Monday, January 15, 2007

My experience

Working in Mississippi for the past week has been an incredible, meaningful experience for me, and one that I will never forget. In addition to meeting so many fun, interesting, and talented people from Geneseo, I enjoyed talking with other people staying at the camp from different areas of the country, as well as the locals. The physical work was surprisingly refreshing, and I always woke up each morning feeling a little sore from the previous day's work. I learned new skills such as putting up popcorn ceiling paint, painting from a ladder, and building a railing for the front porch. I thought it was neat that we decided to continue working on the same house for the whole week. As more things needed repairing or painting, we decided to do the work ourselves instead of leaving it for another group to take up. This made for a beautiful finished product that we felt pride in. To finish off the house, we even bought hanging plants for the porch and put a house number up. A "welcome home" sign was waiting for Paulette when she entered her repaired home.
Despite the amount of time it has been since the storm, there is still considerable damage in the area, and I think it is important that people know that there is still a great need for recovery help. It was encouraging to see so many enthusiastic volunteers, especially college students. I would whole-heartedly recommend an experience like this to anyone. It is challenging both spiritually and physically, and in both areas, I feel I have grown.
One of my favorite memories of this trip was washing dishes after dinner at the camp with Colin and Trevor. With gospel music to keep us motivated, we spent over an hour cleaning and chatting with Louis, the cook. Through his thick southern accent, I could discern Louis telling us to "keep smiling." And that, I will do.

Friday, January 12, 2007

My Favorite Day

Yesterday was my favorite day in Gulfport on this trip thus far. First of all, I woke up in a great mood ready to get back to work on the house that we had started the day before. It's always easier and more motivating to have a game plan for the day before you get to the work site.

Later that morning, our house owner came to visit us since we had left her a note about wanting to meet her. She was so sweet and appreciative of everything. She told us that she had lost hope waiting for help that she moved into her daughter's house around Thanksgiving. Shortly after, she got a call from Camp Biloxi and volunteers were sent. She was so happy to have us, and so trusting (you never know how much someone has lost) that she left the door unlocked for us to just walk in and begin our work before even having met us.

Later on, a man from Camp Biloxi came to help us figure out what to do with the siding on the house and his comment made my day. He told us he was so impressed with our prep work for painting and how appreciative he was that we had taken the extra time to do everything correctly. I felt like the time and tediousness of our prep work was validated.

~ Anonymous

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.

An Amazing Experience

Working on homes in Biloxi has been an amazing experience. The first home I worked on I had the opportunity to meet the family that lives in the home. It was moving to hear their story and how they were impacted by the hurricane. The water level came so high in the house that the family had to take refuge in their attic. They lost almost everything in their home, and were only able to save a few photo albums. We asked a young woman in the house what item she was most upset about losing. She explained that the hurricane changed her life and that she was simply just happy to be alive with her family. The family was so thankful for all the people that spent time working on their house.

On Tuesday (today) I was moved to a different home and had a different experience. We began exterior work on a historic home in Biloxi. Though we did not meet the family in the house it was still great to know that we were working to rebuild a historic part of the community. It was a beautiful day in Mississippi and our team worked hard to sand paint off from the house.

I am excited to continue working this week. To actually see the damage that has been done to Biloxi is sad. After a year and a half there is still a lot to do, and I am happy that I can be a part of helping Biloxi rebuild to the state it was before Hurricane Katrina. I certainly will never forget this trip, it has taught me to be thankful for what we have and the power of taking just one week of your life to help people hurt by Katrina.

~ Carolyn D.

Low Oak Trees, Twisted in the Wind

On Sunday we were given a tour by Connie Rockoco, a woman who holds a position in Harrison County that's comparable to Maggie Brooks's in Rochester. We received a our tour through much of the area, and the discrepancies in the repairs between the wealthy neighborhoods and those in poverty are so vast. In the more affluent neighborhoods, life seemed almost normal, except there was still something that seemed amiss; usually this was just seen in overturned lawn ornaments, other times, just a dented mailbox.

When we entered the poorer areas, Connie informed us that the devastation unfolding before our eyes was to do a 30 ft wall of water that was a deadly precursor to the undulating wrath that Katrina would later bring. Really, as trite as this may sound, there are no words that can capture what we've seen. Rather than try to convey the full breadth of everything, I'll instead share some of the more poignant scenes that deeply affect myself and the others:
The first thing that I saw which brought tears to my eyes were when we slowly drove past a house that had only it's front porch and fireplace still standing. Along the brick one of the owners had scrawled in spray paint, "What are we supposed to do now?"

A few minutes later we passed another structure that only it's supporting posts intact. Positioned in the middle of the skeletal structure was a lone rocking chair. We learned that many owners come back to their homes and just sit. Nothing was more heartbreaking than picturing the owner who had come back and sat in that rocking chair and just surveyed what was left of their home.

The final moment that left us all silent was driving past low oak trees that were twisted in the wind. Hanging from the branches were blankets, clothing, and in one, a child's toy. With the wind silently pulling at the objects in the trees, and the fog slowly rolling in from the the bay, the scene was truly haunting.

~ Nancy

First Day

The first day we were here, New Orleans was covered in a thick, heavy fog that blanketed the gutted houses, torn oaks, and broken spirits. New Orleans was an erie place that first Sunday, and everyone on the trip could feel the depth Katrina reached here; through the homes and through the families.


~ Lindsay

Rain Clouds of Yesterday

The rain clouds of yesterday had all blown away by this morning, but there was a little frost to greet us at 6:30 am. It turned out sunny and warm after sunrise.

Our task with the popcorn ceiling was challenging and VERY dusty, butwe got it done by day's end and we're ready to spray more popcorn ceiling tomorrow. We look forward to meeting the homeowner and her family, perhaps tomorrow. They have been through so much and we're so glad to improve the house so they can move back in SOON.

~ Betsy Matthews

Hello from Biloxi

Connie Hurlburt, Betsy and Tom Matthews are here in the dining hall at 8 talking about what we did today and thinking about what is on tap for Tuesday. All the students have gone for an evening walk to the beach.

Today we worked on two houses, one in Gulfport and a second in East Biloxi. The one on Magnolia Street in Biloxi is just down the street from Ms.Daisy's house that we worked on last Janury. We will stop by to see her later this week. The work today consisted of removing popcorn textured paint on ceilings in three rooms in one house and spackling, sanding, and painting primer on trim in the second house. We will return to both houses in the morning and also start work on sanding the outside of a historic home in biloxi. We will fill in some more details tomorrow night.

~ Tom Matthews

Administrative details

I will be reposting some of the comments as full entries here on the blog. We're troubleshooting the difficulties for volunteers in posting and will get it corrected as soon as we can.

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Welcome to Livingston CARES January 2007 Trip

Hello everyone going to Mississippi on Saturday. We are looking forward to our continuing work in Harrison County, Mississippi. Our hosts for the week will be the Lutheran Episcopal Disaster Response recovery center: Camp Biloxi on Pass Road in Biloxi. We hope several of you will join the CARES blog and start sharing your thoughts and reactions to your experiences in Biloxi. Each of you will receive an invitation to join the CARES blog from our new webmaster, Tracy Paradis, from the Milne Library Staff at SUNY Geneseo. More later. Tom Matthews, January Trip Coordinator.

Monday, January 1, 2007

Welcome

Welcome to the new blog for Livingston County CARES!

We're hoping to use this technology to gather the stories and experiences of the people involved with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts through our program.

Another trip is in the works for January, so we should start seeing recent accounts soon.