Kids came from all directions grabbing Post-It notes and trying to decide what to write down. As kids finished with their notes, they found a wall to staple it to in the latest Tiny Home.

On Jan. 11, students were invited to write “notes of love” to thank and bless the veteran who will eventually live in the house that the Tiny Homes program is building. The students were told to write Bible verses, thank you notes or positive thoughts. They then stapled the notes onto the wood that will later become the walls of the house.

“Today’s just about blessing the house. Just making it a safe place for whoever’s getting it,” said junior Chase Bennett, who is in architecture and construction management classes.

The architecture program has been building Tiny Homes for seven years, but it only started “notes of love” four years ago. Once all the notes are on the walls, the notes get covered up by shiplap. Even though the veterans won’t be able to see the notes, the house will still be blessed with encouraging messages from people and students in the community.

“That way the house can feel a sense of love,” said senior Carmen Ramirez, who is in construction management.

This is the first year the school has an indoor building for the Tiny Home program to build their houses. The new facility has helped them by giving them an indoor space to work, decreasing the worries like weather and allowing them more time to build. 

“We don’t have any weather days, so wherever it’s pouring down rain outside we are still able to build,” teacher Missi Taylor said.

The “notes of love” tradition started because Operation Finally Home is the program’s partner who provides the funding, and a place to put the house for the veterans. The notes of love is something Operation Finally Home has always done, so once they partnered with Kingwood Park, they started the tradition here.

When the house is finished, it will be moved to Langetree Retreat in Liberty.

Bennett said, “With a normal house you don’t have blessings on it, and this is just special because it’s unique to this house.”