Girls Scouts + Boy Scouts Volunteer at Bull Run Warrior Retreat

It was so(ww) exciting to see a long line of cars at Bull Run Warrior Retreat on October 26th for the autumn outdoor / indoor volunteer cleanup.  Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts + their families came out to "roll up their sleeves" and clean out the old stable building and do some major yard work. Some of them got their work finished so fast that we didn't even manage to snap their picture before they had moved on to the next task!

The weather cooperated beautifully with cool breezes, warm sun and festive fall colors all around.  In fact, sometimes it was hard to make out the volunteers as they worked in the midst of the dense autumn foliage cutting down branches and cleaning out dead branches and undergrowth.  Talk about camouflage!

The Boy Scout Troop 91, assisted by some moms + dads + siblings, cleared out an old wire fence and loads of unsightly underbrush that ran along the entire length of the whole front yard.

As I stood taking photos of all the hard work, one mother of two Marines and a Soldier told me how much it meant to her and her two younger sons to "be doing something tangible" to support our recovering Warriors. Others began to chime in with similar sentiments.  We hear this all the time.  

There is a huge desire in our citizens to "give back" to our Veterans and their families and it feels especially good to actually be 'hands on' in a local endeavor.  We are thrilled that the Bull Run Warrior Retreat offers local volunteer participation and the chance to both witness and share the dream of a "Home Away From Home" for our Warriors + Families. It is exciting to see the community begin to come together and take part in the stewardship of this wonderful retreat property. We find it to be particularly heartwarming to see the young people be so deeply involved and invested in this project.

After a lot of hard work, the underbrush, dead branches and old wire fence were stacked and bagged and ready for disposal.

Boy Scout Troop 91 is super-thorough in their work!

And BEHOLD!

What a difference these young men made in just a day!

Look at those unfettered views (below) from the front yard after the cleanup!  Beautiful!  Thank you gentlemen! Well done!

Meanwhile, our Girl Scouts were hard at work clearing out the remains of an old garden.

( . . . and occasionally taking some well-deserved breaks on the play set! )

The girls were delighted to harvest a whole bag of potatoes, onions, garlic and other goodies.

Watching the girls hard at work made me think of the women who cultivated the wartime Victory Gardens in times past . . .

And here's our little "Land Army" . . .

Proudly posing in the Bull Run Warrior Retreat garden.
Our Awesome Girl Scouts 
Junior Troop #3592 + Cadette Troop 1586 
(+ some very helpful siblings!) 

To all our hard working Bull Run Warrior Retreat Volunteers,
~ our Boy Scouts, our Girl Scouts + their wonderful families ~

Thank You SO(WW) Much!

YOU DID IT!