Frat house to Barnabas House: Not as scary as it sounds

Zach Pace, RA of Barnabas House

"Hey Zach," I said as I passed Barnabas House yesterday evening on my way to Martha House.  "I need to come over in the morning and get a picture of you and your guys.  I want to do a profile on you for the blog."

"Cool," he said.

We set a time for the pic and a time for the talk, and I presented myself promptly at 9:00 this morning for our little talk after the guys had departed for work. 

We started with the basics--born in New Branfels, moved to Houston at age six, where he attended grade and high schools, graduating in 2004 from Langham Creek High in Cypress. 

Zach started university in San Marcos that fall and his mom and dad relocated to Lake Travis, although both are still working, his dad in restaurant food service and his mom as project leader at Quintel, and as a hospice nurse on weekends.

Jerry and I met Zach about a year ago when he was working as a waiter at the Macaroni Grill in the Arboretum.  Kelly was with us, and Zach had our table.  As usual, Zach scrawled his name on the butcher paper on the table and as usual, Jerry started quizzing him about his life.

"Where did you go to school?  What do you want to do with your life?  What's the best job you ever had?"  (Waitstaff beware!  If we enter your domain this is what you'll get!)

Zach allowed as how working in a summer camp for kids with disabilities had been his favorite gig.  In lightning time, out came the business card and the spiel that goes with it.  After all, camp was coming on, and you can never have too many good male prospects for counselors.

"So," said Zach, "I took the card and stuck it in my pocket and thought, nah...I didn't want to work at another camp.  I'd done two years at Elks Camp in Gonzalez and I got so attached to the kids, and then I had to say goodbye...and I was kind of in a low spot anyway, so I just tossed the card somewhere in my messy room and forgot about it.

"Funny thing is, that card followed me all over the house and I regularly found it about once a week for five weeks.  Finally I figured I'd better go on the web site, and I did and saw you all's video and I said 'what the heck' and e-mailed Jerry.  He shot back an answer right away and within a few weeks I was shadowing to become a Weekend Resident Assistant."

Zach quickly became a part of the whirlwind of activity at Down Home Ranch.  He served as WRA on the weekends, volunteered with camp during the week, worked in the kitchen, and he and his dad handled barbecue for 150 the day of the Texas Chainsaw Manicure in October.

"I like to immerse myself in what I do," he said.

Zach was promoted to Resident Assistant of Barnabas House after being with the Ranch about five months.

Andrew, Zach, Clyde, Sterling, Alan and Michael
The Men of Barnabas House

Something that I can't imagine I never knew about Zach until today is that he is a member of Pi Kappa Phi, the fraternity that, as PUSH America, has sent large crews for a week of service during spring break to the Ranch for the past several years.

Zach worked one summer on the PUSH America bike ride, where members ride coast to coast earning money for organizations serving people with disabilities, and dispersing grants along the way. 

"There was a terrific guy named Chris Gastroline who was a rider.  I was support and didn't ride.  Chris was so inspiring--man, that guy could ride all day and not break a sweat.  And he was just an amazing person, so creative, and so many ideas.  And he was the most upbeat guy I knew.  He was a real mentor to me.  But then he committed suicide, and nobody saw that coming, but he did.  Anyway, I decided to take what I learned from him and try to sort of keep his life going that way, you know.  That's what I decided to do."

I asked Zach what adjustments he'd had to make in working at Barnabas House.

"Oh man, don't try to do your laundry on someone else's laundry day," he laughed.  "That's not going to turn out well!"

We noticed right away that Zach is one of those prized employees who regularly goes above and beyond assigned duties.  He takes the couples--who seldom get to go on actual dates--out to dinner and movies on his own time.  He volunteers enthusiastically for special events like the Manicure.  He and colleague Tom (RA of Isaiah House) are cooking up a trip to take a few Ranchers camping in a state park after a trial run at the Ranch's primitive campground, although he adds, "I'm a little worried about those wild hogs down there, you know."

Zach's sense of fun is such that I tease him about having been a court jester in a previous life.  But the truth is, he takes his work very seriously, describing how he manages interactions with his guys on an adult to adult level, how he's worked to get them into work teams of three to keep the house clean, and how he discovered Mr. Clean Febreze does an awesome job.

"I love the challenge," he says.  "I love learning something new every day.  I love working with the other staff people.  There's no way to teach what we need to know from a book.  It's hands-on, and it's real.  Barry's a great resource and I can call him any time night or day if I need to."

At the end of our conversation he added, "You know what?  That night in Macaroni Grill when you guys came in I wasn't even supposed to have your table.  I was working my second shift of the day and I was tired and grumpy.  But then I saw Kelly and perked up, and Jerry started talking to me.

"And I really figure--you know, there was a purpose in how all that happened."

With St. Francis in the Fields

Rejoicing in the beauty of the world

Yesterday afternoon Fr. John Williams, aka Rebekah's dad, came out to the Ranch for our annual Blessing of the Animals.

People were pretty tired from haying in the morning, but a good contingent trooped off in seach of those creatures great and small for whom Down Home Ranch is also home.  Given the current abundance of said creatures, Fr. John suggested that we select a few "stations" from which to bless, since tracking each one of them down was not practical, and in some cases unwise (such as Peggy Sue, the Longhorn, who holds some sort of bovine grudge against me).

And so we set out from the Pavilion towards  the Village, where Missy, Barny, Abi, and Lady all reside.

Barny gets a blessing

Missy the yellow Labrador is off in Texarkana with Anita, mistress of Martha House, so we went on to our first stop at Barnabas House, where little Barny lives.  He was excited to see us, and happy enough to be blessed, but what he really wanted was to go for a walk, so I suggested we put him on a leash and bring him along.

"Maybe not a good idea," said Michael, who is one of Barny's four owners, and proprieter of a huge aquarium housing a multitude of fish.  I quickly deferred to his opinion.

Michael's new fish tank

After that we headed to Teresa House, home of Abi and Lady.  Abi is enthralled with attention from anyone but a veterinarian, so she was delighted to sit in Fr. John's lap and receive her blessing.  Lady watched amiably from a distance.

Next stop was "the new" Joseph House, which Sterling, John, Kyle, and Travis are hoping to move into sometime in the next few months.  Fr. John asked each person to name the home in the Village where they lived or would live, and asked God's blessing on our homes. 

I was touched to see Kelly reach out to put her hand on Joseph House as it received its blessing. 

From there it was to the top of the haying field, the highest point on the Ranch.

Fr. John explained that St. Francis was considered strange by his contemporaries, because he so loved creation that he would stand in a field and dance, holding up his arms and spinning around.  He urged us all never to worry about what other people say about us, but like St. Francis, to rejoice in the beauty of the world.

From the hill, the horses, donkeys, cows, foxes, fish, turtles, armadillos, skunks, racoons, wild pigs and all other creatures on the Ranch received their blessing. 

Natalie moves manure from the barn to the compost pile

"And bless all the horse poop, too," Kyle said earnestly, which elicited a few disapproving murmurs, but I knew Kyle was remembering what we'd told him about how the horse manure he collects and takes to the compost piles enriches and gives back to the earth.

Later on in the afternoon Jerry popped into my office and said, "I've got to run to Bloomer's and pick up some winter veggie packets.  Be back in an hour."

As I left my office, I saw him digging in the garden and went over to investigate.  He'd bought brussels sprounts and broccoli, pansies and peas and was planting them in the beds.  Our adolescent rooster was practicing crowing (pretty funny at this stage) and the evening sun slanted across the newly mown hay field.

In that moment, I knew exactly what St. Francis had been getting at.

Praise on the Porch

Thursday evening we heard music coming from across the Village in the direction of Barnabas House, so we drove down to see what was going on.

 

Rebekah was in the front yard with her prayer flags, and Charles and a gaggle of Ranchers with guitars were holding forth on the front porch.  Diana was leading people in song, and Alan was playing drums.

It was great to see Andrew playing his guitar.  He's really quite good, but hasn't played much the past few years.







It was a great scene--a lazy evening with the cicadas thrumming and a joyful noise rising up through the heavy summer air.

Charles blew his shofar, which we were afraid might attract some unwanted wildlife...



He and Diana promised to make it a regular Thursday night gig.