Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Week #4

UW-Marinette & Kenny worked with us for the week to continue progress on the house.

One thing to note as I post these photos, is that we're shifting right now. Nicole Spade is leading groups in the morning from 7am-1pm, and I'm leading groups from 1pm-7pm. It's pretty cool to walk into the house every day and see progress happen "over night."

We finally have all the drywall up, and every room has gone through almost all 3 stages of mudding. Lots of skimming, sanding, and priming for next week! And then bring on the paint!

A great week!

(missing photos of kevin!)


Casey & Jess work in the hallway



Nick & Jon scoring drywall


Kenny & Kelsey finishing up the drywall in the bathrooms!



Derek & Kayler working on the upstairs bedrooms



Jess & Nikki skim the master bedroom.


Upstairs Bathroom


Stairway to the second floor!


Bathroom & under stairway closet

Week #3

Shift #2 (1pm-7pm) Week #3!

Lots of mudding! We had groups in and out, all over the place!

On Tuesday we had 12 girls on site. Teresa made us crawfish, and I broke the news of the "surprise" I had for them.

Jessie Eisenberg (the lead actor in the Social Network), would be working on site with them for the day.
Insert 12 girls screaming at the top of their lungs for about 45 seconds. Oh, yes, haha it was epic!

Jessie brought 3 college friends with him, along with his sister, Hallie, his sister's boyfriend, Alex, and his girlfriend, Anna. So 19 people on site - including 2 celebrities. To say it was a mad house, is an understatement. To say it was an amazing day, is also an understatement. Jessie is genuine about wanting to help out the city, as is his girlfriend, Anna. The whole group were 'real life' great people.

The week finished off great, as we had a large group of 10 high schoolers from Rustic Pathways who joined us, rounding out the week with 15 people. Everyone worked hard, and we got a lot done!

Thanks for everything you do, guys!


Madeline (& Susan!) did a lot of mudding with us Monday & Tuesday!


Northhampton Community College helped out on Monday. Thanks for the donation to Teresa, guys!


Jessie Eisenberg (Social Network) with his girlfriend, Anna, and sister Hallie, and boyfriend Alex spent the afternoon working with us on Tuesday!


Rustic Pathways joined our group on Wednesday and worked through Friday!


Judina (17), Teresa's daughter, teaches the volunteers how to eat Crawfish on Tuesday



Scranton Crew (err...krewe?) stuck it out the whole 5 days...lots of mudding, some drywalling...great job girls, thanks for your help!



View from front door

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Week #2

I apologize, devoted followers. I think the best thing for me to do is to just post the pictures. I keep trying to set aside time to be inspired to write, and instead, I keep falling behind.

But, Grand Rapids, I could have written pages and pages. You know that, though. You guys will always be one of my most memorable groups <3


I let this happen? Yes, I let this happen.


The dance they choreographed for Teresa and Me... haha


Mudding, and mudding, and mudding...


Um, more mudding...


Mmmhmmm... yep more mud


Upstairs bathroom



Upstairs bedroom - first layer, taping, done!



Downstairs bathroom

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Here we go! Again!


The group & the drywall truck!


St. Gabriel Catholic Church, NJ, with Teresa & Nicole (photo by nicole)


Bishop Guertin High School, NH, - with Nicole (photo by nicole)

The water rose to 20 feet in Teresa's house during Katrina. At the time, it was a one-story home and was completely engulfed. Over the course of the next three weeks, the water level receded to 8 feet. And there the house sat- mud, slosh, water, and the beginnings of mold.

The house was mold-remediated by volunteers in November 2011, and framing crews came soon after to replace & reposition studs throughout the house. Our first crew of volunteers began insulating on February 27, 2012.


Notice the water-line 20ft high on the church

Leading volunteers at Teresa Ross’s house will be much different than at Mary Meyers’ or at Yolanda Julien’s, for a few reasons.

First, I’ll be co-leading. In some ways I’m nervous about this, and in some ways I’m very excited to have a comrade to knock the house out with! I am very lucky – I can’t think of anyone else that I’d rather lead with. I’m not very organized, and Nicole will be able to keep me in check. She is also very detail-oriented; I am not. The few weeks we’ve worked together in the past have been great, as I bring a few things to the table for her to depend on, and improve through, as well. We're a great match!

Second, this is a HUGE house! Two stories! When we first walked into this house, It was hard to count & remember all the rooms. In Mary Meyers’ house, I was constantly trying to find an inch of space for my volunteers to walk…. In this house we could hold a pretty substantial dance party. (ideas?)

Lastly, and the most cool thing - is that Teresa lives in the trailer ON SITE! I was able to see Mary & Yolanda often, but nothing is quite like having the homeowner right there to chat with you over coffee or a coke. And my volunteers will better understand exactly who they’re impacting. Very cool.

So, February 27th, 2012 was Day #1. There is such anxiety on Sunday nights associated with the unknown. Who are the people that I'll be leading Monday? I used to lose sleep over it. Getting started on this new house and having gone through a lull with volunteer interaction - I found myself feeling the same ways I did back in September and October.


Tom & Dennis measure for drywall.

Nicole and I arrived on site to a tool-ridden house. Ladders, saws, hammers, junk, and random supplies were scattered everywhere. And there were about 3 rolls of insulation to install in the whole house. Ummm. We were expecting 16 people. And we needed about 20 rolls. That’s a problem.

Then we see the volunteers walk up to the house. A group of 5 guys (and Carrie!) from St. Gabriel Catholic church in New Jersey. A few of them were contractors. GREAT! But not when you don’t have supplies on site. And then the group is followed by 8 guys (and leaders, Karen & Chris!) from Bishop Guertin High School in New Hampshire, all of which are obviously excited to get started on the house. And immediately they got crankin’.


Mike, Chris, and Josh already finished the ceilings - on to the walls.

We spent a few hours cleaning, and doing odds n’ ends … Nicole & I kept sneaking off into back rooms … “crap! Now what?!” “bricks! They can move bricks!” … we sent a few anxious calls to our project manager, and finally the truck arrived with more than enough insulation to complete the house. Phew, we could tell there was no way of telling these guys to stop or relax., so we needed that insulation ASAP!

The two groups did a great job hanging the insulation in 2 days. Mike, Chris, and Josh hung all the ceilings with drywall, so that all the rest of us had to worry about was hanging the walls. By the end of the week, we had a substantial amount of drywall hung. It looked great, and it was finally really starting to look like a house!


Bishop Guertin guys hanging drywall

Nicole and I both agreed, we couldn’t have gotten a better group. I’d said it before, and I knew I’d probably say it again – but you can’t understand the elation of a site supervisor when he or she stands and looks at the house after a great week with great volunteers. It is such an incredible feeling. Satisfaction. Ah, New Jersey and New Hampshire…and New House! You make us so happy!

Here are a few pictures of the house just before the first crew of volunteers began their work on Feb 27, 2012:


View from front door entrance


Kitchen


Living Room


Master BR bathroom


Stairwell between 1st and 2nd floors


Upstairs Bedroom

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Teresa Ross



She shrugs, hands in the pockets of her worn purple sports jacket. "Well, we lived on the streets for a while 'cuz the hotels were full. Then we moved in with Uncle, out ta Texas."

Teresa Ross is tough. That's (Terr-eh-sah), not (Ter-eeee-sah), as she pointed out to a volunteer who let the 'long e' slip. She needs help to get back home, but in no way is she a charity case. She offers me a coke at the end of the day as we stand n' chat in the doorway of her half-rebuilt-home in New Orleans East, shooting the breeze after a productive week. "Don't ya drink coke?"

I was given the notice that I would be the Site Supervisor at Teresa Ross's home back at the beginning of January. Ecstatic, I remained on the edge of my seat in anticipation every Friday to read the schedule and see if I would be placed at Teresa's house the following Monday. But weeks came and went.

Our specialty crews are quick & efficient, and I found myself wondering what all the hold-up was. "Next week?" I would ask. The question was usually followed by a head shake from my past Project Manager, Johnnie, who would then follow it up with "Nah, you just wait. You'll get your house. You just learn while you work now. Get good at it." So I spent every week helping to fix any problems with construction in our 'Opportunity Houses' which are built to be sold to low income families. I did get pretty good at it... but I was really itching to start leading volunteers again.

It took the passing of a few weeks before I heard any news. "We're short on funding for Teresa's house." Funding? Short on funding? I know we obviously depend on that - but this is Teresa Ross, perhaps the most well-known waitlisted homeowner we have. Everyone hears her story because her situation is so pressing. How have private donors not seen the need? What about the Corporations? Wouldn't she be a perfect client to support?


Me, volunteer Stephanie, and Teresa "peace"

Teresa's story is unimaginable. She's a school bus driver, and a single mom of two, Judina (17), and Judiah (12). She purchased her home in New Orleans East in 2003, only 2 years before Hurricane Katrina released her waters on the city. Her daughter was 10, and her son only 5 years old when they had to evacuate. Teresa and the children searched for hotels, but they were all full. They found themselves on the streets for a while, before she was able to connect with her wealthy Uncle in Texas, who then took the family in.

The timetable for returning home was ungraspable. How long would they be away? The flood waters within hours after Katrina had risen to 15 feet, and then waned to 8 feet for the following three weeks. There was no doubt that they wouldn't be able to return home for a very long time.

"I don't like crowds." Teresa says. Despite a roof over their head, and food in their bellies, they could not stay in Texas. It was not home. Her family had been crammed into a house with several other family members and friends for almost a year. Teresa's independent nature soon took them away from Texas and brought them back to New Orleans East.

Teresa was more than ready to get the ball rolling on her house. She contacted a contractor who began work on her house not long after she got home. And she began doing her own small projects throughout the house, too. But, like the common story of so many, the contractor was a fraud and ran away with $16,000 and Teresa's faith in humanity. Not only that, but the Road Home money she was allotted was lost to a forced mortgage payment on her house. She was faced with many decisions.

Leaving New Orleans was not an option. It's home, and she had already overcome so many obstacles to be where she was. So Teresa got to work, rebuilding her home on her own. But two robberies provided a lot of set-backs. To Teresa, it only meant that she would have to take more desperate measures to keep her home safe. "I slept in that front room there, for about a year." A room that was tyveked, but had no drywall, and no insulation. And Teresa bought a guard dog - a German Shepherd that would scare the pants off Chuck Norris.



Teresa contacted the St. Bernard Project around the same time that she began living in her gutted home- around May of 2011. She wouldn't let her children live in the cold, breezy, water & electric-less place that Teresa called home, so they moved in with their grandmother and father. Teresa came to the decision that something needed to change, and agreed she needed some help.

So in November of 2011 we began construction on the house. So much needed done, including mold-remediation, new framework, and new plumbing and electric. It was a struggle. Nobody could work while the German Shepherd was around, fleas became a problem, and the funding was lacking to commit to the rebuild. Thankfully, over the course of these somewhat lengthy issues, a donor bought Teresa a trailer to live in so that she was out of the cold and finally reunited with plumbing and electric.

On Monday February 27th, 2012, after much labor & fundraising, Teresa was greeted by the first group of volunteers that would begin the next 8-12 consecutive weeks of construction on her home. Insulation & drywall were placed on the walls in week number one. To say that we were all excited to finally help bring this woman home, was an understatement. Nicole Spade & I lead a group of high schoolers and church-goers from New Hampshire and New Jersey who simply would not take "time to clean up" for an answer.

And so, pardon my french, shit got done. We're gonna get her back into a high quality, efficiently built home, by April 18th. Alright, ya heard me. April 18th. It's a lofty goal, but that's what we do.

St. Bernard Project - Changing the Homes & Lives of Katrina Survivors.

Werd.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Give hope.



So excited to join Nicole Spade to co-lead volunteers for the next few months at Teresa Ross's house. Excited to bring her home :)

Monday I'll be joined with Nicole & 17 High Schoolers to begin insulating the walls. Teresa has been living in her gutted home, having Tyvek'd one room for herself to live in. No toilet. Rats. Terrible conditions. She wouldn't leave her home because she didn't want anybody to rob her house, like has happened twice before. Her two children can't live with her, so they stay with family.

Give hope. Donate to the St. Bernard Project at www.stbernardproject.org and click 'donate.'

Thanks guys :)

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Skillzzz

I've been MIA for a month.

What's happened in that month seemed less significant to me than building a home for a single homeowner from beginning to end. I just didn't think it would be all that interesting to read for you folks, nor as interesting to write.

I regret it now.

So, the main scoop is that I've been without a homeowner. I put a large emphasis on wanting to work at Ms. Teresa Ross' house, and had been thrown some hints from the office that they were trying to make that happen. But, Ms. Ross' house needs a lot of work. And there have been several set-backs. From a potentially dangerous dog, to an infestation of fleas, to problems with the actual construction...all these issues have to be resolved and the house must be ready for volunteers to come insulate the walls before they'll pull me to supervise.

So in the meantime, I'm learning, I'm building, I'm embracing the change of pace.

Flooring has been my least favorite stage of construction. I struggled a lot with it, and unfortunately it has shown in some of the work. It's hard to lead volunteers who haven't laid flooring before, if you, yourself, aren't very comfortable with it either. So, I've spent a lot of time laying flooring at different houses over the past month. Some have been with our opportunity houses, while others have been at our current construction homes for different homeowners. I've finally got it. I think that my confidence has really strengthened in that area - and i'm grateful to have been given the time and opportunity to improve that skill-set. I've also been taught how to use some of the professional mudding equipment, and have been able to help several site sups finish their houses. Learn, learn, learn!

I've also spent a lot more time with my fellow site supervisors, getting to know many of them on a much more personal level, and also having the opportunity to learn from them. They each have their specialty - i.e. Megan is great at flooring, Andrew is a great mudder, and Jen just rocks at everything. I'm loving my co-workers now more than ever, and getting to know them better has been an awesome gift. And i've really established some great relationships from it - especially with Dave K, a fellow Pittsburgher, who is interested in bicycles like myself and has taken me under his wing to help me rebuild a bike to ride around the city. He was in the October influx of AmeriCorps peeps, and so I never had the opportunity to really know him until this past month.

So, my fingers are crossed that i'll begin supervising at Ms. Ross' house, potentially, hopefully, next week. We're expecting 250+ volunteers every day for the next 6-8 weeks, so having the house ready soon is fairly important.

Just spent the past 4-5 days celebrating Mardi Gras! It was CRAZY but I loved it!