Gone Coastal: A Mission to Mississippi

picture I found

2006-04-06T22:56:00.000-04:00

Hey, Garrett!

2006-04-02T23:22:00.000-04:00

Uf, golly-- I need to know if Ms. Mary has made a decision!!

Ella, I lost your e-mail address, but I'll get it from someone.

P.S.- Today I showed up at 12:00 for the 11:15 service (daylight savings), and I said alleluia by a mistake(first time during all of lent, i promise)

2006-03-31T06:48:00.000-05:00

hey guys,

how are you all? I miss you all so much, and our time down in Miss.
I am now back in England, and it is so good to see my family and friends again. I have been for the past three days telling my stories of the trip and the people of Miss.

Everyone here finds it hard to imagine such a disaster over there, but they are so amazed with what is happening. Im very annoyed with myself, i managed to come all the way home leaving all my photos sitting on Chris's computer, so i havent been able show people where i have been.

But when i get them i am gonna put some up on here to show you guys(Noelle, Amanda, Mary, Peter, Rob, and Lucas) pictures from the rest of my trip in America.

Well, i hope to hear from you all. It is so strange, i just felt a little bit empty for a few days after our trip. I am so thankful i got to meet you guys. I will be lying in bed and just burst out laughing thinking about 'uf golly' and 'oh yah, dont ya know', you know what i mean Amanda and Peter. We laughed so much. And us trying to mix the dam mud.haha

anyway, must go now, otherwise i'll go on forever.

Mo' pictures

2006-03-30T13:55:00.000-05:00

While there's a lull in the action (Ella? Peter? Lucas? Robert?), I thought I'd publish a few more pictures of our week at Camp Coast Care. Enjoy!

Amanda, the "Mad Taper/Mudder"

Once in a while, we got to eat.

Yes, we traveled like cattle, worked like dogs, and slept like logs, but it was always worth it!

Crew chief, Minnesota "Uf, golly" Dave

check-ing in

2006-03-27T15:46:00.000-05:00

slept soundly in a soft bed? check.
took a very very long hot shower? check.
spent all Sunday afternoon in my pjs? check.
ate food prepared by someone else? check.
returned van? hell yeah check.
have told everyone who will listen what a wonderful trip and wonderful group we had? check.
thanked God for a great experience? check check and check.

withdrawal

2006-03-27T14:16:00.000-05:00

So I've counted 8 little bruises on my legs. I don't know how I got them, but I treasure them.

My right eye was terribly swollen Sunday morning. It's gone down a little. I guess it's just from having such sensitive skin--- when my skin gets dry it reacts like this.

I laughed today and realized it was the first time all day I had laughed, thinking that in Miss. by that time I would have been more like the 10th time.

I've caught myself twice saying "uf golly." I'm still not sure I use it correctly. But considering Dave made it up, it may not matter if I use it correctly.

Basically, I'm ready jump in a car and head back to Camp Coast Care right now!!

I don't want to be one of those people who says their feelings would best be described in a poem. BUT there is this poem by ee cummings. To me it's a poem about how our lives are linked and connected with the people we meet.
I will always carry these people in my heart-- Regina, Ian, David, our All Saints' team, Minn. team, and old man John.

i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

ee cummings

After the storm

2006-03-26T20:17:00.000-05:00

Working on Regina and David's home last week included sharing stories and pictures, as well as drills, sheetrock dust, and torn fingernails. Here are a few of the photos Regina took right after Hurricane Katrina hit Pass Christian and Long Beach.

Pass Christian street after Hurricane Katrina

Regina and David's home (living room/dining room)

Police station damage

Regina and David's mailbox is in the foreground. See the white house across the street? It belongs to their next door neighbor. The storm moved the house off the foundation to the other side of the street.

Home

2006-03-25T21:25:00.000-05:00

It's been a long day, but we made it home safe and sound. One of the kids noted as we pulled into Atlanta how odd it was to see a city intact - no great swaths of crumbled buildings split by trees or wet gooey junk piled up along the streets. We all take too much for granted. But you can't live your life frightened of instant destruction or second-guessing how you'd react if your life and the life our your community had been swept away. Life continues. Intact. For now.

We will continue to post experiences and feelings of our week in coastal Mississippi because it will take some time to sort out. We saw too much. We heard too much. It would be impossible to sum it all up neatly and sign off.

Photos and thoughts will fill this site for a while yet. I hope that what we tell and show here makes the impact of Hurricane Katrina more real to you. I think each of us - Lucas, Amanda, Ella, Robert, Peter, Noelle, and I - would encourage you to go down and see for yourself what happened last fall and what is happening now. There are so many ways to help. There is so much need.

2006-03-24T22:14:00.000-05:00

There have been many trips that I have gone on and later regretted attending. I can tell you that this trip will not be one of them. Today Art, a group of students from Drury College, Steve(camp coast care employee), and I reroofed a ladies sandwich shop. Louise Ramsey was so moved by the power of the Holy Spirit in her life that she was almost moved to tears twice while thinking about the groups that had come out to fix her roofs (her house as well). Though the destructive forces ravaged this place. I would wager that the Holy Spirit has moved more here since the hurricane than before. Her joy and thankfulness refreshed me.

Karaoke Night

2006-03-24T21:09:00.000-05:00

It is currently karaoke night at Camp Coastal Care.

Me + Ella + mudding = the whole day

Every sheetrock joint in the house has been mudded. But the first stage of mudding must be followed by sanding and a final mudding. So there is still a little more to do, but we have come so far. We said goodbye to Regina and David and Ian.

Noelle gave a really lovely and BRILLIANT homily tonight.

Everyone we do meet asks us to tell their story to the people back home.

Another thing I was thinking about is how cool it has been to have the opportunity just to be around Americans from all over the country. Just because I am normally always around people from Georgia(Tech draws ALOT of in-state students).

Well, Ella and I are going to sing "Goodbye Earl" as requested by our new Michigan friend- John.

still miss Minnesota...

a new job for a new day

2006-03-24T21:06:00.000-05:00

Today was a total change for me because I went to a whole different site, working on the dry wall installation in a house completely flooded by Katrina. Though I'd never touched gypsum board before I learned on the job a bit about cutting, installing, and mudding it (though my skills couldn't rival those of those who'd been there longer, to say the least :-) ). anyways, a very good experience and a chance to see damage that happened in the flooded areas as opposed to the areas that sustained only (if such a word can be used with a hurrican) wind damage.
After the day at the house was done, Noelle took us all on a drive through the coastal areas, which--even though I'd seen it before--had changed little since November when I had seen it. Along the beach the buildings were a mixture of heavily damaged but standing, demolished by the waters, and essentially missing. I think some of the most hard-hitting ones were those homes that, while still largely standing, had been ripped open exposing the once private rooms to the view of any passerby (like us).
I'm sad in many ways to be leaving tomorrow because I feel like I'm finally developping skills that would be useful and help me work more efficiently. However, I am glad with the little bit of work that I have been able to do, because--just as Noelle so correctly pointed out--each of our work is just a little, but all added together it can produce big results. and now, having come here, I know just a few of those people whose lives will be improved by those results.

Preacher Lady

2006-03-24T20:21:00.000-05:00

Whew. I lead Evening Prayer tonight and gave a little homily about passing on the word about this place. I really do feel like it is our duty as people who have recieved the gift of being here to let others know about Camp Coast Care, the terrible state of the Gulf Coast, and the work that we can all do.

Leading prayer was fun, as always, but now I am tired and have a tummy ache (an innocuous one, don't worry!).

Lest you think Noelle is just napping and eating bon-bons . . .

2006-03-24T12:07:00.000-05:00

What pantry doesn't need a daily organizin', I ask you?

Noelle, Cathy, and friend load up for the local senior center.

Noelle posted about Cathy ("jackass of all trades") the other day. Cathy wants to make sure her senior friends aren't forgotten during this post-Katrina time. With Cathy and Noelle on the job, they won't be.

On the homefront

2006-03-24T10:06:00.000-05:00

This morning we had to bid farewell to our Minnesota chums(pictured left: The Atlanta-Shakopee, Minnesota Friendship Force). Amanda wrote about them in the previous post, and I can't add to anything she said about the experience. We had a ball and did good, hard labor. What grace! What a gift! God-speed, Minnesota!

I'm holding down the fort at Camp Coast Care today. CCC asks that anyone spending over 3-4 days here work on the CCC site at least once (instead of going out to one of the work sites). My homefront daily duty is - wait for it - trash duty! Woo-hoo!

No, really. I've waited for this day ever since friend and habitual CCC volunteer Gini Peterson told me about it in January. See, you get to drive around on a 4-wheeler with a trailer hitched to the back, load up all the garbage on campus and take it to the dumpsters. They had me at "4-wheeler." I've already ripped through camp, poppin' wheelies and hook-shotin' 50-lb bags of garbage into the dumpster on the after-breakfast run. One down. Two more meal-garbages to go (or is that meals-garbage?). I'll have someone document the moment and post a photo later (because you do NOT want to miss seeing this).

Give me some 'bow

2006-03-24T00:34:00.000-05:00

So we just finished a little pow-wow with the Minn. crew.

We went around telling jokes-- trying hard not to laugh too loudly so as to not disturb the fellow campers (specifically the retired policemam on night duty)

Our Minnesota buddies leave tomorrow morning. They will be missed. I remember the first morning sitting on the bleachers waiting to be assigned to a job, and 20 minutes later there were 9 of us piling into a mid-sized SUV.

We've got...
our inside jokes(swallow)
our secret handshakes(or little fives/givin' some 'bow)
our own made up or not made up(it's debatable) phrases(uf golly!)

just wanted to let ALL Y'ALL in on one of the biggest perks of coming to volunteer....fellowship with each other.

Good day

2006-03-23T21:19:00.000-05:00

Sorry I havent posted since Tuesday.

Today was great. First let me tell you about a conversation Mary and I had with Regina yesterday---- she said that Tuesday was the first time she had had fun working on the house- ever since the beginning when she came back to see her house mucky and moldy. That was so good to hear. Good to hear that we could light her world at a pretty miserable time.

Oh and by the way--- in between hanging dry wall and mudding those dry wall joints, I have taken on the task of teaching Ian how to high five. He has progressed amazingly. He will now lift his hand and slowly move it towards mine when I put my palm out to him. He is such a great smiley kid, a breath of fresh air amid all the serious construction.

Today was purely mudding. Mudding the dining room ceiling, mudding in the ladies room, mudding the hall way. Ella and I of course sang.... the whole day. We have a really good time.

We added a team member today from Michigan. He is an expert- a contractor or a foreman-- im not sure. He is a really fun guy too. (Man arent my adjectives amazing?)

Well Im tired.
Meng.Out.

2006-03-23T21:10:00.000-05:00

today was a great day yet again, we are really making progress on the house, it is really coming together.
We decided we would go and get some lunch from the local 'shell', and we ate our lunch out on the patio in front of Regina and Davids house.

Today was a sad day also, as it was our last day with our new friends, 'the minnissotians'(uf golly), i have enjoyed hanging around with them for many reasons, mainly as now they get teased for their accent, and my engish accent can have a little rest.

We had some laughs today, especially when Rob asked Amanda and i if we would hold up the sheetrock while he screwed it in, well, this was both funny and exausting at the same time, as Rob kept dropping the screws.

The trip is really passing by, but it has been such an eye opener for me, especially as i am viewing it all from a 'foreigners eyes', it has been such an experience just help the people of long beach. I really encourage all you guys reading this to come on down. There is still loads to be done.

nite nite

Of po' boys and sheetrock and mud

2006-03-23T20:53:00.000-05:00

De-lish po' boy sandwiches for a hungry, hard-working crew.

Here's the all-chick crew who hung the sheetrock, taped, and mudded a back bedroom (now dubbed the "Girls' Room"). Amanda, Mary, Regina, and Ella - job well done!

Amanda and Ella tape and mud the ceiling of the "Girls' Room." Add this to your resume, women!

The hardest part of the week - saying goodbye to the Cooper family.

Today was our final day at Regina and David Cooper's house. It's amazing how much can get done in four days. When we walked in Monday morning, almost no sheetrock had been hung. Now, all rooms - walls and ceilings - are done. Regina and David worked right along side of us throughout, and baby Ian kept us amused and cooing.

Regina brought her Hurricane Katrina pictures on disks for me to add to our photo collection. My plan is to upload everything to Flickr online - once I do that, I'll add the link to this blog, so that everyone can see what an incredible story we've been a part of this week.

Open for comments

2006-03-23T20:35:00.000-05:00

We are now open for comments. It was brought to my attention that comments to this blog were restricted to members only. BUT. I've re-set it so that it's open to all. We know you're thinking about us - let us know!

Still Roofin'....

2006-03-23T19:06:00.000-05:00

Today we got a lot closer to finishing up the roof that Peter and I have been working on. We finally got done with all of the carpentry work that needed doing and have moved on to roofing. It's a tin roof, so its not nearly as big a pain in the neck as it could be. Sandra, the lady who owns the house told us today that she had gotten so used to coming home and seeing a hole in the roof she doesnt even see it anymore, and now that it's fixed, she's suprised every time she drives up. I'm looking foreward to seeing our finished product tomorrow!

One more thing

2006-03-23T14:24:00.000-05:00

I promised to give a shout out to my new friend Garrett, the gourmet chef here at CCC. He makes a mean rack of ribs, from what I hear. What's up Garrett?!!

This morning, we let Garrett sleep in and a few of us took care of breakfast and lunch unattended. Most major emergencies were averted. The muffin bars and oatmeal were delish.

I want to be the first

2006-03-23T14:20:00.000-05:00

...to tell you about lunch! Today, I went and picked up the drywalling crew at Regina's house and we all went out for po' boys. Regina showed us a place at a gas stations near her house where the shrimp was fried and tasty and the Co-Colas were icy. Good stuff.

Another great aspect of my trip to the Outside World was that I got to see this great house that I've heard so much about. Regina's place looks great and the drywall is nearly all up and mudded. Oddly, Amanda is fairly well mudded, too, as it seems she had the hair gel and the mudding compound confused this morning.

In not too much longer, they'll be able to paint and move in to their beautiful newly-refashioned home. The folks taht did this hard work, Amanda, Mary, Robert, Ella and the Minnesota crew should be very, very proud of a job well done. I am certainly proud of them!

still on that roof

2006-03-23T11:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I worked again on the same roof I'd mentioned in my last post, though now we're all working more faster than the first days now that I think we're all getting the hang of what's going on a lot better (at the very least I know that I am). We've got now all the beams in and the broken ones reinforced so at this point we're ready to apply the decking that we cut out yesterday just before leaving the site. It's finally looking like a roof again. I think before too long that we'll be able to finishing this project up.

Today for a change of jobs for me I volunteered to stay at the camp and help with the tidying up around here, thus I get to drive a 4-wheeler over the camp collecting the trash and driving it out to the dumpster. A dirty job, but somebody's got to do it. Besides, when I'm not driving that around it gives a chance to try to help do any other random tasks that are needed. Who knows what's up for tomorrow!

2006-03-23T00:36:00.000-05:00

This morning Art and I worked to fix a roof that was damaged. We did a good job. This afternoon I worked back with the others at David and Regina's. About 4 pm we were notified that four professionals (guys with construction skills) had just checked in to camp and were chomping at the bit and were on the way over (grammar?). I thought they were going to be aghast when they saw our work. Much to my delight and surprise they said that we were doing fine. Dinner featured Noelle's tasty pineapple upside-down cake, nummy. After lights-out some of us hung out with our good friends the Minnesotans and I thouroughly enjoyed myself. It seems that they are really curious about the different appropriatenesses of the words "y'all" and "all y'all". It seems kind of difficult to justify all y'all's use though I know all y'all's use is definately more appropriate than y'all's at certain times. I regret that the whole time we were outside playing music, telling jokes, laughing loudly, etc. we were next to the Rector's camper and had to be told to keep it down lots of times. Hopefully he was not trying to go to bed at that point. Snores abound throughout the gym as I type and mine long to leap from my nose. Goodnight to all y'all.

"Ceiling" the deal

2006-03-22T21:31:00.000-05:00

"Ceiling" the deal
Originally uploaded by iread2k.

Mary secures the newly-installed ceiling, inhaling all manner of white dusty stuff. Ah-choo!