project to do that would give us the chance to get together like we enjoy anyway, and out of that some good could come.” After a flurry of emails to chil- dren’s charities that went unan- swered – and a rough poll of Geeks who might be interested in such an endeavor – Kyle received a response from Madison Fields in April 2017, expressing needs that could be met by the tilesetting group. And it just so happened it was virtually in Kyle’s backyard. “I was willing to organize this project anywhere in the country,” Kyle said. “With Madison Fields only a three- hour drive away, I was able to plan and arrange everything better than I had hoped.” The original scope of work morphed from a “bunch of bath- rooms in an extra house that the foundation was trying to buy on a property next to the farm,” Kyle said. That deal fell through, but instead there was a need for much more tile work in other parts of the farm, including four bathrooms, a tile floor in the barn itself, and a large floor in one of the resident houses. Donations: labor and materials When Kyle first hatched this notion, he ran it by those Tile Geeks on a shuttle bus with him at a training class. He got enthusiastic responses, so he set up a separate Facebook group (The Tile Geeks Project) and added the people TECHNICAL FEATURE/HELPING HANDS ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Paul Luccia, Cabot & Rowe, building parti- tion wall with 2” Hydro Ban board. Tile Geeks choosing grout colors (l. to. r.): James Morris; Justin Kyle; Jon Lenner; Dan Kramer; Paul Luccia; and Bethany Sheridan. Bethany Sheridan and Dan Kramer install- ing tile in the horse stable. 98 TileLetter | January 2018