|
Worldwide Trips
> Volunteer Journal > Gulf Coast Community trip - Mark's Journal
Gulf Coast Community trip - Mark's Journal
Mark Lyon - Thrivent Financial for Lutherans member, Iowa
Monday, April 14
 |
| The house we worked on last year |
We will be a group of six, five of us from First Lutheran Church in Maquoketa, IA and the father of one of the five. It is a very early start as I wake before my 3 AM alarm, dress, eat, load the van, and head to collect Jim at his work then to Kelvin's to collect him and his Dad and from there to the church to meet Mark and Larry. Even though it is early, there is excitement in the air as we head to the airport 45 minutes away. Our flights and connections are without incident and we arrive in Biloxi/Gulfport mid-morning. Kelvin and I have made this trip before; it was four months ago in December of 2007. As on that trip, we are greeted at the airport by Lindsay who has procured a van for us (thanks to Thrivent Financial for Lutherans) and her dazzling smile and New York charm make for a good start to what we expect to be a great week. We arrive at Yankie stadium and check-on. Thrivent Financial has provided a T-shirt and a handy kit with essentials like lip balm, sunscreen, flashlight and most importantly (as we later find out) ear plugs. We grab lunch, provided by the Salvation Army, under a big tent; as Northerners, we long for the sun, so we sit outside to pull in the rays.
Our afternoon is free to explore the area and Kelvin and I have a top priority, to see the house that we worked on the last time we were here. It was one of seven houses in the Rosemont cul-de-sac and we are amazed at how charming it looks all complete with a lawn and brick façade. I take a cell phone photo and send it over the internet to the members of our last build team. By evening I have received replies from some of the members who are thankful to see the results of their labor.
We still have time remaining, so we tour the gulf coast and witness the remnants of the devastation that was Katrina; much has been done; much is still left to do. We make a stop at the Hard Rock Casino to make our donation to the local economy and successfully complete our task (some of us more than others).
Later we are welcomed to Yankie Stadium as all of the volunteers come together for our first meeting. We learn about the efforts of Habitat for Humanity, Thrivent Builds and the Salvation Army; an interesting cooperation between Christian groups that wonderfully reflects the way Jesus would want us all to work together to help those in need. We learn about construction safety and get introduced to the staff members. We then have a great meal and our first team meeting.
Tuesday, April 15
 |
| Mark Lyon, journal writer, and his Thrivent Builds team |
Today we started work on our project. It is only a block or two from the stadium so we do not have much of a commute. There was some dissention in our group when we learned that once we complete putting much of the house together, it will be disassembled to await the Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter Biloxi Build that is coming up in May. At that time the pieces will be reassembled quickly and they will be able to claim that they built some huge number of houses in only a single week. We will know better and after some discussion the group feels that what we are doing is important and will not only help the ultimate family that moves in, but also will be part of Habitat's largest annual press blitz and therefore we continue on with even more conviction to make quick progress. There are five builds just in our block alone. This is an area that was under many feet of water and many of the homes were ruined.
Our construction leader Ken is a great story teller and life long area resident. He told us his story of riding out the storm and how there was furniture in the trees afterward. We are working with pre-build wall panels that are already covered with sheeting, so we have to put the puzzle pieces together which is harder than you might think. We are working on a floor that last week's team built, and things came together mostly with ease, but also with an occasional problem that Ken quickly helped us sort out. Kelvin was working much of the day with Pieter, our AmeriCorps team member, on building stairs.
As our site was so close, we just returned to Yankie Stadium to eat instead of packing lunches. By the end of the day we had all internal and outside walls up but with a minor problem with one panel that we will sort out tomorrow. By the time we went back to camp, we were tired but also happy. There were some quick showers then a Thrivent Financial provided bus tour of the gulf area. Dinner was a nice Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes. We sat and talked during the evening getting to know each other better.
Wednesday, April 16
 |
| Beginnings |
 |
| End of the day |
After the usual great breakfast, we head to the site. We start the day by undoing some of what was done yesterday, in order to get it just right, then we start moving forward. A new set of stairs on the side of the house takes almost all day to build. Some people are cap-plating the walls, but in a sort of semi-permanent manner keeping in mind that they will all come down before going up again for good. We put the decking on the front porch as well. We are allowed to work more independently that yesterday and that allows for more progress. Ken, our supervisor, is run ragged as he darts from group to group answering questions, fixing mistakes and solving dilemmas; all the time with a smile on his face and an encouraging word.
During our lunch break we skip the stadium and go to La Bakery, a French Vietnamese place that makes exotic ‘po boy' sandwiches. I had a curry chicken one that was great( and hot). The backs of our necks are bright red from sunburn; we are much better about using the sunscreen today. After a great Mexican dinner at Yankie Stadium we took a drive down the coast to the first Surf/Souvenir shop to reopen since the storm. We bought a few small items to take home.
Thursday, April 17
 |
| The beam |
 |
| Dinner at The Shed |
I was up early to jog on the ¼ mile track at the Stadium before a quick shower and some email then another great breakfast. We head to our site and start where we left off yesterday. Kelvin and his dad were doing cap plates and putting up blocking to suspend the cabinets from. Jim, Mark and I were working on the front deck and then on to the side deck. We all helped the team next door lift their large porch beam into place. Larry worked with Mark from San Francisco (an individual volunteer in his second week) and Pieter to build the front stairs and platform. All-in-all it was a very productive day. Mark and I wore shorts today as it was very nice out, but we did welcome the afternoon clouds as it had gotten rather warm. Our whole crew ate lunch at the stadium. We had supper in Ocean Springs at The Shed, a unique BBQ place with the best BBQ that I have ever had. We had some good beer and sampler plates that were more than we could eat. Thrivent Financial provided us with the fun and filling outing. We returned to camp with full bellies and went to bed early.
Friday, April 18
 |
| The whole crew |
 |
| Weather |
Kelvin and I were up early today to check email and watch the news. The weather forecast was for possible Tornadoes, hail and T-storms and we feared it might get nasty out there. Well the rain never came during the day, but it looked bad at times. We completed our decks and put up our front porch beam. In many ways they had to slow us down as there is a crew to work on this house next week and we needed to leave some tasks for them to do. We joined our crew leaders (Ken, Pieter and Mark) for lunch at Ole Schooners. I had some great gumbo and some great stories from Ken. We ended the day with some final photos. Back at camp we used the camp host's computer to print our boarding passes for tomorrow's flight home; the time sure has flown by. For supper, we went to Hideout 49 in Gulfport for some seafood and a great bread pudding dessert. We returned to camp for a final night of bunkhouse noises, thank goodness for those Thrivent Builds earplugs!
|
|
