Alabama Thank You Video from Tom Callos

Alabama Project Interviews

This is a 3 min video that contains interviews from Staff and Volunteers at HERO.  You'll hear from Tom Callos, who was instrumental in guiding me and LCTA into this partnership.  You'll also hear from several volunteers and staff, including Pam Dorr, who is the executive director of HERO Housing.

Day One Compilation Video

This video shows some of the footage from our first day of work.  Although you do not see it in the video, our day started with exercise and warm ups at 5:30 am.  The whole event, we slept in a closed down restaurant in Greensboro.  We slept on the floor and in close proximity. 

Our 'MN Team' was assigned to work with Dan, from Hero Housing, on the windows portion of the school house renovation.  This included piecing together old window frames, replacing glass, re-glazing the window panes, painting the frames, framing the interior walls of the school house, and installing the refurbished windows.

You'll also notice a lot of other workers in the videos.  Other projects for the school house included building a ramp, building a deck and stairs, patching and siding the exterior walls, exterior brick work, interior framing and building of stairs, ect.

Also, all of the staff and volunteers at HERO housing were very welcoming and appreciative of the money we raised, and the hard work we put in.  HERO is a wonderful organization doing remarkable things within their community

Michael Manderfeld

View Footage Here

Back Home

Hello Everyone,

We've returned from our weekend in Alabama.  It was filled with long days of construction work, training and of course some fun (but there aren't many places we don't have fun at).  Here are two quick videos of the HERO project we were able to work on while we were there.  Consider it a prelude to all of the footage to come.


Also, in the videos, and subsequent footage, you'll notice that the project we worked on from April 7th-10th was that of a renovation of an old school house.  For several reasons, Ms. Georgia's house project was not yet set to start while we were there (probably in August).  However, please know that the Staff of Hero Housing thanks everyone for all of their contributions.  All of the money we raised goes directly towards Ms. Georgia, but unfortunately, we weren't able to physically help in that project's construction during our trip.

We did, however, visit Ms. Georgia's current house, where we had a nice conversation with her.  She is so elated and appreciative of all of the help from our students, family, and friends!

And...We're Off! (Fundraiser Total!!!)

Holy Smokes! This has been a wonderful project so far...and Master Winkler, Jeff Bodnar, Steve Romnes, and myself are just about to head down to Alabama tomorrow morning.  We'll depart MN around 11am and fly into Birmingham, Alabama.  From there, we'll travel by car to Greensboro and connect with everyone else at the Hero Housing location there.  Wednesday night we'll meet everyone and learn about what we'll be doing for the next few days.  Thursday morning (I hope not too early! ack!) we'll begin our construction phase, which will continue through Friday and Saturday.  In the between hours of the day, we'll be in contact with dozens of other martial artists and Hero housing cooperators.  We'll have a chance to learn about the community and perhaps even do a demonstration (as previous year participants have shared their love of martial arts with the local school.)

But please, look forward to footage of our 'hands on' project once we return. 

I've said it to many people in person, I've said it on Facebook, on this blog and in the Newsletter, but I don't think I'll truly be able to fully thank everyone who has been so wonderful and supportive in this fundraiser.  Thank you so much!  Although I am surprised with how well we did,  I'm not surprised that we met our goal...after all, I simply followed our Black Belt Success Cycle (See kids, it works for real!)

1) Know what you want
2) Have a plan
3) Have a successful coach
4) Take Consistent Action
5) Review your Progress
6) Renew your Goal

Initially, we launched our fundraiser at the beginning of February with a goal to raise $2,000.  I thought it was ambitious and would certainly give us a run for our money (excuse the pun).  But only five and a half weeks into the event, we had toppled our initial goal, which eventually led to us setting two subsequent goals for $2,500 and then $3,000.  Well, my friends, I am proud to tell you that on the eve of our Alabama departure our total contributions raised for HERO Housing is $4,440!

So it seems, 'I can always do better than I think I can,' isn't only applicable to white belts...


Respectfully,
Michael Manderfeld

Close to Departure

Click To Read - Thank you Letter