We have had the orientation
meeting this evening. We won’t find out job assignments until
tomorrow morning. Kurt thinks the three teams will be able to
cover 12 sites this week. Several of them are quite a distance
from here and a few are new construction but most are repairs. We
are getting into houses now that had more wind than flood damage
but they received a lot of rain while the roofs were torn up by
the wind so the cumulative effect is about the same. One
interesting note, one of the new houses they are building is on 12
foot stilts and has a 135 foot long handicap access ramp. Anyone
want to help carry the dry wall into that house?
Monday evening.
The first day is completed. This morning we divided our
seventeen members into 4 teams and were sent off to 4 different
jobs. We aren’t real sure how the selections were done but
we have been assured by our leaders Mel, Howard, Ralph and Drew
that it was a fair and open process. I actually suspect it
was more like 2nd grade on the playground and I was being picked
last. But hey what does one ever really know about what goes on.
The jobs vary significantly from repairing several older homes
to working on at least one brand new one. But before you jump to
the conclusion that the new one is easier, it is the one that is
12 feet in the air.
At that house the challenge is to reposition the air
conditioning unit higher in the air. It was installed at about 6
feet above the ground but that doesn’t meet code to be above the
flood level. So the challenge was to lower it down and lift it
back up and attach it in a higher location. The good news is that
it is done. Well a little left to finish it up but mostly
done. This house also needed to have dirt placed around the stilt
foundations to prevent water from standing in pools around them.
The report is that this would have been a lot easier with a
wheelbarrow but you know you can’t have everything on these
trips.
The second house is actually a houseboat. It needs to
have new vinyl siding installed and it is important to keep any
weight as low as possible. It is a boat after all. This work will
probably take at least most of the week. The third site is to make
various repairs to an older trailer that the wind opened several
holes in and the rain soaked. Previous teams have completed
the work to get the trailer dry and our job is to continue their
work. It is made more difficult by the fact that one of the jobs
is to put down flooring and the family is still living in the home
complete with furniture. We probably will get it figured out
but right now we are still thinking about it and not looking
forward to moving all the furniture back and forth.
The work at the 4th site is to correct some misaligned doors,
remediate some water pooling under the front door, install a door
on the utility closet, and install a tub surround in the master
bathroom. We are the third team at this house.
Unfortunately, previous teams did not quite know what they were
doing. One door could not be fixed so we took it out and
will install a new one. The utility closet is not as wide as
a standard door, but rather than ordering a custom door, we are
going to reframe the wall to fit a standard size. Before the
tub surround can be installed, we had to rip out the new wall
installed at the end of the tub in order to correct a gap along
the wall. The partition also was not secured to the ceiling
joists, so it wiggled when pushed on. Tomorrow we hope to actually
progress from demolition to construction.
Right now we are all sitting around in the hall on comfortable
couches discussing our progress (or lack thereof) today and
plotting tomorrow’s attack. Actually the conversation has
now moved on to other subjects. Something about dams and
rivers and lakes and fires. I don’t know either. And now it
is onto sheep dogs.
Tuesday evening.
Today was a much longer day. Or maybe it just seemed that
way. The weather so far has been very good for us. In
the 70s sunny and the humidity hasn’t been too high though late
this afternoon it started to come up.
We need to correct an incorrect fact reported Sunday. One of
the other teams is from North Carolina not South. New Bern
to be exact which is over in the eastern part of the state.
Tonight for devotions we heard from one of the Case Managers
here Charlene by name. We had met Charlene at Blanche’s house
blessing and were most impressed with her. She said that it
typically only takes them about 4 or 5 weeks from the time a home
is reported to them until work has begun on the house. Of course
it takes a good bit longer to be finished. One young man got
up and said that he thought that was simply a miracle from God
that they can do it that fast. We agreed.
The Mississippi Conference is now listed as one of the top ten
builders in the state. Not that they tried to be, it just
happened. Charlene is now juggling 49 cases and said that
was about normal. When asked how she kept track of that her reply
was “Oh that isn’t hard, they are all people to me, not cases.”
She said that this area was declared officially fully recovered
from hurricane Camille in 2002. So you don’t have to go look it up
Camille was in 1969. At that rate it will be 2038 before the area
is fully recovered from Katrina. The volunteer labor,
primarily from churches from all over is key to the work
continuing.
One of the problems is that funding is now beginning to slack
off. So they are starting a program to encourage churches to
“adopt” a family that needs to have a house repaired. The cost for
an individual house that they are attempting to raise is $5,000.
The work on the stilt house has been completed. That crew, led
by Drew was conned by Ralph into moving on over to the trailer
which needs so much work. After seeing it, Drew was
muttering something about bait and switch and we could have made
the other job last longer and other similar comments. Their
help is much appreciated however. This house belongs to
Lille who is a grandmother with some of her children and
grandchildren living with her right now. We started the
Pergo flooring today and tore out the smaller bathroom. Tomorrow
we expect to continue the flooring, start reconstructing the small
bathroom and depending on time perhaps starting on the larger
bathroom. The excitement of today was the water main break
in front of the house. Ralph was able to demonstrate his
professionalism by directing Mike and Ann in building ditches and
dams to redirect the water away from the front door.
The house boat is owned by Shane. Shane had a good job prior to
Katrina but as a result of the storm he lost his job. He also has
some medical problems so is now on disability. He and his wife are
currently living in a very small place behind his parent’s house.
As soon as the house boat is done they plan to move into it. And
they plan to move it to a different mooring. The progress so far
is basically the whole hose has had Tyvek applied and about half
of it has been sided.
At Mattie’s house in Moss Point, the team made great progress.
Cindy, Larry, and Rosemarie ground out the mortar on the front
door threshold to allow water to drain freely out. Howard and
Cindy worked in the attic, installing some bridging to nail the
bathroom partition to. Actually, Cindy volunteered to go up and
crawl around on the joists, directed by a relieved Howard. She
successfully installed the bridging and turned the project over to
Howard and Rosemarie. They framed a new partition at the end
of the bathtub and installed drywall on one side. Larry and
Cindy worked on framing the utility closet, but could not finish
because we still do not have the door. Curt tells us the
door will be delivered tomorrow. So tomorrow we’ll install both
the utility room and hall door.
Wednesday evening.
The weather continues to be nice. We understand that it
has been a bit chilly there. We were in the 80s today but the
humidity has come back. But all in all not bad weather for
working.
We have shuffled personnel a bit today just to more
productively use everyone. Tomorrow we will stay pretty much the
same except that Mel and Nancy will be leaving for home.
Then on Friday there will be quite a bit of realignment as some
others are leaving at mid day and some of the sites will be
finishing while others will need extra help. It can be a
real challenge to try to leave the homes in as livable condition
as possible by week end.
At Lille’s house today we continued the flooring project. We
finished the master bedroom and got a good start on the hall and
kitchen area. Drew and Ed J. have replaced the floor and its
support structure and it is already looking much better. We are
hopeful that the new tub will be delivered tomorrow and that the
bathroom can be put back together. It will be pretty much
completely new. The water main leak was repaired last night
and the mud in front of the house was dried up by about 11:00 AM.
At Shane’s house boat today they continued siding. It seems
that Howard’s crew, which is working nearby, came over for lunch.
Apparently that was the high point of their day. Howard doesn’t
feel the house boat is OSHA acceptable but hey what do we know.
There is a 6 to 8 foot alligator that seems to visit every day.
The length has been growing each day. It even came out for the
lunch party today. I didn’t mention yesterday but Mel was
describing how they leveled their first row of siding. They
put on the siding, put the level on it and then Mel directed the
rest of the crew which side to stand on until it is level. Some
advantages of working on floating things.
Ann joined the team at Mattie’s house today. She, Rosemarie and
Howard installed the final drywall on the partition in the
bathroom and began mudding. Cindy and Larry spent the day
installing the new hallway door. They had to widen the doorway and
install a header before the door could be placed in the opening.
After considerable shimming and nailing, it didn’t fit any better
than the old one did. Further examination revealed that the
walls were not in alignment. The problem was overcome and the door
opens just fine now. The framing was finished for the Utility Room
door. The door was delivered today and it looks like it will fit
the new opening or we should say the opening will fit the door.
We seem to be more tired tonight. We are sitting in the hall
again and trading old (very) jokes.
Thursday evening.
The work at all sites
continues to progress.
First is the report from
Shane’s houseboat. Remember this is the one that Mel, Nancy,
Jim, Allyson and Dino were working on. Of course Mel and Nancy
left for home this morning. Jim reports that the other 3
finished the work at the houseboat this morning. We guess that
Shane was satisfied because he pulled up in his other boat at
noon and took them all out to lunch. Now that was pretty nice,
but then to top it off he spent the rest of the afternoon giving
them a tour of the rivers here. Do you suppose there was a
reason that he waited until Mel and Nancy left?
At Lille’s place we
continued with the flooring and working on the smaller bathroom.
The flooring is progressing nicely. Today Ralph, Ed G., Mike,
Ron and Richard finished the flooring in the kitchen and did
most of the dinette area and living room. We have to say that
Lille is very co-operative. We tell her each day as we are
leaving where we will be working the next day and that area is
all cleared out when we get there the next morning. Fortunately
there has not been any rain because she has a lot of stuff
stored in her backyard. Drew and Ed J. made a lot of progress in
the small bathroom. They put up drywall and finished it,
installed a new tub (almost) and put down a new linoleum floor.
It looks amazingly better than it did a week ago. The almost on
the tub is that so far no one has been able to find the kit
needed to attach the tub drain. This home is a large trailer and
many things, particularly plumbing are non standard. What a
headache!
At Mattie’s things are
also shaping up nicely. The new partition is up and only needs
finish sanding and painting to be complete. The utility room
door was installed, and both doors were painted. Larry and
Howard began to install the tub surround. Tomorrow the door
hardware will be installed, and baseboard and corner molding
will finish the bathroom, and we will touch up the paint on
several walls. The team expects to finish up sometime tomorrow
morning.
Tomorrow will be a bit
different. One of the other teams is leaving before breakfast
and the other after breakfast. So we will be the only ones
working. Lillie’s house is the only (probably) job we will still
be working on in the afternoon. We plan to bring Jim, Dino and
Allyson there in the morning to help (after their heavy day
today). Jim, Drew and Allyson need to leave by noon to get to
New Orleans in time for Jim’s flight. We don’t know yet whether
Howard’s crew will come to Lille’s or not. The 2 sites are a
long distance apart (more than an hour) in opposite directions
from Van Cleave. So if they don’t finish until early afternoon
it is hardly worth coming all that way.
At devotions each evening
we are asked where we felt God today. The stories are varied
but always inspirational. The people really do get a feeling of
working closely with God. So there is some good coming from
Katrina after all. Many new connections are being made
throughout this area and many of them are becoming permanent. It
is certainly a difficult way to learn but who knows maybe the
long term good will out weigh the devastation.
Friday evening.
The end of the week. It
has gone by quickly. God has been good in many ways, the
weather has been decent, not too too hot and no rain, no one
has been hurt, at least seriously, lots of good work has been
accomplished and new friends made. It is really fun to see how
United Methodists from all over can come together and work to
serve some people that are in dire need. Many of the other
denominations that have done significant work here are now
pulling out. Only the United Methodists seem to understand
just how long a process this will be. Of course in many ways
we are better organized than the others for longer term
service. And we don’t want to diminish what they have done. In
fact the UMCOR people here say that all of the groups work
together very smoothly with just an attitude to do what is
best for the ones in need.
The work does make a
difference in the people’s lives here. Just to know that
someone or really lots of someone's care about their troubles
is quite a lift. And of course getting your house livable
again is terrific too.
The team at Mattie’s
completed their tasks today. Oh there is a little painting
left to do when the drywall mud is completely dry but no big
jobs. They even had a little time to work at cleaning up the
house from the construction activity as it is almost completed
now.
The team at Lillie’s
didn’t get as many items on their list completed, but they did
complete the flooring, except for the trim and install one new
bathroom and put a new door on the shower in the other
bathroom. Oh and fix 3 bicycles ranging from chains off to
flat tires. Of course one already has its chain off again.
And her house does look a lot better than it did a week ago.
The problem is that each task turned into a much bigger deal
than was expected just because it was in such bad shape to
begin with.
The boat people went
back to the boat this morning to put on some finishing
touches. I know that we said yesterday that they were done,
but somehow last evening when they were told that there was
work for them at Lillie’s all of a sudden there was more to do
on the boat. Hmm wonder if there was any connection.
Most of the gang is off
to the Rodeo here tonight. When Cindy was in Lowe’s the other
day a gentleman noticed that she was from PA and struck up a
conversation, actually this isn’t unusual, the combination of
southern hospitality plus they all know why we are here causes
people to be very friendly. Anyway Cindy and her new friend
found out that they were both born in Allentown. So one thing
led to another and it turned out he is the Sheriff here and
they are sponsoring this Rodeo tonight. So he gave her free
tickets when he realized we would still be here.
Drew, Jim and Allyson
left about noon for New Orleans. Jim to catch a plane home and
Drew and Allyson to meet the rest of their family for a fun
weekend at the New Orleans Jazz Festival. We heard from Drew
after they got there and unfortunately the incoming flights
were all delayed by about 7 hours. Apparently storm related.
We are the only ones
here now and we will all be leaving in the morning.
See you all soon and
thanks for reading.
