Friday, February 23rd, 2007

To all of us, the house looks GREAT!

We leave here with a very satisfied feeling.

We got a good start in the morning and managed to finish the project list for the day by early afternoon. The exterior is 90% finished, all siding has 2 coats of paint, but the side door deck is still to be build by next crew to come in. Inside only needs finishing work, kitchen cabinets, hardwood flooring and painting. Another project for next crew.

How's that for 5 days work ? !!!!!

NDV

Katrina, still not over

Where are all the folks?

Now, 18 months later, families are still living in FEMA trailers, parked in front of houses that they cannot yet live in. Monies allocated haven't been distributed, unsafe buildings still standing, and more.

What can be done?

The government could step up and correct this injustice. Individuals can organize, fund or participate in much needed help rebuilding the Gulf Coast. You can make a difference by joining us when Paterson Habitat returns for a second building trip.

Businesses that are not going to be back in business for a while.

Lot has been cleared and the slab is all that remains. We wonder if the homeowner will build a home here or ultimately put the lot up for sale as so many of the others have done. But, who is buying?

Examples of two homes, side-by-side on Beach Road, standing watch, overlooking the gulf. Built in 1840 and 1820 (l-r) and still awaiting restoration. Not liveable.

At our sunset visit, the gulf looks very placid. No thoughts of the 30+ foot tidal surge that took out people and houses and wrecked havoc in Bay St. Louis and Waveland, MS.

Nancy DeVries

Logistics for the building

Although our location for the week was centered in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, the house we are working on was 10 minutes west, in the town of Waveland. Both were under the eye of hurricane Katrina, which affected 90% of dwellings and businesses in both towns.

The Lagniappe Presbyterian Church provided simple sleeping areas for us and in an adjacent building, meals and restroom facilities. If you served in the any of the armed services, you get the picture.

But we weren't looking for a many starred luxury. Simple was good, as at the end of every day we came back in our well-worked and paint-spattered clothing.

Here's a look (above) at the sleeping quarters.

NDV

At the end of day, Thursday

For the record, this is the group, gathered at the end of day four. Left to right....oh, too many to identify. All Habitat builders!

The crew...

Homeowner hooray

THURSDAY AFTERNOON: It was hoot, hoot and hooray as the girls cheered. (l-r) Toni's daughter, homeowner Toni and a cousin, express their pleasure on the as yet unfinished front porch.

And on the fourth day......

This is what our house looked like at 5:30 p.m. Thursday after our day's work!

Work continued on this fourth day with an emphasis on siding the complete house. Two areas were set up for saws, scaffolds ringing the house and so it began. Off to the side another project got underway as a team started to construct a storage shed and set it up behind the house.

By day's end, house siding was complete, caulking done and one coat of paint in place. It had been a long day during which we continued to be attacked all day by persistent gnats. They never let up. And it was also a day with a satisfying end. As I walked towards the van for a return to our accommodations, a man came up. He lives across the street, in a FEMA trailer in front of his house, which is still not livable since the hurricane. The construction of our Habitat house has amazed him. He said, "Incredible and in only 4 days. Thank you." This from a neighbor. Then he asked to give me a hug and so it was that I received a second thank you.

Nancy DeVries

End of third day

Since the weather wasn't very cooperative, an end-of-day photo wasn't taken. But Thursday morning, the shot above was made. You can see that some of the siding was installed during a few rainfree hours in the late afternoon of the previous day.

We have been putting in full days and are amazed at the progress we have made so far:
6:30-7:30 a.m. Breakfast
7:45 Drive to Site
8:00 Arrival, get-together meeting, including prayer before work
8:10 Work begins and doesn't end until sometime between 4:00 and 5:30 p.m. with break in the middle for lunch.
Evening is dinner and early to bed to relax those very worked muscles!

Nancy DeVries

The Youngsters

Today it was raining. We weren’t sure if we were going to be able to work. When we arrived on the job we found out that there wasn’t much to do inside but we couldn’t do much outside because of the rain. Mark, construction leader, said that there was a house not too far away that needed the inside painted. Most of the women went over to the other house, where they engaged in painting and singing. Sara and Dana, the youngest females, were annoyed of the “bad singing” the older women were doing.

The morning went by pretty fast for the singers but very slow for the two youngsters. They wanted to go somewhere special for their torture and persuaded Ruth and Jane to have them take them and others to SONIC. Sara and Dana had never been along with all the others in that car. When we arrived Ruth insisted on reading the entire menu to the people in the car before anyone could really order or think about what they wanted. The youngsters liked it a lot along with everyone else that went.

In the afternoon many planned not to go to work because it was still raining and got a little colder. Andy Dunn and Warren Heede with his sons went to see if anyone could do anything to help. When they arrived the sun came out and Mark said that there was work to be done and that everyone could help out. All the troops showed up soon after and went to work immediately. Some were cleaning out the house because the sheet rockers made a little mess, while others began to put siding on the house and other tedious tasks.

The bugs were at it again, and everyone was getting eaten, especially Connor Heede who apparently has the sweetest blood. While people were siding the house, Sara Walters and Dana Plucinski were inside, out of the bugs, talking to the soon to be owner for 2 hours about the hurricane and what she had to do during it and what she lost which ended up being a lot.

The afternoon went by pretty fast! We all decided to gather up the troops to go out to dinner tonight. Overall it was a good day minus the bugs.

Sara Walters and Connor Heede

A single nail

It all begins with the first nail. An old Chinese proverb says it best:

"A house building begins with the driving of a single nail."

More pix from Tuesday

A message for the new homeowner family, written today on the header over living room windows, from the first NJ group to donate towards this house construction. The words will be immortal, even though wallboard which we'll install tomorrow, will cover them .


Judy Keyes, president Paterson Habitat, installs pink stuff in the eaves to facilitate ventilation of the attic.

Tyvek installer, Craig, working hard, high on the scaffolding.

Friends at Paterson Habitat leave a blessing on this house.

Gnats and Swats

Photo above from end of our second day, 4 p.m. Tuesday.

What an amazing and surreal experience this has been! What was a slab of concrete yesterday morning is now an insulated house with windows, framed rooms, doorway openings, and a roof ready to be shingled. It’s fully wired, has pipes for plumbing and was given a thumbs-up from the building inspector around 11:oo a.m. today.

Our Paterson Habitat group of 22, along with some amazing young people from Amercorp, and the local Habitat crew, all waded through mud and swatted prodigious gnats (yes, we’re building the house on a swamp, but that’s what this area is essentially) to complete work in record time. Our foremen, Mark and Jeramiah, predict that the house will be completed by the end of this week. Wow! What was an empty field of broken trees and refuse will soon contain a finished home.

Homeowner: A hard-working single mom named Toni along with her 6 year-old daughter and 3 year-old son will be its inhabitants. Toni, by the way, is studying to be an R.N. but also works full time. She gets up at 4:30 a.m. each day to get to her job, picks up her kids by 2:00, rushes to class by 3:00 and doesn’t finish till 10:00 p.m. Soon Toni will have her own home to return to at the end of each long day – a place to raise her children, a place that contains, literally, our good wishes, penned in magic marker on each wooden beam.

Blessings to you, Toni. Your home is a gift to each of us.

Naomi Drew

Monday photos

4:00 p.m.: At the end of the first day, this is the house. When we had arrived in the morning, there was a only foundation and the deck. Everything else you see here, we did today.

New homeowner, Toni Thomas, center, with (l-r) Pastor John, Barbara Dunn, Paterson Habitat executive director, and Rev. Stafford.

By 9:30 a.m. we had the first wall raised and were nailing it into place.

Great day. Everyone is feeling good about getting so far with the house today. All the walls are up, house is sheathed with plywood, roof trusses are up and on the inside, plumbing and electric started. Wow. What a day!

Nancy DeVries

Raising Walls

Hello all! Monday dawned cool/cold and we still managed to get up crack of dawn and to the site by 7:45!!! By 10 the house had the first two walls up and I found myself on paint duty...you think that is simple?? Wellll that includes rounding up the horses and purchasing the paint. Then one crawls on her (all female unit) knees into the middle of naked cement and sawdust planks and paint...still sound simple??? Thennnnnnn you go to a cold water hose and clean brushes, rollers and buckets. All this while standing in ankle deep mud...(which we later found out was toxic!!).

While waiting for the paint to dry, you get to hammer in some nails (I was fired after 3!!!) All in all..the roof went up, the electric went in, the plumbing was begun and the windows were delivered! The basement water level rose so that the toxic standing water had to be sucked out and you ask, where did they put it? Into our painting of ceiling plywood so a repeat paint is due in the a.m. So amid the muck, the paint, the goop, and a porta potti, we all survived! Can't wait to do it tomorrow...Going to bed at 8, make that 7:30 . Take care ya'll!

Sherry Ogden and Mary Iannacone

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Packing has been interesting for this trip. For all the traveling I've done, the suitcase chore was easy this time. Jeans, tee shirts, and since we are staying in dormitory rooms, separated by gender with showers a few building's walk away, also had to include sleeping bag, towel, and personal shower items. My son, gave me a leather tool apron and his hammer. Very nice. Oh, and last evening I stopped at Home Depot for a pair of leather work gloves.

At the airport, I meet another volunteer, Gwenn Levine, who is flying on the same Continental flight as me.

OK, I'm on my way. Nancy DeVries

Bring a hammer

Well, we had the meeting. Settled logistics. Short list of items to bring includes:

• Hammer
• Old clothes
• Sleeping bag

Not discussed, but important -- bring lots of energy !! There should be no problem about that, as I'm sure that this group of enthusiasts will provide an abundance of energy!

Now, we are just waiting for the departure date. See you in New Orleans and in Bay St. Louis and back here on the blog.

Sattelite View

Where will we be?

We will be arriving in New Orleans, some folks by plane and some by car. Then driving about 50 miles east in a rental van to the "build site" in Hancock County, Mississippi. This agulf coast county was the very center of Hurricane Katrina's landfall. A building lot has already been secured, major debris has been cleared and they are ready for the desperately needed volunteers.

Accomodations for our group will be provided by the Lagniappe Presbyterian Church in Bay St. Louis. Dormitory style rooms :>)

Satellite photograph locates Bay St. Louis (upper right, red star) and New Orleans (lower left) on the Gulf of Mexico.

First group get together

It is Tuesday, January 16 and we will have a pretrip meeting in New Jersey for the upcoming Paterson Habitat Home Build Week in southern U.S. This evening's gathering is the chance for us to meet the others in our group and finalize logistics for the trip to New Orleans and then on to our site in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

Organized by Barbara and Andy Dunn to help build housing for the victims of hurricane Katrina, we will be working on a particular house, hopefully will finish it and maybe meet the family who will move into that house.

Come back for more posts.