By Showandah Terrill

When Habitat’s Colleen Robinson suggested that we gather a group of kindergarteners and have them paint shingles for the Fourth of July Habitat float, and Shele Kinkead allowed it was a fine idea, I was less than enthused. Having been a high school teacher, my image of 5-year-olds was one of frenzied little folk who talked all at once and flung things indiscriminately in whatever direction their minds were spinning at the moment.

But I said that, yes, I’d help. I went, slinking along behind in my oldest decent jeans. Pastor Pam wasn’t scared. Nora Alwarth wasn’t scared. How bad could it be? We made aprons and set out paints and lots of wet wipes on the rickety old picnic table outside FES.

Now here’s where it becomes enlightening. Those kiddos appeared ready for action. Not to wreak havoc, but to accomplish something.

They gave Nora their full attention as she explained what they were doing this for and showed them what other kids had done. They listened to Shele and Pastor Pam as they explained how to go about what they were supposed to accomplish.

They listened to Colleen as she told them where to put their shingle to dry after their picture was taken and to me as I asked them to stand on the candy wrapper and smile.

Not one of them – not one – said they didn’t know enough about what we were doing to give it a try. Not one of them said they weren’t a good enough artist to participate or critiqued the work of the person beside them.

Not one of them was ashamed to hold up their shingle and have their picture taken with it. I was struck by how many of those shingles showed real artistic talent.

I was equally struck by the gooey, muddy brown ones that were held up with equal pride of workmanship. Not one child asked if her shingle was good enough. They came, they saw, they contributed their best work.

So … are you as active as a 5-year-old, even in very short bursts? Do you like to play with paint and glue and stuff? Do you like digging in the dirt and laughing with your friends, or playing with hammers and – YES — power tools? Eating lunch? Have we got a deal for you!

Come and help us build Shay and Krystal Gooding’s house over on Maloney. We really need help and this is a busy time of year for everybody. Nora’s having trouble recruiting volunteers, and even though every one of those kindergarteners would help in a heartbeat, they’re short. We need you and whatever talent you have. Just show up and smile. You can volunteer by calling Nora at 360-310-2744.