~Photos by Kris
~Click on any picture to enlarge it
Monday, April 21, 2008
Friday in Slidell
~By Ann Canedy
It was our last day on the job and everyone worked double time to finish the roof and clean the work site for the next team. Our Americorps volunteer foremen B-Man and Brandon posed for photos, accepted Cape Cod T-shirts and a good-natured poem written by Linda Gadkowski. They told us that we are the best team they have ever had (and we believed it!). We gathered around in a group huddle with our clasped hands extended to the middle. Ernie Charette gave us instructions for the “desired response”, then asks “Are we the best darn group Habitat has ever sent to Slidell?” OHHHH Yeah!
We left the site early so we could drive into New Orleans. We wanted to tour the 9th Ward again and to work with a street preacher named Charlie. We picked up Ryan, a missionary’s son from Las Vegas who is working with the homeless through the Slidell Faith Church before he enlists in the Air Force. We stopped at a place called Carpenter 2, a multi-purpose center in transition. There is already a successful Carpenter 1 functioning in another part of the 9th Ward. The building is stuffed to the rafters with donated clothing, bedding, food and other supplies. The vision is that the center will eventually have a place for overnight stays, a kitchen, meal service, and processing and storage of goods.
We stood in an assembly line with some young student volunteers and began packing bags. The bags contain donated bread which the volunteers have to accept as pig feed because it is too old for the grocery stores to give to people for consumption. We checked each loaf for mold. If acceptable, the bread went into the bag with bottled ice tea, pudding, canned meat, peanut butter and bananas.
On the way into the center of the city, we stopped at a crumbling old church, its interior still in shambles and covered in mold. We also stopped at a house that stood alone in an area, which used to be a block of closely built bungalows. The door was open and tattered curtains hung in windows without glass. We looked in the windows and saw a crib in pieces and toddler clothes still hanging in the closet.
We drove into New Orleans to an area under the I-10. There was a literal “tent city” with rows of pitched tents and old mattresses, shopping carts, dirty clothes and linens. We handed out the bags of groceries we had packed to the people in the tents. Some people expressed appreciation: others demanded their share. There was not enough to give to everyone under the freeway.
I had mixed feelings about what I was doing. It was so blatantly wrong that any responsible city official would allow a camp like this to exist. There were people of all races and degrees of sobriety and sanity living in absolute squalor. The stench was overwhelming. It made me angry and it made me sad. Understanding that I was giving these people food they needed to last the weekend, I also felt as if I was being an enabler or putting a band-aid on a problem that the city chose to ignore. Michael Sweeney had a more optimistic view than most of us. He felt it was like one starfish among many on the shore. Throw one back into the sea and although it won’t make much difference to the starfish left behind, it may make a big difference to the starfish which has been given another chance.
We are ready to come home. I reflect on how advanced and humane the Cape is in the treatment of its homeless population. New Orleans seems to continue to lag behind neighborhoods like Slidell in rebuild efforts. I feel that our involvement in Slidell with Habitat was a positive experience. We were not offering a band-aid .We were helping people to help themselves and changing an entire neighborhood for the better.
It was our last day on the job and everyone worked double time to finish the roof and clean the work site for the next team. Our Americorps volunteer foremen B-Man and Brandon posed for photos, accepted Cape Cod T-shirts and a good-natured poem written by Linda Gadkowski. They told us that we are the best team they have ever had (and we believed it!). We gathered around in a group huddle with our clasped hands extended to the middle. Ernie Charette gave us instructions for the “desired response”, then asks “Are we the best darn group Habitat has ever sent to Slidell?” OHHHH Yeah!
We left the site early so we could drive into New Orleans. We wanted to tour the 9th Ward again and to work with a street preacher named Charlie. We picked up Ryan, a missionary’s son from Las Vegas who is working with the homeless through the Slidell Faith Church before he enlists in the Air Force. We stopped at a place called Carpenter 2, a multi-purpose center in transition. There is already a successful Carpenter 1 functioning in another part of the 9th Ward. The building is stuffed to the rafters with donated clothing, bedding, food and other supplies. The vision is that the center will eventually have a place for overnight stays, a kitchen, meal service, and processing and storage of goods.
We stood in an assembly line with some young student volunteers and began packing bags. The bags contain donated bread which the volunteers have to accept as pig feed because it is too old for the grocery stores to give to people for consumption. We checked each loaf for mold. If acceptable, the bread went into the bag with bottled ice tea, pudding, canned meat, peanut butter and bananas.
On the way into the center of the city, we stopped at a crumbling old church, its interior still in shambles and covered in mold. We also stopped at a house that stood alone in an area, which used to be a block of closely built bungalows. The door was open and tattered curtains hung in windows without glass. We looked in the windows and saw a crib in pieces and toddler clothes still hanging in the closet.
We drove into New Orleans to an area under the I-10. There was a literal “tent city” with rows of pitched tents and old mattresses, shopping carts, dirty clothes and linens. We handed out the bags of groceries we had packed to the people in the tents. Some people expressed appreciation: others demanded their share. There was not enough to give to everyone under the freeway.
I had mixed feelings about what I was doing. It was so blatantly wrong that any responsible city official would allow a camp like this to exist. There were people of all races and degrees of sobriety and sanity living in absolute squalor. The stench was overwhelming. It made me angry and it made me sad. Understanding that I was giving these people food they needed to last the weekend, I also felt as if I was being an enabler or putting a band-aid on a problem that the city chose to ignore. Michael Sweeney had a more optimistic view than most of us. He felt it was like one starfish among many on the shore. Throw one back into the sea and although it won’t make much difference to the starfish left behind, it may make a big difference to the starfish which has been given another chance.
We are ready to come home. I reflect on how advanced and humane the Cape is in the treatment of its homeless population. New Orleans seems to continue to lag behind neighborhoods like Slidell in rebuild efforts. I feel that our involvement in Slidell with Habitat was a positive experience. We were not offering a band-aid .We were helping people to help themselves and changing an entire neighborhood for the better.
Thursday in Slidell
~By Ann Canedy
Everyone you meet here has a story to tell. Last night most of the St. Mary’s group went to a neighborhood restaurant for dinner. Some of us had on T-shirts that identified us as Habitat workers. As one of our team left the rest room, a woman who introduced herself as Gerry, approached her. “I just want to tell y’all thank you”, she said. We ended up spending part of the evening with Gerry and her husband-new friends.
Every morning our group and other volunteers meet at the local Habitat office. This morning there were two people passing through in their RV, a group from an investment company in New York, and a large contingent from Centerville, Ohio. The latter group represents their town, which pays for their travel expenses. They have formed a partnership with a local school called Our Lady of Lourdes and they are regular volunteers in the Gulf. Our volunteer coordinator Lindsay asked the group if they wanted to share their experiences. At first no one came forward. Then Judy Scarafile told the story of meeting Gerry. Other people from other groups began sharing their stories of the Gerrys they had met. Lindsay said, that if it were not for volunteers like us from outside, the 75 houses Habitat has built would not have been possible. There is just not enough local support.
Not that Habitat is not appreciated by the local population –it really is. People are just unable to give the many hours of work that rebuilding requires, because they are rebuilding their own lives. On the jobsite today we met Jessica Talamo, a young married woman with three small children originally from Chalmette. Habitat requires that in addition to a financial commitment, the potential homeowner has to put in 50 hours of “sweat equity”. Jessica earned hers today. She picked up a paintbrush and she joined me, Andie, Jane, Linda and Bruce in painting the shed. The shed was finally finished with a prime coat. We dubbed it “the petite chateau d’amour” (love shack!) and laughingly took a group photo in front of it. We exchange email addresses with Jessica and promised to send her kids Red Sox shirts.
We all worked extremely hard today –the men (and Jeannie) put up the roof and finished off the porch. The women hammered metal strips along the perimeter of the house as fortification against wind, readied the kitchen for the cabinet installation, and sprayed the floors. Our Lincoln Street house is becoming a home.
After eight hours on the job in heat and humidity and dealing with delightful creatures called fire ants (they bite!), we went to Our Lady of Lourdes to put in a couple more hours of volunteering. The church steeple had collapsed into the church building and both the school and chapel were condemned. The gymnasium still stands and houses all the supplies that have been donated. It is incredible to see cinder block walls cracked and gaping, large holes in the floors where the foundation was so undermined by the flood waters that parts of the interior collapsed from underneath and the I beam was torked. The school was completely gutted.
The facility manager told us a story about her secretary whose house was flooded. Her family retreated to the attic. Realizing that they could not get out through the attic to the roof, they had to swim under water to their front door and out into the street. Relatives in powerboats found them clinging to the sides of the house while the wind blew at 150 mph.
Symbolizing what I have found to be the spirit of Slidell, the church remained open throughout the storm and continued giving mass, even though the church was under 7 feet of water for days. The church operated initially with one round plastic table and a cell phone. Now children dressed in uniform pour out of the trailers at the end of a school day and there is a banner across the first trailer announcing “2008 Cheerleading Champions ”
Tomorrow we work a half-day at our jobsite and travel into New Orleans. We will pack and deliver 100 bags of groceries for the displaced who still live under the I-10. There are still too many houses to build.
Everyone you meet here has a story to tell. Last night most of the St. Mary’s group went to a neighborhood restaurant for dinner. Some of us had on T-shirts that identified us as Habitat workers. As one of our team left the rest room, a woman who introduced herself as Gerry, approached her. “I just want to tell y’all thank you”, she said. We ended up spending part of the evening with Gerry and her husband-new friends.
Every morning our group and other volunteers meet at the local Habitat office. This morning there were two people passing through in their RV, a group from an investment company in New York, and a large contingent from Centerville, Ohio. The latter group represents their town, which pays for their travel expenses. They have formed a partnership with a local school called Our Lady of Lourdes and they are regular volunteers in the Gulf. Our volunteer coordinator Lindsay asked the group if they wanted to share their experiences. At first no one came forward. Then Judy Scarafile told the story of meeting Gerry. Other people from other groups began sharing their stories of the Gerrys they had met. Lindsay said, that if it were not for volunteers like us from outside, the 75 houses Habitat has built would not have been possible. There is just not enough local support.
Not that Habitat is not appreciated by the local population –it really is. People are just unable to give the many hours of work that rebuilding requires, because they are rebuilding their own lives. On the jobsite today we met Jessica Talamo, a young married woman with three small children originally from Chalmette. Habitat requires that in addition to a financial commitment, the potential homeowner has to put in 50 hours of “sweat equity”. Jessica earned hers today. She picked up a paintbrush and she joined me, Andie, Jane, Linda and Bruce in painting the shed. The shed was finally finished with a prime coat. We dubbed it “the petite chateau d’amour” (love shack!) and laughingly took a group photo in front of it. We exchange email addresses with Jessica and promised to send her kids Red Sox shirts.
We all worked extremely hard today –the men (and Jeannie) put up the roof and finished off the porch. The women hammered metal strips along the perimeter of the house as fortification against wind, readied the kitchen for the cabinet installation, and sprayed the floors. Our Lincoln Street house is becoming a home.
After eight hours on the job in heat and humidity and dealing with delightful creatures called fire ants (they bite!), we went to Our Lady of Lourdes to put in a couple more hours of volunteering. The church steeple had collapsed into the church building and both the school and chapel were condemned. The gymnasium still stands and houses all the supplies that have been donated. It is incredible to see cinder block walls cracked and gaping, large holes in the floors where the foundation was so undermined by the flood waters that parts of the interior collapsed from underneath and the I beam was torked. The school was completely gutted.
The facility manager told us a story about her secretary whose house was flooded. Her family retreated to the attic. Realizing that they could not get out through the attic to the roof, they had to swim under water to their front door and out into the street. Relatives in powerboats found them clinging to the sides of the house while the wind blew at 150 mph.
Symbolizing what I have found to be the spirit of Slidell, the church remained open throughout the storm and continued giving mass, even though the church was under 7 feet of water for days. The church operated initially with one round plastic table and a cell phone. Now children dressed in uniform pour out of the trailers at the end of a school day and there is a banner across the first trailer announcing “2008 Cheerleading Champions ”
Tomorrow we work a half-day at our jobsite and travel into New Orleans. We will pack and deliver 100 bags of groceries for the displaced who still live under the I-10. There are still too many houses to build.
Wednesday in Slidell
~By Ann Canedy
Every one here has a Katrina story, because everyone was affected. We are told that a mandatory evacuation was called for all of St. Tammany Parish two days before the storm. Residents I have met admit that many ignored the order, having ridden out many hurricanes before. When Katrina made landfall, the Slidell Airport Weather Center recorded 200 mph gusts of wind. The storm was then classified as a Category Three, but some believe that Katrina gained momentum over Lake Pontchartrain, the large lake north of New Orleans. Slidell sits on the northeastern shore of this lake. Lake Charlotte and the Gulf lie to its east and the city is surrounded by bayous.
The eye of the storm passed directly over the city. There was a 28-foot storm surge, a tsunami, which reached up to five miles inland. Communication was immediately lost. There were no telephones, electricity or water. Cell phones did not work because the towers were down. Cell phone use was only partially restored after four days - text messaging worked after midnight. Evacuees were not allowed into the city until four days after the storm, when entry was allowed only during daylight hours. No one was admitted without identification and no one could stay overnight. Twelve days after the storm, the all clear was given for residents to move back into Slidell. Eighty five percent of the city was demolished. Only Home Depot and Sam’s Club were able to open for business. Many could not return to their jobs because their places of business no longer existed. Once grocery stores reopened many did not have money to buy food. MREs (military food packets) were handed out as food supplements for two months and many of Slidell’s residents went on Food Stamps. News was limited to out of town coverage and power did not return to parts of Slidell until a month after the storm.
We have seen Slidell’s devastation and feel a small part in its rebirth. Slidell has really gotten its act together. On Wednesday, after a full day of work, all 14 of us piled into our rented van and headed south to New Orleans. We wanted to see the rest of the story.
As I looked out the car window, I found it hard to visualize the underlying beauty of the landscape when so much of it is covered with urban sprawl and still evident scars of Katrina. We passed an abandoned Six Flags amusement park, the roller coaster stark against the horizon. In the once upscale community of Eden Isles where pre-Katrina houses were packed so tightly you could not see the canal, only bare pilings remain. These homes sustained 4-8 feet of water and thousands of pounds of debris washed in from damaged or destroyed homes. Boats, appliances, cars, seaweed and dead animal life replaced the homes. In some areas, piles of debris still remain.
The homes along Lakeshore Drive (also known as Rat’s Nest Road) felt the first impact of the storm. A 28-foot storm surge destroyed 300 houses in this area. FEMA trailers also dot the landscape. Meant to be a temporary housing solution, many families still live in them because they have not received their insurance settlements.
We crossed over the bridge between Slidell and Chalmette, located in St. Bernard’s Parish just outside New Orleans. The original twin span collapsed during the storm and it is gratifying to see that the new bridge will be 30 feet higher. Chalmette is surrounded by wetlands, including Bayou Savage, a protected sanctuary for many of Louisiana’s wildlife. Chalmette received 10-12 feet of water. Wetlands are normally a natural “speed bump” for hurricanes but 217 miles of wetlands were lost during Katrina.
We passed the Murphy’s Oil Company Refinery. During Katrina, a large barge had traveled so far inland that it ran into the storage tanks, cracking one container and leaking thousands of gallons of oil into the surging water. Only five homes survived in this area and each of those had to be gutted. Here we saw the various stages of rebuild. Some homes have been refurbished, but many are still abandoned. Some still bear the X left by responders after the storm. On the top of the X, the date the house was inspected is recorded, to the left the group that inspected, to the right the number of dead animals and at the bottom of the X, the number of dead people. Some homes bore multiple Xs indicating the number of times the home was searched for survivors.
Just before the bridge into the 9th Ward, we see evidence of the 17th Street Canal break in the levee that caused so much devastation to that area. What was once a crowded neighborhood is now a vacant green patch. New cement levees are being rebuilt by the Army Corps of Engineers.
As we crossed into the 9th Ward, we saw remnants of a former FEMA Park where many residents were forced to live if they could not tap into resources on their own property. These parks were closed last month. The trailers were pulled in order to be tested for the possibility that inhabitants were being over exposed to formaldehyde. The trailers were also removed at the request of the local government. Compared to Slidell, and I am told, Gulfport and Biloxi, New Orleans has been slow to recuperate from Katrina. I was struck by how little rebuilding there seems to be. What has been rebuilt has been built as it was before the storm-at or below sea level. Interestingly, when you ask about the local city government, the response is always how corrupt and inefficient it is and sadly, the people here seem to accept that assessment as the norm.
The 9th Ward shows little sign of progress. An evacuee told me that it is not much different there than it was before Katrina. It is a depressing area of squalor, broken windows, debris laden yards, rusting automobiles. We pass a sign reading “No Dumping”, the debris around it almost obscuring the words.
A lone bright spot is the Musician’s Village, which is a couple of blocks of brightly colored houses. This is a project sponsored by Harry Connick Jr. and others and being built by Habitat volunteers. Almost every house has an Obama sign out front. The symbolism in this simple landscape is palpable.
The business district along the river did not receive too much direct damage. However, because the city was without electricity for weeks, many of the high-rise offices became so moldy they had to be gutted.
As we went into the French Quarter I was intrigued by the contrasts. The architecture is beautiful-old iron lace grilled doors and windows, flowers hanging from balconies. There is music on every street corner and drifting from the bars .The streets were crowded with revelers. This is not appealing to me –there is an overwhelming sense of decadence. It seems so self indulgent and incongruous to the rest of our week.
Every one here has a Katrina story, because everyone was affected. We are told that a mandatory evacuation was called for all of St. Tammany Parish two days before the storm. Residents I have met admit that many ignored the order, having ridden out many hurricanes before. When Katrina made landfall, the Slidell Airport Weather Center recorded 200 mph gusts of wind. The storm was then classified as a Category Three, but some believe that Katrina gained momentum over Lake Pontchartrain, the large lake north of New Orleans. Slidell sits on the northeastern shore of this lake. Lake Charlotte and the Gulf lie to its east and the city is surrounded by bayous.
The eye of the storm passed directly over the city. There was a 28-foot storm surge, a tsunami, which reached up to five miles inland. Communication was immediately lost. There were no telephones, electricity or water. Cell phones did not work because the towers were down. Cell phone use was only partially restored after four days - text messaging worked after midnight. Evacuees were not allowed into the city until four days after the storm, when entry was allowed only during daylight hours. No one was admitted without identification and no one could stay overnight. Twelve days after the storm, the all clear was given for residents to move back into Slidell. Eighty five percent of the city was demolished. Only Home Depot and Sam’s Club were able to open for business. Many could not return to their jobs because their places of business no longer existed. Once grocery stores reopened many did not have money to buy food. MREs (military food packets) were handed out as food supplements for two months and many of Slidell’s residents went on Food Stamps. News was limited to out of town coverage and power did not return to parts of Slidell until a month after the storm.
We have seen Slidell’s devastation and feel a small part in its rebirth. Slidell has really gotten its act together. On Wednesday, after a full day of work, all 14 of us piled into our rented van and headed south to New Orleans. We wanted to see the rest of the story.
As I looked out the car window, I found it hard to visualize the underlying beauty of the landscape when so much of it is covered with urban sprawl and still evident scars of Katrina. We passed an abandoned Six Flags amusement park, the roller coaster stark against the horizon. In the once upscale community of Eden Isles where pre-Katrina houses were packed so tightly you could not see the canal, only bare pilings remain. These homes sustained 4-8 feet of water and thousands of pounds of debris washed in from damaged or destroyed homes. Boats, appliances, cars, seaweed and dead animal life replaced the homes. In some areas, piles of debris still remain.
The homes along Lakeshore Drive (also known as Rat’s Nest Road) felt the first impact of the storm. A 28-foot storm surge destroyed 300 houses in this area. FEMA trailers also dot the landscape. Meant to be a temporary housing solution, many families still live in them because they have not received their insurance settlements.
We crossed over the bridge between Slidell and Chalmette, located in St. Bernard’s Parish just outside New Orleans. The original twin span collapsed during the storm and it is gratifying to see that the new bridge will be 30 feet higher. Chalmette is surrounded by wetlands, including Bayou Savage, a protected sanctuary for many of Louisiana’s wildlife. Chalmette received 10-12 feet of water. Wetlands are normally a natural “speed bump” for hurricanes but 217 miles of wetlands were lost during Katrina.
We passed the Murphy’s Oil Company Refinery. During Katrina, a large barge had traveled so far inland that it ran into the storage tanks, cracking one container and leaking thousands of gallons of oil into the surging water. Only five homes survived in this area and each of those had to be gutted. Here we saw the various stages of rebuild. Some homes have been refurbished, but many are still abandoned. Some still bear the X left by responders after the storm. On the top of the X, the date the house was inspected is recorded, to the left the group that inspected, to the right the number of dead animals and at the bottom of the X, the number of dead people. Some homes bore multiple Xs indicating the number of times the home was searched for survivors.
Just before the bridge into the 9th Ward, we see evidence of the 17th Street Canal break in the levee that caused so much devastation to that area. What was once a crowded neighborhood is now a vacant green patch. New cement levees are being rebuilt by the Army Corps of Engineers.
As we crossed into the 9th Ward, we saw remnants of a former FEMA Park where many residents were forced to live if they could not tap into resources on their own property. These parks were closed last month. The trailers were pulled in order to be tested for the possibility that inhabitants were being over exposed to formaldehyde. The trailers were also removed at the request of the local government. Compared to Slidell, and I am told, Gulfport and Biloxi, New Orleans has been slow to recuperate from Katrina. I was struck by how little rebuilding there seems to be. What has been rebuilt has been built as it was before the storm-at or below sea level. Interestingly, when you ask about the local city government, the response is always how corrupt and inefficient it is and sadly, the people here seem to accept that assessment as the norm.
The 9th Ward shows little sign of progress. An evacuee told me that it is not much different there than it was before Katrina. It is a depressing area of squalor, broken windows, debris laden yards, rusting automobiles. We pass a sign reading “No Dumping”, the debris around it almost obscuring the words.
A lone bright spot is the Musician’s Village, which is a couple of blocks of brightly colored houses. This is a project sponsored by Harry Connick Jr. and others and being built by Habitat volunteers. Almost every house has an Obama sign out front. The symbolism in this simple landscape is palpable.
The business district along the river did not receive too much direct damage. However, because the city was without electricity for weeks, many of the high-rise offices became so moldy they had to be gutted.
As we went into the French Quarter I was intrigued by the contrasts. The architecture is beautiful-old iron lace grilled doors and windows, flowers hanging from balconies. There is music on every street corner and drifting from the bars .The streets were crowded with revelers. This is not appealing to me –there is an overwhelming sense of decadence. It seems so self indulgent and incongruous to the rest of our week.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
A poem
Habitat for Humanity
Michael, Pete, and Ernie built the roof and shed,
And then Ann had the big hammer on her head.
Jeff, Walter, Steve, and Bruce made sure that no nail was loose,
Jane, Jeannie, Linda and Andie became quite handy.
They nailed, sawed and drilled so every house part was filled.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Bruce's perspective
~By Bruce Johnson
April 12
Slidell sits at the edge of Lake Pontchartrain some twenty miles north of New Orleans Slidell was inundated with a 28 foot wave of water from Lake Pontchartrain which is averagely only 12 feet deep. High watermarks on walls fifteen feet or more above the doorsills of many houses were common.
April 12
It was into this community that our 14 person church group from St. Mary’s in
The schedule we followed for the week was rigorous. Up at 6:00 AM, on the bus at 6:30, report to the work site ready to build at 7:00 AM. Lunch at noon, clean up and back to the Holiday Inn at 3:30PM for shower and rest. On to dinner at 5:30, sometimes locally and sometimes driving 45 minutes into
The work itself was both hard and rewarding. Of the fourteen in the group we had a mix of highly skilled craftsmen and some who could barely manage a hammer. Somehow our two foremen, both young men doing tours as “paid” volunteers, sorted us out into work groups according to our abilities. Pounding nails, moving scaffolding, painting, picking up trash by itself is just hard work; building a house for a family that has lived in a trailer for almost three years is rewarding. We met several owners and prospective owners, all of whom had their stories to tell and were most grateful for the efforts of the volunteers. Hearing their stories made the work easier.
On Friday we knocked off early to do a food distribution for Katrina victims in
I am waiting at the
On the ground in Slidell~ Day 2
~By Judy Walden Scarafile
We assembled at Morning Circle at 7am and were assigned to our houses on Lincoln Rd for the rest of the week. Our site supervisors, Brendan and B-Man were great to work with and we had already learned a lot about house building on Day 1.
We gathered at our “house” and formed our own circle as Brendan gave us instructions and Rev Steve led us in prayer. It was a perfect way to start the day, on this our second day on site.
Today we continued hammering and attaching the hurricane straps, this time to the base of the house. Between the straps by the ceiling and now these on the first floor, this house was certainly not going to blow down in an average storm. I asked if these straps were used “up north” and the answer was clearly, “you wouldn’t need them”.
Once the plywood walls had been nailed down, it was ready for a review of all area like filling in where nails had been missed or finding areas that needed to be done over. This involved taking out nails that were crooked, adding foam-in insulation in areas that had dead air, and patching up holes where you could see daylight through “solid” wall.
This bright orange foam insulation looked like cheese doodles and was fun to work with. But one had to remember how much it expanded…..even after several hours. In one area that required the foam insulation, I drilled holes through the two-by-four and squirted the silly foam inside. I let it expand and in an hour I added more. By afternoon I had a forgotten about it, thinking it looked pretty good and we could go to the next step. Then I heard someone roar with laughter outside the house. The foam, under pressure to find another outlet had expanded so much it squeezed through every crack and nail hole in the plywood. On the outside of the house were three huge globs of tangerine colored gook that looked like orange tennis balls stuck on the outside walls. In the meantime the trusses and plywood were going up on the back of the house to create the roof. Time to wear a hard hat with flying nails and occasional debris.
Seems like the word spread quickly to the local wasps, insects that love the rafters of a roof. Several large southern variety wasps started flying around. I knew a hard hat would not help here, so we got off the ladders in the back of the house and found another spot to do more hammering
The East St. Tammany school buses drive by at 2:55, signifying “cleanup and quitting time”. We scurried around and put things away. After a quick drive back to the hotel and a quick shower, we were in the van heading into New Orleans for a tour of Chalmette, St Bernard’s Parish and the devastated and depressed Ninth Ward.
We assembled at Morning Circle at 7am and were assigned to our houses on Lincoln Rd for the rest of the week. Our site supervisors, Brendan and B-Man were great to work with and we had already learned a lot about house building on Day 1.
We gathered at our “house” and formed our own circle as Brendan gave us instructions and Rev Steve led us in prayer. It was a perfect way to start the day, on this our second day on site.
Today we continued hammering and attaching the hurricane straps, this time to the base of the house. Between the straps by the ceiling and now these on the first floor, this house was certainly not going to blow down in an average storm. I asked if these straps were used “up north” and the answer was clearly, “you wouldn’t need them”.
Once the plywood walls had been nailed down, it was ready for a review of all area like filling in where nails had been missed or finding areas that needed to be done over. This involved taking out nails that were crooked, adding foam-in insulation in areas that had dead air, and patching up holes where you could see daylight through “solid” wall.
This bright orange foam insulation looked like cheese doodles and was fun to work with. But one had to remember how much it expanded…..even after several hours. In one area that required the foam insulation, I drilled holes through the two-by-four and squirted the silly foam inside. I let it expand and in an hour I added more. By afternoon I had a forgotten about it, thinking it looked pretty good and we could go to the next step. Then I heard someone roar with laughter outside the house. The foam, under pressure to find another outlet had expanded so much it squeezed through every crack and nail hole in the plywood. On the outside of the house were three huge globs of tangerine colored gook that looked like orange tennis balls stuck on the outside walls. In the meantime the trusses and plywood were going up on the back of the house to create the roof. Time to wear a hard hat with flying nails and occasional debris.
Seems like the word spread quickly to the local wasps, insects that love the rafters of a roof. Several large southern variety wasps started flying around. I knew a hard hat would not help here, so we got off the ladders in the back of the house and found another spot to do more hammering
The East St. Tammany school buses drive by at 2:55, signifying “cleanup and quitting time”. We scurried around and put things away. After a quick drive back to the hotel and a quick shower, we were in the van heading into New Orleans for a tour of Chalmette, St Bernard’s Parish and the devastated and depressed Ninth Ward.
Friday, April 11, 2008
The work goes on~more from our team in Slidell
~Starting the day at the Habitat office with a circle of prayer
~The painting crew in front of the finished petite chateau d'amore (LOVE SHACK)
~Steve. "If I had a hammer..."
~Jessica, an applicant for a Habitat home, earning sweat equity
~Jeannie on the roof
~Making progress!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
More pictures from Slidell
Walter, looking the part
Peter and Ernie on top of the "Love Shack" *see story below
Jeannie handles the saw
Judy with the drill
The Girlz
Judy and Peter, tired but happy
The whole gangTuesday in Slidell
Written by Ann Canedy for the Barnstable Patriot, used by permission
In her distinctive
We have placed the statue to the left of the front door; just to let the new owners, whoever they will be, know that this home will be one of love.
Our volunteer coordinator Lindsey Grove tells us that
More on Monday
Written by Ann Canedy for the Barnstable Patriot, used by permission
Our first day in
Ernie Charette and Peter Scarafile are commissioned to complete the garden shed. Ernie is the Director of Facilities and services at WHOI. His wife Jane is a retired teacher and is currently a jobs coach through CapeAbilities. Both have been to
The rest of us are assigned to pounding in nails at 4-inch intervals across the siding of the main house. This we do from 7:45 am until 12 noon. Linda Gadkowski, a certified financial planner, juggles calls from clients and her skills as a left handed hammerer. Michael Sweeney, a surfer who works with Hyannis Assistance Corp, drifts away to help Peter and Ernie finish off the shed. Jeannie Stokinger, who I have decided must be a closet construction worker, has more energy than all of us put together. She kept me going.
The magic noon hours bring us
By 3:00 we are ready to go. Jeff Albies, a retired collegiate baseball coach, remarks that we all have a new respect for construction workers. Muscles we never knew we had ache. I believe I will be wielding a hammer in my sleep tonight.
Tonight most of us went to the dedication of two completed Habitat for Humanity homes. This was a very special occasion, of course for the new owners, but also for the volunteers who worked on them. Habitat buys the house lot and clears the land for $15,000. The “bricks and sticks” cost $60,000 and each house may take three months to build. The new homeowner purchases the home for $75,000 and Habitat holds the mortgage. These homes are assessed at $120,000 and the money Habitat makes holding the mortgage is folded back into the funds. Habitat currently has 30 houses under construction in this area.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Day 2~A picture is worth a thousand words
~Found in the mud, this little knick knack became the group's mascot.
~Jeannie starts the day with yoga
~Suzanne
~Judy
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Day 1~Hard at work with Habitat
~Saint Mary's Disaster Relief Ministry Team report by Judy Walden Scarafile
The St Mary’s team would be driving to the
Ernie, Peter and Michael were quickly assigned to work on a shed in the back “yard” which had a hand written sign over the doorway, “Love Shack”. They worked all day on the shed, doing siding, creating scaffolding and ultimately putting on the roof. It was the first finished project on the property and was a source of pride. Certainly the song “Love Shack” would hold a new meaning for all of us when we would next hear it on an oldies station.
The rest of the 11 of us began the long project of nailing. Everything needed to be nailed, it seemed, so with hammers selected from the tool trailer, we began. We hammered nails into plywood sides to reinforce the walls, hammered steel braces between the plates and joists to reinforce the roof. Hammer, hammer, hammer. All 11 people hammering all day long. I knew there would be some sore muscles and wrists on Day 2 but this was worth it. We could see our progress and that was really meaningful.
Back into the van with lots of stories to share we drove the 5-minute ride back to the Holiday Inn, our home base. Fourteen hot showers awaited us and we could not wait …..for the showers or Day 2 on our job site.
Disaster Relief Ministry Team hard at work in Slidell
Click on any picture to enlarge it
Top to bottom:
~Natasha Thornton at the dedication of her new home
~The team hard at work
~Walt
~Bruce
~Steve
~Jeannie
~The whole gang after a hard day's work
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Saint Mary's Mission Trip to Slidell LA~1st report
From Ann Canedy~orignally printed in the Barnstable Patriot and used
with permission
Last year. I mentioned in these pages my trip of a lifetime to the Galapagos Islands. I am about to embark on another trip of a lifetime of a different sort.
Last fall, Judy and Peter Scarafile, two members of my parish at St Mary's Episcopal Church in Barnstable, embarked on a working trip to Slidell LA. Both are enthusiastically immersed in baseball--Judy as the head of the Cape Cod Baseball League and Peter as director of the Hyannis Mets-- so one would think October would find them at the World Series cheering on our Red Sox. Instead, they spent their evenings elbow to elbow with Yankee fans watching big screen TV in a hotel bar in Slidell. Their days were spent shoulder to shoulder with workers around the country doing what they could to rebuild devastated Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.
Judy Scarafile first went to Louisiana in 2005 immediately after Katrina as a pharmacist from the local Medical Reserve Corp to work on a Mobile Medical Team. Disorganization and bureaucracy almost deep-sixed that effort as the group of 80 volunteers sat in an Army camp for threedays before being assigned. Communication was so lacking that Judy would be dispatched to the local Laundromat to do her laundry in hopes she could overhear state officials discussing the plan. It was apparent that Louisiana officials were resistant to accept help from outside. Once the work began, however, there was an obvious need and plenty to do keeping all eight mobile medical teams very busy.
Judy returned to the area with Peter last fall with the Madison, CT affiliate of Habitat for Humanity called Madison Cares. Their operation was based in Slidell. Before Hurricane Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005, Slidell, was considered a quaint and thriving bedroom community of New Orleans and nearby Metaire, and was home to 35,000 people. Katrina severely damaged or destroyed 85 percent of Slidell's homes, churches and businesses. The community experienced an influx of population to 90,000, unlike other communities that experienced a decrease, largely due to evacuation from New Orleans.
The contrast in organization from the Scarafile's first trip to their second was remarkable. Their group of 12 from Connecticut and Massachusetts worked on three houses in three stages of build and became so skilled that they modestly referred to themselves as the Vinyl Siding Specialists of New England. The Scarafiles returned from that experience not only knowing that the Red Sox had prevailed but that the volunteers had been a small part of the progress that is indeed being made in Louisiana. Their enthusiasm was so contagious that St. Mary's rector. the Rev. Steve Smith, asked them to consider organizing a group of parishioners for a return trip.
So we are going-a total of 14 of us - with varying levels of skill sets, experiences and expectations to the East St. Tammany Parish and Slidell LA. It may indeed be a trip of a lifetime.
Last fall, Judy and Peter Scarafile, two members of my parish at St Mary's Episcopal Church in Barnstable, embarked on a working trip to Slidell LA. Both are enthusiastically immersed in baseball--Judy as the head of the Cape Cod Baseball League and Peter as director of the Hyannis Mets-- so one would think October would find them at the World Series cheering on our Red Sox. Instead, they spent their evenings elbow to elbow with Yankee fans watching big screen TV in a hotel bar in Slidell. Their days were spent shoulder to shoulder with workers around the country doing what they could to rebuild devastated Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.
Judy Scarafile first went to Louisiana in 2005 immediately after Katrina as a pharmacist from the local Medical Reserve Corp to work on a Mobile Medical Team. Disorganization and bureaucracy almost deep-sixed that effort as the group of 80 volunteers sat in an Army camp for threedays before being assigned. Communication was so lacking that Judy would be dispatched to the local Laundromat to do her laundry in hopes she could overhear state officials discussing the plan. It was apparent that Louisiana officials were resistant to accept help from outside. Once the work began, however, there was an obvious need and plenty to do keeping all eight mobile medical teams very busy.
Judy returned to the area with Peter last fall with the Madison, CT affiliate of Habitat for Humanity called Madison Cares. Their operation was based in Slidell. Before Hurricane Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005, Slidell, was considered a quaint and thriving bedroom community of New Orleans and nearby Metaire, and was home to 35,000 people. Katrina severely damaged or destroyed 85 percent of Slidell's homes, churches and businesses. The community experienced an influx of population to 90,000, unlike other communities that experienced a decrease, largely due to evacuation from New Orleans.
The contrast in organization from the Scarafile's first trip to their second was remarkable. Their group of 12 from Connecticut and Massachusetts worked on three houses in three stages of build and became so skilled that they modestly referred to themselves as the Vinyl Siding Specialists of New England. The Scarafiles returned from that experience not only knowing that the Red Sox had prevailed but that the volunteers had been a small part of the progress that is indeed being made in Louisiana. Their enthusiasm was so contagious that St. Mary's rector. the Rev. Steve Smith, asked them to consider organizing a group of parishioners for a return trip.
So we are going-a total of 14 of us - with varying levels of skill sets, experiences and expectations to the East St. Tammany Parish and Slidell LA. It may indeed be a trip of a lifetime.
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