Honey Dudes Do Good

Intro:

You don’t have to travel long distances or take on giant projects to help your neighbor. Cheryl Parker introduces us to some mission-minded men who chose to stay close to home and do some odd jobs that make a big difference for those in need.

Script:

(Locator: Flower Mound, Texas)

Ben Alves: “Every one of these opportunities for service, every one of these projects, small or large, it’s a mini mission.”

Chuck Moseley: “Love your neighbor is one of the most central, basic themes we’re taught. We go out and we do whatever will help this woman's situation, and that’s what it’s all about.”

(Owner speaks to dog) “Show them where they are.”

Verna McDonald: “My dog’s name is Molly and she's sixteen years old and half deaf and half blind and she’s really the only thing I have left of my husband. She was his dog and followed him everywhere, and now that he’s gone she’s sort of my last living link to him. The gate had blown open and she had gotten out, so I went down the driveway calling her name and she follows her nose and ends up somewhere and then looks up and doesn't know where her house is, and then she’s scared.”

(Workers in yard) “Okay, what we’re going to do is finish up bagging all the leaves in the front and then we’re going to come back here and we’re going to blow all the leaves down the hill.”

Meet the Honey Dudes. They get their name from that famous list that often accompanies spouses into hardware stores, the “honey do” list … the list of all the chores to be done around the house. So what do widows, single mothers and the wives of deployed military do? In Flower Mound, Texas they call the Honey Dudes.

Kevin Cummings: “A lady in need will either call into the church office or email, and we dispatch two guys.”

Chuck Moseley: “When we show up, it could be anything that we do: moving boxes, mowing the yard, trimming the bushes.”

Kevin Cummings: “…quick plumbing leak, change a flapper on a commode.”

Verna McDonald: “So I rolled on down the street and I found her in the next door neighbor’s driveway. When the Honey Dudes were here they discovered in addition to some loose boards that there were a couple of posts that were rotted. They went and got the materials and attached the fence. Now when Molly needs to go out I don’t have to worry about her getting out. I know that she’s safe inside the yard.”

Most of the men in the group met while attending Bible study at Trietsch Memorial United Methodist Church. The dudes don't charge for their services.

Kevin Cummings: “We've had the opportunity to influence other people. These other churches are picking it up and they’re starting their own Honey Dudes for their communities, and it just keeps getting this big.”

Ben Alves: “It’s rarely about the job. It’s the experience of bringing Christ into someone’s life. That’s what this is all about.”

Tracy Levine, Honey Dudes client: “This was full of leaves and branches and just complete chaos and you couldn’t even see the grass ... and look at it now.”

Verna McDonald: “It just gives us such peace of mind knowing that there’s someone that will come and help us do the things our husbands or our sons or brothers would do if they were available.”

Tag:

For more information on the Honey Dudes or tips to start your own handy man group, contact Trietsch Memorial United Methodist Church at 888-332-7630 or visit the website.

Posted: December 5, 2011