The 2012 Mississippi team

Five days on the site. Assigned tasks completed on two houses.

• Was it hard work? YES.
• Rewarding? YES.
• Satisfying?  YES.

Twelve team members, eleven from New Jersey and one from California in front of House 2.

Front row: (l to r) Manny, Bob, Craig, Diana, Nancy

Top row: Stephen, Don, Dave, Clare, Barbara, Andy, Bob

Blessing the builders

FRAMED PHOTO TELLS IT RIGHT

Lead by the local staff, a ceremony was held at noon. Bay Waveland Habitat offers thanks to Paterson for their partnership. The framed photo says, "We'll have a hard time filling your shoes. Thanks for stepping in."

"In response to the overwhelming need in our community after Hurricane Katrina, Paterson Habitat for Humanity reached out to our community to restore hopes, lives and dreams to our families. Through generous financial gifts and numerous construction trips to the Gulf Coast, they have made a lasting impact in Hancock County., We give thanks for their compassion. They have modeled to us all....."

BARB ADDS A BLESSING TO THE INTERIOR FRAMING

A week quickly gone by

FRIDAY:
Five days on the job and much accomplished. Projects continued this morning.

TOOL TRAILER KEPT WELL ORGANIZED BY NJ TEAM

BOARD FOR COMPLETING THE CLOSET FOR
THE HOUSE'S HEATING/AC UNIT

NAILING THE BOARD IN PLACE.

REUNION....
LAST TOGETHER IN 2009 FOR THE CARTER BUILD IN THAILAND;
NANCY (NJ), MARK (MS), MANNY (CA) AND CRAIG (NJ)

Where's Bob?

LOST AND FOUND:

Mid afternoon, someone realized that Bob R. had not been seen for a while. Ooops. We do need to return home with him. We sent out the troops. Checked every nook and cranny on the site and no sign of him. A car from the team was dispatched to scour the nearby streets. Out for 45 minutes, he thankfully returned saying that he had been sent out on an errand. Hmmmm? An errand he says. Hmmmm.

The Habitat story is not just about the construction of houses, it is also about the families. This week we met two of these families.

Sherry and her daughter, Brittany, are working on their sweat equity. They have been assigned a house and are hoping to accumulate the needed 250 hours in the next couple months. Three of the mornings this week they and Brittany's friend, Ashley, were on site. If they keep this up, for sure they should be in their home by April. Also a 9-year old daughter's good grades in school will provide additional points toward the total.

Tara and Shevis will move into the house we labeled, House 1, and spent Thursday at the site. It was great to talk with them and share their excitement for their new Habitat home as we joined them on the front steps of this house for this shot (below). This house is the 199th house built at the BayWaveland Habitat affiliate.

Some of what we completed today...

1. Diana and Nancy: Railings on the side deck of House 2

2. Clare, Dave and Craig: Installed windows in House 1

3. Andy and Bob G.: installed both front and rear doors House 1

4. Steve and Don: sheathed roof on House 1 

5. Bob R.: working the power saw for all the precisely measured requests

6. Barbara and Manny: installed waterproofing sheathing House 1

7. All: posed with good humor for photos

HOORAY FOR THE NJ WOMEN

Walking wounded

In all the years this author has been on jobsites with Habitat, never an injury. That is until Wednesday. The one time I wasn't wearing my work gloves while carrying lumber, a long 2x4 pressure treated piece, which slipped, and gave me a big ouch. The splinter impaled my pinky finger, going in one side and out the other. A ride to the ER where a nice doctor made small incision to remove it. Patient reports all is well. No other incidents to relate.

Every morning at 7:15, we have breakfast at the Methodist Church in Bay St. Louis. Some of the church members prepare and serve a nice repast and we are very grateful to them for that. We use their kitchen to do some lunch preparation.

MAKING THE LUNCH SANDWICHES IN THE A.M.

It had been a good day as we continued with the two houses and siding and more.
Photos below.

HOUSE 1  ON LEFT AND HOUSE 2 ON RIGHT.

10 Degrees make a difference

Good news is that we had a warm day on the worksite today. Even though it rained overnight and the ground was muddy we ae pleased to shed the extra jackets and layers of warm clothing.

House 1. With the requirements to withstand hurricane winds, the roof plywood has to be nailed every 4" at the edges and every 6" in the field. That  is a lot of nails, and although all the wood was in place on Monday, nailing continued this morning. Inspector was on site this afternoon, and all is OK.

TAKING IT EASY ON THE FINISHED ROOF.

House 2. Another day of siding. Finished the side above, worked around on the front and the second side. Precise measuring and cutting makes a perfect result with "hardy board" siding. Later it will be painted with 2 coats.

Here is some scenes from Tuesday:

Cold day in good 'ole Miss

It is not the coldest temps that we have ever worked in down here, but still, not the warm and balmy weather that we had hoped for.

Day began with breakfast setup for us at the local Methodist Church where the church ladies do this as a service for us and have done so the past few years. We are much alppreciative.
Off to the site, where we found the two houses we will be working. They are side-by-side and have already been started.

House 1. Already has plywood on outside, but roof needs same. Choices....either work on top, work handing up material to those on top, or use the power saws and cut material for those on top.

House 2. This house has been sheathed, now ready for siding. We had two teams, one working on rear of the house and the other on the side.

Both went well and by quitting time, roof fully covered, rear wall completely sided and the house side mostly complete. Yeah for this team. All great.

2012: six visits to Mississippi

Isn't the rebuilding effort after Katrina finished yet? It has been years since the hurricane hit the Gulf Coast in 2005. And yet there remains work to be done in New Orleans and other locations along the coast.

And so it is, that on February 12th, for the 6th year in a row, a team from Paterson Habitat for Humanity will travel to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi on their annual week-long build. Someplace on the houses's wood framing, the team will leave a message, a sort of "we were here" mark. You can follow the work during the week on this blog. Posts and pics. Come back often.