Willmar Stingers players and coaches work Friday on painting the exterior of the Goosmann home. Tribune photo by Kayla Prasek

Kayla Prasek West Central Tribune

WILLMAR — A local couple received A Brush With Kindness this week, thanks to Habitat for Humanity of West Central Minnesota and the Willmar Stingers.
Eight Stingers players and two coaches, along with a couple retired carpenters, spent Thursday and Friday completing exterior repairs to Gerald and Kathleen Goosmann’s home as part of Habitat’s A Brush With Kindness program. The purpose of the program is to preserve existing homes and help homeowners who struggle to keep up the exterior of their homes.
The Stingers’ partnership with Habitat’s program started late last year, when owners Marc Jerzak and Ryan Voz called A Brush With Kindness coordinator Jessica Bruck.
“We discussed what would be coming up, and they thought it would be a fun, new thing to get into,” Bruck said. “These are the ideal volunteers. They all show up together on time and are hard workers.”
Work the Stingers completed on the Goosmann’s home includes carpentry repairs and scraping, priming and painting the entire house.
Coach Carlos Leyva said the Stingers try to help out in as many different ways as they can in the community.
“Every year, we try to help out at least one community organization,” Leyva said. “They asked for volunteers, and we’re happy to be here and help out.”
Player Max Kuhn said he had never helped with a Habitat project before.
“I felt like it was the right thing to do, to give back to the community,” Kuhn said. “When they asked for people, I volunteered to help do this.”
Kuhn said he’d had a good two days helping repair the Goosmann’s home.
“It’s just a good time with my buddies and favorite coaches helping out,” he said.
Kathleen Goosmann said she learned about the program after reading about it in the newspaper.
“It’s getting harder to get on top of the ladder, and there were some safety issues with the house that we needed help with,” she said. “We were really excited when we found out we were going to get help. It was nice to be picked and have this done.”
Gerald Goosmann said the Stingers’ help meant a lot to them.
“It means that something we knew we couldn’t do ourselves is getting done,” he said.
Habitat for Humanity and the Willmar Stingers will partner again on July 11 for Habitat night, as about 100 volunteers and partner families will take in that evening’s game.