Friday, April 4, 2008
The work teams completed their assignment and turned in their paper work and now are on the way home. I was a good week with work in six homes completed and four with work that will have to will be completed by others in the coming weeks.
Photos from the last day will be available on the blogsite link later this week.
Your tired servants,
Katrina Mission Team
Wednesday, April 3, 2008
Today's blog is written by the team working on a screened-in-porch.
Our group is putting the finishing touches on a house that was completely gutted down to the studs. Norma, who is 86 and the owner of the house, told us that water had gotten up to her kitchen sink. Fortunately the water did not stay there and went back down to a more normal level quickly. Norma's grandson had decided to stay with the house until police came by and asked him to leave the area. At first he refused, but with the police officer offered him a sharpie to write his name address and who to notify of his remains on his body, he quickly went with them.
Norma and her sister Beverly were able to get back into their home just before Christmas of last year. They had been living in a FEMA trailer in the driveway for over 2 years. They have had numerous volunteers from all over he world touch their lives and their house. We were asked to finish a screened in front porch. We have now painted the walls (inside and out), We finished carpeting the whole room and fixed a leaky roof by completely stripping it and replacing it with new roofing. It is just awesome to be able to do little things like cut down a small dead tree and hang a sign on her porch. Things we take for granite.
Norma is so grateful for all she has been blessed with and is overwhelmed by all the support she has been given from all of the volunteers. Wednesday she even baked us biscuits with homemade peach jam and butter. WOW!!I can't even begin to write out all the stories she told us, all with such detail and meaning. This is truly something we will never forget and we know Norma won't either.
Jerry, Brian, Mary Ann, Don and Jovan
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Today's blog is written by Roger Rude.
I was a bit nervous as we set off on Monday on a bathroom repair project about how we would be accepted by our client. We're strangers, northerners no less, coming into people's house. We're going to disrupt their lives for most of the week, even if it's for a project they've been waiting about a year to have performed. We needn't have worried. Our client, Agusta Brunnel, couldn't have been more welcoming and helpful. This was his second experience with PDA. Last year a work team repair his kitchen floor after his mother-in-law fell through a weakened area. This time we're repairing the bathroom floor which was also weakened by water damage. Our team of four Monday and Tuesday tore out the bad section, rebuilt joists,installed new plywood floor decking, then put down cement board. Today we cut and laid ceramic tile. Tomorrow we grout the tile and install baseboard molding. It was a learning experience for me, Mark Jovan and Rev. Chip Hall with team leader Bart Braden doing the teaching. However, the most memorable thing about the project was getting to know Agusta. On Tuesday he invited Chip to bible study at his church that evening. Tuesday Augusta barbequed chicken and neck bones for us. Today he came in with a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts fresh out the store oven. I told him the way he was treating us, we might never finish the job. I told Pat Anson of our Heritage team about his hospitality. A Louisiana native, she explained that food isn't just food with Southerns. Food is acceptance. Food is gratitude. We may have come to give, but we have received great blessings.
In service to the LordKatrina Mission Team
Wednesday, April 2, 2008Today's blog is written by Roger Rude.I was a bit nervous as we set off on Monday on a bathroom repair project about how we would be accepted by our client. We're strangers, northerners no less, coming into people's house. We're going to disrupt their lives for most of the week, even if it's for a project they've been waiting about a year to have performed. We needn't have worried. Our client, Agusta Brunnel, couldn't have been more welcoming and helpful. This was his second experience with PDA. Last year a work team repair his kitchen floor after his mother-in-law fell through a weakened area. This time we're repairing the bathroom floor which was also weakened by water damage. Our team of four Monday and Tuesday tore out the bad section, rebuilt joists,installed new plywood floor decking, then put down cement board. Today we cut and laid ceramic tile. Tomorrow we grout the tile and install baseboard molding. It was a learning experience for me, Mark Jovan and Rev. Chip Hall with team leader Bart Braden doing the teaching. However, the most memorable thing about the project was getting to know Agusta. On Tuesday he invited Chip to bible study at his church that evening. Tuesday Augusta barbequed chicken and neck bones for us. Today he came in with a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts fresh out the store oven. I told him the way he was treating us, we might never finish the job. I told Pat Anson of our Heritage team about his hospitality. A Louisiana native, she explained that food isn't just food with Southerns. Food is acceptance. Food is gratitude. We may have come to give, but we have received great blessings.In service to the LordKatrina Mission Team
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008
We are putting the finishing touches on a house that was badly damaged by Katrina’s powerful winds. This is the home of Dorothy (a different Dorothy from yesterday’s blog), a 67 year old woman who raised her 7 children in this house. Over the last 10+ years, it has also been home to over 30 foster children. You can just imagine the kind of woman Dorothy is. She came home from work yesterday and greeted all of us with huge hugs—before even seeing what we were doing! It was quickly clear that just by being there, we were giving her hope to keep going. Our tasks are to add heat/air ducts to three bedrooms, install a window, fix a leaky kitchen sink pipe, and repair water-damaged ceiling drywall. After two days of work, we are well on our way to accomplishing our tasks, and Dorothy is near the end of her 2.5-year journey toward having her house and life back to normal. The work we are doing will allow her to once again fill her home with foster children. It is incredibly gratifying to not only be helping Dorothy repair her home, but also to be giving her the hope, courage, and strength so she can continue to do God’s work through her unconditional love for those children. At the end of the day, we are grateful for opportunities, humbled by adversity, and inspired by all who pass through our lives….
In faithful service,
Katrina Mission Team
Gulfport, Mississippi
A link to pictures of today worksite are available at the blog for the Katrina Mission Team.
Gulfport, Mississippi, March 31, 2008
Today we went to the home of an old friend, a delightful elderly lady, Miss Dorothy, whose home we worked on last fall. At that time we didn't have enough hours in the week to finish the work we had started. We hoped another team would come and finish, but that did not happen. So we greeted Miss Dorothy with hugs, and picked up where we had left off. Her sink would not drain, so we first tried to find the problem under the sink, but we had to go further. We followed the drain outside, and after much digging, cleaning out the drain with a snake, becoming intimate friends with dirt, sand, and gunk, we got the drain free, and put it back together so that she could use it tonight. We began sheet rocking her laundry room. It's a good thing we have four more days. We presented our homeowner with a prayer shawl knitted by the Mount Washington Presbyterian Church "In Stitches" knitting group. During our lunch break, Miss Dorothy talked with us about her experiences during the storm. As with many people down here, those experiences are etched in her brain. Tears came to her eyes as she talked about it. She just thanks God that people still care enough to come help her get her house back in shape. We look forward to the rest of the week.
Your servants,
Katrina Mission Team
Orange Grove MS PDA Village #3
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Friday 10/26/2007
We finished out day and several of the team members went to see New Orleans and the rest started for home.
In the home in New Martin, the team replaced the rear door, the tile floor was completed and the kitchen floor was cleaned. This made the home a much better place to live. The owner is a single mother with a ten-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son. She goes to school and works.
At the other home in Biloxi, another team finished remodeling the bathroom with a new shower and a newly painted bath and hall. They replaced an exterior door, replaced the front steps, started placing new subfloor on the closed-in front porch, installed molding in the kitchen, and did several other jobs in the home. This team has many stories to tell about the homeowner.
At the home in east Gulfport the team repaired the roof on the laundry room, rewired several outlets, replaced a damaged section of the ceiling in the bedroom, installed a new fan in the same bedroom, and installed a new light in the bathroom. The 73-year-old homeowner called the team "her angels who flew down from Cincinnati.".
The team at the other home in Gulfport replaced the kitchen floor, cleaned and painted the kitchen, installed screen door, replaced missing pieces of siding, repaired the railing on the front porch and cleaned up and planted some flowers in the front yard. This 84-year-old homeowner also called that team her angels.
The roofing team finished the roof on the double wide trailer home in 3 days after being rained out for the first two days. This was a completed stripoff and new roof. All that team and members from some of the other teams worked very hard for the 3 days. The homeowner there was a police officer who had spent a lot of time helping others after Katrina but just didn't have the time to fix his own house.
We repaired a vent on another home which was leaking. We were not able to repair the kitchen ceiling, which was the purpose we went to the home. This and much other work that was not completed at all the homes will be left for other teams of volunteers from other places in the coming weeks.
Although it is impossible to get all the work done in a home in one week, on this trip we heard encouraging stories of homes that had been finished by the hard work of many teams.
In all it was a good trip. The last several nights were cold, and not all the heaters worked in the pods, but everyone was in good spirits and most are tired, but had a great experience and are willing to tell their stories.
Your servants in mission
Thursday 10/25/2007
Greeting,
Today Katrina Mission Report is written by Pastor Norwood Presbyterian Church.
GOOD NEWS / BAD NEWS
First, the good news:
Overheard: "It's more of a "faith trip" than a "work trip." and "We're not just building buildings - we're helping people."
Because of the work crew from the Cincinnati Presbytery, Nikki now has a new tile floor in her living room, hallway and bedroom - and will be rid of the water damaged wooden floors she's been living with for two years. She's also going to have toilets that don't leak. What that means is that she'll finally have a home that is safe for her, her 10 year old daughter and 3 year old son to live in. Nikki, a single mother, is working full time and going to school full time. As she was looking over the work that has been done on her home, she said, "When I graduate, I plan on finding a way to help others - like you have helped me."
Kipper, as a police officer, was one of the "first response team." His daughter, Sarah, was only 21 days old when Katrina hit. He's spent the last two years repairing and restoring his wife's parents' home. His father in law is ill and unable to get out much and needed to get out of their FEMA trailer as soon as possible. Kipper's priorities have been on helping others. Now, because of our efforts this week, Kipper has a new roof on his double-wide trailer and is looking forward to finally turning his time and energy into repairing his own home for once.
The week, though, has not just been about the projects. It's also been a time of devotions, gathering for meals, sharing stories, and getting to know folks from Illinois, NC, and Pennsylvania - as well as making new friendships among those we've traveled with from the Presbytery of Cincinnati. There have been lots and lots of laughter, a few tears, and many grateful expressions of God's amazing grace.
And now, the bad news:
There are NO volunteers scheduled to be here next week. Many projects started this week will go unfinished. Other folks, waiting for help, will have to continue to wait. The camp will stand empty. The tools will go unused. And God's work will be on hold - until someone (maybe YOU?) hear God's call to come and help - not just build buildings, but help people!
Shalom,
Your Mission Team in Service to the Lord.
Wednesday 10-24-07
The home owner is an 84 year old lady,
We started the day by nailing down Luan shim board in preparation for tiling her kitchen. This was followed by painting her kitchen ceiling and walls. I also helped paint the kitchen cabinets we will be installing tomorrow. From there I went outside and continued working on her houses siding. I re-nailed the loose siding boards and replaced several rotted ones. I then caulked all the holes and splits in the siding and fixed several other exterior problems.
From there Sherrie and I worked around her yard collecting trash and demolishing an old rusting fence. We finished the day doing odd maintenance and repair jobs and cleaning up the job site. Tomorrow we look forward to installing her kitchen and beautifying her yard.
All this week as we worked we were blessed by her watching our every improvement and responding to our every request for what she wanted us to do. She is a beautifully gracious lady and a pleasure to be around.
Written by and Elder at Pleasant Ridge Presbyterian Church
Tuesday 10/23/2007
Greeting,
This is a story by one of the team member as to how her trip has affected her so far. She express the feeling of a lot of us as we take these steps forward in our lifes.
Today the teams have started to see their job at there homes come to a point where they can be made to a home.
Tomorrow we will start on the roof that we have not been able to due to the rain which we have had here. Last night we had 4 -6 inches of rain with very gusty winds. Today it was light rain and forecast to be sunny tomorrow.
"This is the second mission trip to Biloxi, Mississippi I have been on. The first time I filled out the skills assessment form that everyone is asked to complete. Under each category the only thing I could write was “willing helper.” It was more than a bit daunting. I couldn’t think how I could possibly help in any way. By the end of that trip I had put in a hardwood floor, dry walled window panes and helped sand drywall, among other tasks. This time around I once again filled out that skills assessment form. Nothing had changed in seven months. Each category was filled with “willing helper.” It wasn’t as daunting this time. I knew I would be able to do something. Someone would take the time to teach me what I needed to know to help. It was a bit demoralizing though to think I had no skills to contribute. Once again, however, I was underestimating the impact of choosing to go. As before I have people to help and teach me. I have learned to use a miter saw, circular saw, and table saw. I am putting sub flooring down and measuring, cutting and putting on baseboards. Imagine it is only the second day. Each time I have come here I have underestimated what I can do and how helpful the people who come with me are. I came away with gifts each time. The first time I came away with the gift of trusting that I am capable. It is too early to say what exactly my gift this time will be. I suspect that it will have a lot more to do with the people I traveled here with. They seem to be turning out to be my gift"
Your mission team in service to the Church
Monday 10/22/2007
Greetings,
This first day we have had rain all day. We had to cancel the roof job which one of the teams was to do. That team was split up and sent with the other four teams. Two of the teams were in Gulfport and two in Biloxi. The teams in Gulfport were working on small houses, replacing exterior doors, flooring in the kitchen, removing shelf paper which had been used as wall paper and replacing cabinets and in the other they were install drywall on the ceiling of the bedroom, replacing a window in the laundry room and replacing some roof supports in that room.
In Biloxi the team at home that had been flooded to the ceiling during Katrina; they were working lay new floor in the bathroom and placing trim in the kitchen. The furnace is not working and can not be checkout due the gas being turned off to the home. The other house in Biloxi was flood with only about 6 inches of water. The team replaced the front door and is laying new tile floor after removing the old composite floor which was damaged by Katrina.
These homes will continue to be worked on as the week progress. This evening were are under a severe storm alert, with tornado warning out for the area north of us. It is expected to continue to rain through the night and tomorrow.
Katrina Mission Team
