Day 5: Farewell to Baltimore and Believe in Tomorrow

It was with mixed emotions that the SEEDS crew headed to work this morning. We were all very sad to be leaving the beautiful Believe in Tomorrow facilities and the very special and caring people that work at them. We are also very sad to be leaving the fine city of Baltimore and to be leaving each other. We've grown as a team and have developed a great sense of rapport and camaraderie during our stay.

That being said, we are also excited to be heading home - excited to see our families and friends, excited to spread the word about our good deed doing, and excited about the prospect of sleeping in our own beds.

Our last chores were to scrub the walls of each kitchen of the Children's House at Johns Hopkins, plant numerous flowers in tree boxes and the gardens, and turn a wagon into a "welcome" flower box to be placed in front of the building. Before leaving, we said our goodbyes to the Believe in Tomorow staff who were just as grateful to have us, as we were to be able to help such an important organization.

Tonight we'll be heading out for a nice dinner at the Inner Harbor before Max and Tim head home. The girls are staying the night and will enjoy some time out on the town.

SEEDS Baltimore: the most electrifying, do-gooding, taco making, power-warshing, weeding and planting all day every day, door painting, carpet warshing, Natty Bo drinking, crab cake eatin', picture takin', nite-time blogging, wysteria training, shakin' bakin', ruff ridin, tv console building, furniture movin', coffee drinking, crackalackin, brownie baking, rootenest, tootenest, mutliple company volunteering group ever assembled in the history of everything.

Gaaahhhhhhdddd, their good!!!!

Day 4: Switching Gears

Today the SEEDS group switched houses and went to the Believe in Tomorrow Children's House at Johns Hopkins. The Children’s House at Johns Hopkins is part of the hospital housing program of the Believe In Tomorrow National Children’s Foundation. This facility offers affordable housing for families of pediatric patients who visit the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. Its purpose is to keep families together in the midst of medical crisis, to reduce stress and promote self-help and mutual support.

The SEEDS group continued it's handyman expertise and put together a new TV stand for a large community room. All 9 millions screws were placed with precision and care. Additionally, the rains held off long enough for everyone to mulch, plant, weed, trim, and clean up the secret garden beneath the wysteria vines.

The two big highlights of the day were the arrival of Kim White from Schlesinger Associates with a car full of wish list items, including a 42" flat screen tv and 8 boxes of other assorted sundries; and, the preparation of a taco dinner and ice cream sundae dessert buffet. The SEEDS crew showed excellent teamwork, with Max on ground turkey and beef duty, Carol baking brownies, Tim cooking rice, Sarah preparing the guacamole, and Kelli chopping/slicing/dicing. This was a tacopalooza not to be missed. One attendee gave the holy guacamole a huge thumbs up.

We look forward to finishing up our work at the Children's House at Johns Hopkins tomorrow. Until tomorrow... we are signing off.

the SEEDS crew

Day 3: SEEDS Strikes Back!

Today was our last day at the Believe in Tomorrow House at St. Casimir and it was a long one as we started work at 9:00 am sharp and didn't finish up until around 8:00 pm. The extra time included slaying the mighty dragon beast of a deck. We finally got to sealing the deck's upper level, tackling our biggest challenge with gusto and flair and accompanied by some rockin' hits of the 80's, 90's, and today! Naturally Max couldn't help himself and belted out a few bars, much to everyone's delight. And although we didn't get to seal the entire deck, we hope that we've left the remainder of the deck adequately prepared so that the Believe in Tomorrow staff or other volunteers can throw down a coat of sealer in the coming weeks.

We also put some more work into the gardens, preparing some lush hanging baskets, watering yesterday's fresh plantings, and further auditioning for a role as hosts for HGTV. While plenty of work was being done outside, we also tackled some indoor chores. Carol and Kelli manned the carpet shampooer and cleaned up the Believe in Tomorrow office space and various common areas.

Lastly, the ladies went grocery shopping in preparation for tomorrow night's Family Supper. We will be preparing, serving, and eating with up to 30 guests at the Believe in Tomorrow House at Johns Hopkins. You'll have to read tomorrow to find out how our delectable dinner goes - stay tuned!

With our time at St. Casimir up, we offer some #'s to help summarize our 3 days:
1500 square feet of clean carpet
150 flowers planted
40 bumps, bruises, scrapes, and splinters
12 cups of Baltimore Fire Company coffee consumed
7 apartments
5 hardworking volunteers
3 freshly painted doors
3 levels of decking cleaned and sanded
2 flesh battering power washers

Day 2: All Decked Out!

The morning started back at the Baltimore Firehouse Coffee Shop for quiche and coffee - they are giving us our own keys tomorrow.

Upon arrival for day 2 at the Believe in Tomorrow house at St. Casimir, we found that the deck needed a little more TLC. While Max and Tim powerwashed, Kelli, Sarah, and Carol divided up a few more chores. Carol mastered the art of painting doors and trim while Kelli and Sarah displayed a green thumb in planting various botanicals. The gardens were meticulously landscaped - rivaling the famed Gardens of Versailles.

There are several injury updates: Kelli has a splintered pinkie and Max is suffering from residual powerwash-induced vibration syndrome (RPIVS). Luckily, Tim, Carol, and Sarah escaped the day uninjured. Sarah anticipates a thumb abrasion for tomorrow.

After work, the SEEDS crew was given tickets (Believe in Tomorrow has been too good to us) to the Baltimore Orioles vs. Tampa Bay Rays baseball game. The Orioles won an exciting one, with Adam Jones hitting two home runs for the Orioles, leading Max to jump out of his seat and do the wave. Unfortunately Seederton could not participate, although he did have a good time (again he has no appendages).

the SEEDs Crew

Seederton - Ask and you Shall Receive

We've gotten some inquiries about Seederton, the mascot of the SEEDS group. Well Seederton is a stuffed seed and a rather seedy fellow, created before the first SEEDS trip to Beaumont, Tx. He earned his stripes on that trip, literally, as he has a white streak of paint on him from the Habitat for Humanity volunteering group. He also has other battle wounds, including a gash of mysterious origin, incurred before the handoff to the SEEDS - Baltimore crew. There is cause to believe that the gash occured under the watch of a certain Schlesinger associate whose name rhymes with Whim Kite. Seederton travels with the SEEDS group to help out with their volunteering efforts and to provide moral support.

Since he has no appendages, he doesn't do much of the heavy lifting, but he certainly makes his presence felt. On this trip, he has been seen in Max Kissel's back pocket, tossing back a beer before dinner, soaking up the sun on the rooftop of the Believe in Tomorrow House at St. Casimir, and on the lap of Jake Blues of Blues Brother's fame.









In addition to cultivating good, Seederton enjoys traveling, long walks on the beach, smooching, dancing with the stars, and baseball. Seederton's pet peeves are pollution, drought, and other assorted plagues.


Seederton is single and likes to mingle!

Day 1: Tired and Wet

No, it's not the title of the latest adult movie to go straight to video, but it sums up our first full day of volunteering in Baltimore.


We started the morning by having everyone meet up in the hotel lobby at 7:30 am. After introductions, a quick room change (the laundry and vending machines can get quite noisy), and some coffee, we drove into Baltimore and made our way to the Children's House at St. Casimir. Since we arrived quite early, we decided to walk around and found a quaint coffee shop to meet all of our caffeine desires. Fully rested and feeling the coffee buzz, we met up with Mindy and Darlene from Believe in Tomorrow, who gave us an expert tour of the facilities and provided commentary to help us understand the mission and goals of Believe in Tomorrow.


The Believe in Tomorrow house at St. Casimir provides hospital housing exclusively for pediatric bone marrow transplant patients and their families. With a full house expected in the coming weeks, there was plenty to do to prepare the facilities for Believe in Tomorrow's guests.


Our project for the day was to powerwash, clean, and sand a deck - and we don't mean your run of the mill backyard deck. This was the Taj Majal of decks... a three story, fully furnished, impressive structure with views of the Inner Harbor and an inviting garden at it's base. With Max and Tim powerwashing, the girls dutifully moved furniture, scrubbed every nook and crevice of the deck, and sanded all of the handrails. At mid-day, the Believe in Tomorrow Founder and CEO and his staff invited us to a spectacular feast of colossal crab cakes, shrimp salad, and other Baltimore specialties.


After lunch, it was more powerwashing, scrubbing, and sanding. Needless to say, everyone was tired and wet with several cases of trench foot reported by day's end.


In the evening, we headed to the Children's House at Johns Hopkins where the Believe in Tomorrow staff grilled some burgers, hot dogs, and vegetables for the weary volunteers. After a few National Bohemians (Natty Bo's to the locals), we left for the evening with our bellies full and our spirits renewed.


the SEEDS crew

We made it to Baltimore!

Max and I left for Baltimore after morning/early afternoon of Mother's Day festivities. After stopping to pick up Seederton (the unofficial stuffed mascot of SEEDS - look for him in future pictures) in an undisclosed location, dodging a few areas of dicey traffic, and singing along to some AWESOME Billy Idol tunes in the car, we made it to our hotel and checked in at around 7:00 pm. Believe in Tomorrow kindly had a gift bag waiting for us with a t-shirt and hat, as well as some other cool swag. Having not eaten since early in the day, we ventured out for some grub as we awaited the arrival of the rest of the SEEDS crew.



Kelly and Sarah arrived next and settled in for the night and to rest up for our first day of volunteering for Believe in Tomorrow. Carol was scheduled to arrive after this blogger's bed time so we'll all be meeting up this morning to catch up before heading to downtown Baltimore and the Children's House at St. Casimir.



We are all eager to get to work this morning and to help out where needed. One or all of us will be checking in throughout the week to let you all know what adventures we've taken.

Talk to you all soon!
Tim