Hi, it's me

This is my first time coming down to Biloxi to work on the recovery. The place we're staying is really nice - the bunkhouses are made out of what seem to be train cars and though the rooms are small, we've been having a good time and enjoying the Real Southern Cooking.

I've worked on two houses this week. The first belongs to a family that stayed in the house's attic during the hurricane as the water flooded their home nearly to the ceiling. We've been doing mostly finishing work there, doing spackling and painting the moulding, finding other small jobs to do so that their house is finally complete. They only just moved in a month ago. As I think Carolyn stated above, the family is just glad that they made it through the storm okay and no one got hurt - "Material things can be replaced, people can't," stated the 19- or 20-year-old daughter of the owner. It's good to make a connection with a family the way we've done, even though most assuredly they've had dozens of people come through their home working. They're lovely people and I'm glad we've been able to help them in some small way.

When I was preparing to do this trip, I had envisioned all the pictures we'd seen after the hurricane and thinking we'd be tearing things down and mucking out debris still, and here we are finishing up a house. It's remarkable how quickly things have been done (though perhaps only surprising to someone used to a much shorter construction season due to Winter). On the other side of this, there's still a lot to be done, still empty foundations waiting to be built upon and the remains of houses up for sale, waiting to be bought or bulldozed. This afternoon we visited an old church, which had been damaged by the flooding but still retained all of its stained glass windows undamaged. It's all that remains of a compound that once served as the sole day care service for poor families in the area. They're hoping to have it back in full service by the end of the year, but right now there's no place in East Biloxi for people to send their kids. That made me realize that it's not just homes that were damaged and have to be rebuilt, but other places essential to the community - the local Walmart is up and running, but the elementary school around the block from where we worked just re-opened.

This experience makes me wish I had the means to come back here and do more work for a longer amount of time.

-Megan W.