----Hurricane
Katrina-----
VIM
Disaster Relief Team
On
·
Erik
Andrews
·
Joe Emert
·
Barbara Emert
·
Ken
Fowler
·
Damon Ostis
·
Blair
Smith
·
Joann
Smith
·
Roger
Vales
·
Vonda
Vales
·
Marta Syzmaszek
The
following links are provided to allow you to skip directly to a specific day of
interest
Center Daily Summary for Day 1 - Sunday,
March 5
Everyone has made it down to
We had a chance to go to our first work sites today, and
even do a little paint and electrical installation.
Saint Paul UMC, where we're staying, has a big warehouse
type building out behind the sanctuary and the classrooms in it have been
converted into bunk house rooms. Right now we're the only ones in the 'bunk rooms',
which gives us plenty of space (for now).
Dinner was prepared by Jacob and his wife Barbara and
they're going to be cooking for us all week. We're quite blessed to have these
two care so well for our tummies!
The roofin' and sheet rock start in
earnest tomorrow.
Here are a few photos to further document our work.
Marta doing some painting of cabinets
Roger doing outlet work
The (former)
Center Daily Summary for Day 2 - Monday,
March 6
Breakfast @
Lunch: Sandwiches, Chips, Drinks
Dinner @
Meal Ratings: ***** (five stars out of five)
We had 35 additional people here to eat with us today from
Topic today: Gnats win! Gnats win!
No, I'm not referring to the
By the end of the day there were many folks with many,
many, small red welts on their arms, face, and all other exposed skin.
In particular, Erik seemed to be a tasty treat for the gnats,
as he even resorted to wearing a jacket on such a warm day to protect his arms!
It was very uncomfortable - all the bites that is.
We organized into teams as follows:
Team 1: Roger Vales, Joe Emert,
Blair Smith, Joann Smith
Charlie Byrd's house. Remove and replacing sheet
rock and insulation that was damaged during flooding. Remove wall.
Refinish. Tuesday looks to be more finishing work.
Team 2: Vonda Vales, Barbara Emert,
Marta Syzmaszek
Uncle Ken. Painting and finishing.
This house has gotten some good work over the past couple weeks and is getting
close to complete.
Team 3: Ken Fowler, Damon Ostis,
Erik Andrews
Walter Daniels home. A new roof is in order. Half the roof was
replaced last week. We'll do the other half this week.
Here are a few more pictures from the trip so far.
Vonda and Barbara clean up
after the day's painting
Sleeping quarters for the ladies -
bunks in the house
Trent Lott's (former) house, right on
the Gulf in
Ken Lancaster (coordinator) and Jacob
and Barbara who are cooking for us all week long!
Tonight was BBQ with multiple sides and
peach cobbler (Ken Fowler's request) for dessert!
The view from the 'balcony' where the
bedrooms/bunks are, down onto the floor of the building where we eat! (And can
play some basketball!)
Center Daily Summary for Day 3 - Tuesday,
March 7
Breakfast
@
Lunch
- some (leftover) BBQ and sandwiches and chips (and popsicles!)
Dinner @
Meal Ratings: *****
(five stars out of five)
We had the 35 from KY
Wesleyan with us again for dinner. (They are staying at another church, but
that church doesn't feed them, so they come eat at St. Paul UMC where we're
staying *and* eating!) Additionally, for all meals today, we had the enjoyment
of a group of 8 from Americorps who are temporarily
working with us until their planned assignement is
ready (next week). The Americorps folks sleep in
another local church that also doesn't feed them...
Topic today: Good
Eats.
Saint Paul UMC is a
church that has approximately the same sized congregation as Davidsonville UMC
does. Each week, about 200 folks grace the pews. With that size it is
remarkable to me (and a blessing to us and the community) that they are able to
cook and serve so many people each evening. It is a major undertaking and Jacob
handles the coordinating of the volunteers and closely supervises the kitchen
work. All meals are made from scratch - it is really amazing.
Today, dinner was
served for about 60 people. And it was delicious, just as all the previous
meals have been.
Update on the gnat
situation. Today was low humidity and did have a breeze. These two elements
really helped keep the gnat attention to a minimum!
Jobs:
Three work crews
again today:
Team 1: Barbara Emert, Vonda Vales
These ladies finished
painting in Ken's Uncle's house their house. There is some electrical work and
flooring to do before it's finished completely, and that will happen soon.
Team 2: Roger Vales,
Blair Smith, Joann Smith, Joe Emert
Charlie Byrd's house:
Lots of material was removed from the house and out to the curb for the dump
truck when it does come... While the removal of old/broken items was going on,
sheet rock, and more were ongoing to bring the house back to life. Mr. Byrd
lives in his FEMA trailer in the front yard these days and is looking forward
to getting back into his house by the end of the week. This team had a group of 4 from the Americorps group join them for the afternoon work and
debris removal.
Team 3: Damon Ostis, Ken Fowler, Erik Andrews, Marta S
This team finished it's first roofing job (
And today’s group of
pictures:
This is why we serve.
This man, with terminal cancer, is thankful for
being able to get into his home of several decades. His niece Linda is
with him, helping complete the many tasks needing attention before he can
'leave' his FEMA trailer...
Damon reviews some pictures from with
Ken Lancaster - our job coordinator - and Jacob and Barbara, the two main cooks
during our stay here
In Charlie Byrd's home, new insulation
and sheet rock is going up. Our coordinator, Ken Lancaster is there to check in
on everyone and see that we're ok
Ken Fowler, looking very satisfied with
a bowl of banana pudding (before! his dinner!)
First roof
down! The Walkers' home has a new roof. Yea!
Center Daily Summary for
Day 4 – Wednesday, March 8
Breakfast
@
Lunch - Meatloaf sandwiches
(and Wendy's fare for the 'roofers')
Dinner @
Meal Ratings: *****
(five stars out of five)
None of our group was
there for dinner when
Topic today: The Big
Easy.
Reports were
unanimous that a good time was had by all, and the tourism trade continues to
serve the curious shopper in all of us. Roger or Blair or Joe will need to report
on this in a future issue.
The Gnat Report: No
significant sighting of gnats today due to the high winds. (yeah!)
Jobs:
Two work crews today:
Team 1: Roger Vales,
Vonda Vales, Blair Smith, Joann Smith, Joe Emert,
Barb Emert, Marta S.
Charlie Byrd's house:
Continued repair from the flood damage before knocking off at
Team 2: Damon Ostis, Ken Fowler, Erik Andrews
This team had 7 young
Americorps folks with them. It helped the room move
along, but they're not finished. Maybe Friday.
And now some more
pictures:
Left To Right -
Marta, Roger, Joe, Joann, Vonda, Barbara, Blair enjoy their stop at Cafe
Du Monde in New Orleans
Vonda displays her fancy new chapeau as
they shop in the French Quarter
Marta is a big fan of stuffed animals -
and Alligators in particular! And hey! Where did you get all those beads?
Left to Right: Blair, Joann, Marta,
Charlie Byrd, Joe, Barbara, Vonda. The group pauses for a picture on a pleasant
MS spring morning. This team is replacing the sheet rock and doing extensive
clean-up at Mr. Byrd's home.
Back in the Big Easy, Marta admires
another alligator!
Barbara and Joe pause for a moment
during their stroll down
Center Daily Summary for Day 5 – Thursday,
March 9
Breakfast
@
Lunch
- For Roofers, Subway. For
Sheet Rockers - Last night's leftovers, sandwiches.
Dinner @
Meal Ratings: *****
(five stars out of five)
Today was our final
day sharing the dinner space with 35 college age adults from
Super Bonus:
Following our dinner, Joe, Ken, Damon and Erik ventured out to Wal-mart and Lowes for a few
supplies. On the way home, we came across Edd's Ice
Cream. This is a throwback ice cream establishment that is still serving large
portions at very reasonable price. All four of the boys ordered large items
(two large Hot Fudge Sundaes, One Banana split, one large dipped cone) and the
bill was still under $9! (Take that, Cold Stone! and Maggie Moos!) We'll be
back there tomorrow for sure! (Erik says this is an ASP-like ice cream shop!
Weather report for
the day (Thursday): Stong thunderstorms throughout
the afternoon and evening. 40 mph winds! Needless to say, the roofers were
approaching the day with some uncertainty in their situation...
Topic today: Radical
Roofing.
The work on
Stephanie's roof continues. Erik in particular is concerned that the current
tar paper covering which exists on three sides of the house is going to be
damaged or blown off during the high winds expected today. And that will pave
the way for lots of rain to enter the house. The best thing to do is to get as
many shingles onto the roof as quickly as possible. Divided into two pairs, the
group got two nail guns going and really made good progress - Ken and Erik on
the 'valley' side(s), while Marta and Damon raced up the east side - all before
lunch. After a quick lunch at Subway down the street, with ominous skies in the
west and gusty winds to 30 mph, the group picked up the pace even further -
including cutting and roofing around four different vents - in no time flat.
Ken worked the valley to perfection while Damon and Marta stayed on the other gun
handling both sides into the valley as they moved up the roof quickly. Erik
delivered many bundles of shingles to the roof to keep them flying. Despite the
dire forecasts, no rain actually materialized (other than a few spits here and
there) at least by
Friday will include
finishing shingles on the North side (currently tar paper covered) and also
starting and finishing the remaining section of roof on the south side. That
should be one final great day for the roofers.
The Gnat Report: No
gnats fly in 30 mph gusts. They stay home and watch gnat-TV!
Jobs:
Two work crews today:
Team 1: Roger Vales,
Vonda Vales, Blair Smith, Joann Smith, Joe Emert,
Barb Emert.
Charlie Byrd's house:
Continued repair from the flood damage. The kitchen (easily the hardest of the
rooms) was completed today and only two small rooms remain to be worked to the
sheet rock level.
Team 2: Damon Ostis, Ken Fowler, Erik Andrews, Marta S.
See the notes above
on Radical Roofing.
The day’s report
would be incomplete without the usual pictures, so:
First, we need the right toys (er, tools) to do the job. Damon has found a tool that will
help him! The Pastor has let us borrow this (and the
trailer) to 'help' with the job.
Indeed, the Kubota's front bucket
proved to be a very useful shingle disposal location for Ken and the others!
The trash shingles and tar paper could
be placed in the dump pile which was wonderfully cleared away on Tuesday morning....
So yes, in addition to putting shingles "up" in bundles, it also
facilitated easy removal and dumping! The Kubota was worth it!
For reasons unknown to us, there were
3-4 layers of tarpaper on this part of the roof. Nevertheless, they all had to
come off - and they did.
Ken prepares to lay the flashing into
the valley and tar-paper - replacing the damaged version that was there.
Damon brings/starts the shingles up the
front
There is much to do on this house!
