GM FYI Blog

By Sue Mead

We spent our first day on the job at the home of a business owner from Slidell who lost all of his equipment and his business when Hurricane Katrina hit. He is now working at the First Baptist Church. Our crew of 12 worked together to strip the roof to the wood on his home, which had damage inside and out, and clean up the debris. It felt so good to be working hard and working together.

We returned to the church for showers and an evening meal and basketball games in the gym (Kevin, Kyle and Alex were stars!), which doubles as the cafeteria for workers and the 250 students who attend school here. We also learned that the church has a meals service and provides outreach meals to 200 area residents affected by Katrina.

During the weeks following the hurricane, this church had a drive-up service for hot meals, ice and water, and other emergency supplies. You can tell we’re really impressed by the work this church congregation has done and is still doing, but we are also saddened by the great need that still exists. We feel it is important to get the word out because so many think Katrina is past, and that many of the needs are taken care of now. There is still a great need for volunteers and financial support.

We feel so blessed to be able to come and bring seven young adults, five of who will be reporting back to their schools.

Today is our fourth day in Slidell and we are beginning to know our way around and make friends. There are other teams of volunteers with us at the church from California, Missouri, and Ohio. The church has also been putting up some homeless families.

We got an early start today and hooked a trailer to the Yukon Denali XL to pick up roofing materials to redo the roof we stripped yesterday. Having a vehicle with a built-in tow hitch that could haul all the materials needed made the job go faster since the lines at all the hardware stores are long, as is the wait for the delivery of goods.

Alex was our crew chief as we began the task of shingling. He hails from New Hampshire and came to meet us in Williamstown, with Ed and his son, Craig. We split into two teams early in the day and our second team moved to a new location, the home of a 90-year-old blind man. Again, we found damage inside and out, and his entire interior had to be gutted with new walls and ceilings put in place throughout. Craig, Jo Ellen and Chandra worked putting a second skin coat of compound on the walls. We have also been asked to put in a new hot water heater and reseat the tub and toilet.

It has been a long day. Many of us returned to the roofing job after dinner, when the temperatures were cooler (the first team had to take a mid-afternoon break when the temperatures and humidity soared). After hot showers, the adults will go to bed and the younger folks are planning to watch DVDs.

Tomorrow, we will be joined by Connie Sheehy of Williamstown. Connie is in the South doing work for Williams College and will now come to work with our team for three days. We look forward to her support and hope to meet her in New Orleans, as we planned to tour the city to document the progress as well as the damage that still exists.

Each day makes us realize our incredible good fortune in life, and the blessing that we are able to be here to give a small hand to help others.