Since 1996, volunteers from our community and partner churches have worked side by side to help their neighbors. Civic organizations and businesses in our community support this effort, financially and by supplying volunteer workers. Homes that were referred by the city as being in the Neighborhood Revitalization Zone were scraped, painted and landscaped. The residents prepare the referred homes by landscaping, removing dead trees and performing cleanup in preparation for the next wave of volunteers to scrape and paint. The residents also removed overgrown brush areas identified by the housing authority. The facility staff discussed with the residents the ability to start and manage a landscape business, tool safety, planning and team work in accomplishing goals throughout the course of the community service projects. The residents took pride in their accomplishments and enjoyed seeing the before and after pictures of the areas. They were also very gracious in dealing with the public that stopped by to let them know how much they appreciate their hard work. The residents have also helped clean up Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge. Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1946 as an overlay of a portion of the Big Mineral arm of Lake Texoma in north-central Texas. Consisting of about 12,000 acres, the refuge provides a variety of habitats for birds and wildlife.