Day 2 Mississippi 5
Headed over to Ben’s around 7:45AM to get our job assignments—he was, as always, really happy to see us. He said he needed 8 more of each of us with all the work he has lined up. We went first to the “yellow house” which many of you will remember from photos of our previous trips. Tom, the first responder who has been back every 6 weeks since Katrina and has organized “Mountains to Mississippi” (and our work), bought the house which has held a special place in our hearts from the time we “mucked” it out. We toured it quickly, loaded up the scaffolding and took it over to Captain John’s where part of our group would be painting the exterior—I hear that Douglas was up 3 tiers high! It was great to see Captain John’s house almost ready to be moved into. One of our trips we had a group trying to put in the pilings for his house but the location he’d chosen was just too low and they kept filling with water. Bill is needed everywhere to do electrical work. At Captain John’s he spent the day figuring out the wiring and what type of switchplates, etc. were needed. Our group will buy them as they are out of money—that’s where the extra money that we raise goes. The boat next to Captain John’s is the one that was in the infamous boat on house photo from the first trip.
Regina, Jeff and I were dropped at Mr. Pat’s to take up self stick tile—we thought in one room and it was the entire house. When Ben came back in the afternoon he said he wasn’t sure we’d still be there since it was such an awful job! We told him we were close to quitting at that point. Another group had put this self stick tile in but it was coming up all over the house. When we saw the extent of the job I suggested gluing the stuff back down but that wasn’t an option J We had to take out all the baseboard that had been put in and painted—without damaging the walls. The tile was really hard to get out. The 3 of us worked all day and each only removed 16-20 tiles!! I called Loew’s to ask how to do this and if heat would help. They suggested solvent but you’d have to lift the tiles a bit anyway. Tomorrow we’re going to take small heaters and heat lamps and try that to see if it loosens the glue. In the room I was in I found the ones in the sun came off easier.
It was frustrating to have to remove something where time, effort, and money had been used to get this house ready to move into and now we will spend time and effort removing all of it and then someone else will have to do a whole new floor—evidently ceramic tile and laminate. One of the many frustrations of this type of volunteer work but I tried to tell myself that this is where God wanted me to be and that I was here to help where needed regardless of what I thought I should be doing.
In the queue that will be left for the 2nd part of our group which arrives next week, is the home of a widow that lives in Kiln. Her home here was destroyed and she and her husband moved to her father in laws home which had tornado damage but wasn’t flooded. Her husband died 18 months ago and there is a lot of work to be done.
The first day back is always hard because we see how much work there is still to do. I did see fewer Katrina cottages and trailers and saw some more folks in their homes but then saw others where I could see nothing had been done since our last Christmas trip. It feels a bit like coming home each time we return and after 5-8 trips we have a lot of friends to visit. The amount of work left in this one little town is overwhelming—and this is one little town out of this entire Gulf Coast area! I feel a sense of urgency each trip to get as much done as we can since it’ll be so long before we can get back to help again. Am hoping to find a place w/internet after dinner so I can actually post this! Thanks again for all of your support—whether financial or emotional!
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