is no lie to say that we live in the smallest and greenest house in the neighborhood. In fact, many people apparently don’t realize that it is a house where people live. We have had people come up onto our patio and use our hose. Yesterday, we had to do some creative driving to get out of our driveway since someone parked right in front of it. We don’t know if our house, which is called “the toolshed” by people in the church, is painted dark green because that’s what paint was available or because they want this little cement block and wood structure to blend in as much as possible to the leafy Green Hills neighborhood we live in. I think the Toolshed looks like a cabin from some summer camp from the outside. The inside is very nice, and has been well maintained. Apparently our “less than 600 square foot” house at the rear of the church property actually was used to store tools for a while.

I have a feeling that by July, it will not be the cramped living conditions of the NEP house that will be the lasting memory from this year, but it will be the people who lived in it and the experiences we have shared that will stay with each of us. As Chasie said the other evening, “can you imagine how close we will be by the end of this year?”

Here is an introduction to the four Young Adult Volunteers living and serving together this year with the Nashville Epiphany Project.

Originally from Richardson, Texas, Patrick recently graduated from UT-Austin, where he majored in mechanical engineering. He is a big Longhorns football fan as we have witnessed on the last few Saturdays. Patrick was involved in his campus ministry at UT and while there felt like he might be feeling a call to ministry, though he is still discerning whether that call is to seminary and professional ministry or not. Patrick has one younger brother. Patrick is a laid back guy, and is always willing to be our resident expert in doing things like using tools and putting up shelves. He introduced us to a terrible card game called Set. He gets up early and rides his bike, making the rest of us feel guilty.

In Nashville, Patrick is working at Preston Taylor Ministries. PTM works with children who live in the Preston Taylor homes, a public housing project, with a strong emphasis on increasing reading skills. Patrick is coordinating a lunch buddy program, and has been eating lunch in school cafeterias many days.

Tara is from Blowing Rock, North Carolina, near Boone in the mountains. She graduated this spring from Wake Forest, home of the Demon Deacons, with a double major in Spanish and religion. Her interests include BBT (Barbara Brown Taylor), fake banana flavoring, and DCWL (Diet Coke with Lime). Tara is passionate about social justice issues, including those related to Latin America. She is thinking about going to seminary, though she is not sure exactly what she wants to do after that yet. Tara has one younger sister.

Tara is working with Conexion Americas this year in Nashville. Conexion is a fairly new organization that advocates for Nashville’s
quickly growing Hispanic population, and helps new immigrants adapt to life here. Tara has had the chance to be involved in responding to local issues like a proposed English-only ordinance and hate crimes against Latinos.

Chasie (rhymes with Stacy) is our resident Tennessean, hailing from Chattanooga. She graduated from Rhodes College, a small Presbyterian school in Memphis, with a major in Spanish. Chasie is very close to her three siblings, all of whom are younger. She wishes that she could find someone to play tennis with, and enjoys running on occasion. She also likes to sing.

Chasie’s site placement in Nashville is with the Martha O’Bryan Center, which serves the residents of the James Cayce Homes, Nashville’s most densely populated area of poverty, located in an area where crime and violence is commonplace. She has been experiencing many of the services that Martha O’Bryan offers in her first two weeks, but will probably be working mostly with adult education programs.

Well, if you’re reading this you probably already know me, but I’ll tell you about myself anyway. I am from Terre Haute, Indiana, and graduated in August from Indiana State University with a major in political science. I am close to my family
and have a younger brother and sister. I enjoy music and dislike playing games that use reasoning and thinking such as Scrabble. I was beat by a score of 165-50 by a homeless man
just this week.

I am working this year at the Campus for
Human Development, which works with Nashville’s homeless population. My day at work typically includes working at the support desk, loading the vans that go to various locations, sitting in the day room talking with people and providing hospitality, sorting mail, working in the store, sorting mail, entering points for use in the store, handing out mail, and sorting mail.