Random Pix

 

More Pix of the Wayne Group

 

Tuesday :pictures of the Cumberland Ave site and the Wayne Team

Matt, Scott, Pastor Joe, Laura, Tim, Annie, Brittany, Taylor, Caitlin, Queen Anne, Jenny & Katie have the largest site (in terms of work to do this week) as well as the site that is the furthest away from Slidell (about an hour - west of New Orleans in Kenner).  They are working inside and out, putting up siding on the outside, framing and other things on the inside.

Important Facts we learned at Orientation on Monday morning

Our orientation Monday morning was at Peoples United Methodist Church in New Orleans.  We learned some amazing facts about recovery in New Orleans since Katrina.  Northshore Disaster Relief (NDRI), whom we are supporting through UMCOR, has had 57,000 volunteers to date since the hurricane hit!  They expect it will be at least two more years until the work is done.  Joe Burke, the director, shared that there are many they are helping because of crooked contractors and agencies that didn't come through with money.  One single mom gave a contractor $90,000 to repair her home.  The contractor worked one day and left with her money. 

 

It turns out we actually we have a few work sites in the 9th ward.  We also have a work site in Chalmette.  We hear that in that area, only 12 houses were left unscathed!

 

Monday Night Program: Sharing by People who experienced Hurricane Katrina

Monday night, Carl sent up a wonderful program for us.  Connie & Clint, whose house had 6 feet of water in it shared their story, but also gave a great witness as to how important how friends are to us.  They shared that their church pulled together and everyone pitched in.  Mike Ford, a firefighter shared what it was like as he worked to save people in the floods.  Mark Ford (Carl's son-in-law) who works for the Slidell township and is also a policeman also brought the reality home to us as to what it was really like during the storm and for the months following. He also told us he thinks of himself as not a Katrina survivor, but a Katrina winner. Theresa Ford (Carl's daughter) and Carl also chimed in to help give us the full picture. Mark's parents shared the horror of not knowing if their two sons were alive or not for the first few days.   They all shared about the impossibility of making contact with anyone. 

Slidell spent some time under the eye of the storm.  Mark and Mike described that as an "interesting" time.  We asked lots of questions and their stories touched all of us.  Overall, Slidell did almost all of the rescue and rebuilding work themselves.  By the time FEMA got to them 3 days after, they were already well ahead of the game.  Their governor declined aid (!!!)  and they were left to figure out how to feed and house those who didn't leave and the police and fire people who were working around the clock.

 

Today, I'll be visiting the worksites I couldn't get to yesterday and post more pictures tonight!

Andry Street worksite

This team is doing flooring throughout the whole house.  The team is Doug, Kathi, Jessica, Dana, Amanda, Gel, Alex W, and David.

4th Street Worksite

This group is laying flooring throughout the whole house.  This team is Bill , Jen, Matt, Julie, Emily, Elizabeth, Amy, and Joey

Desire Street Work site

This was our surprise worksite!  We formed a mini team of Pastor Scott, Lindsay, and Alex  Shimpeno.

MONDAY in Louisiana: Worksites

We actually have five work teams between the two churches.  One big job for Wayne and 4 jobs for MUMC.  I wasn't able to make it to all the sites today, but the sites I did make it to I will send some pix of.

MONDAY IN LOUISIANA

Packing lunches and everything else to  head out to our worksites.

Louisiana - 5:29PM CST

Central Time Zone

The trees in Alabama look very similar to those in PA. My thumb looks
the same in most states too.

Bagels, Bagels, and a few more Bagels

Central Baptist takes wonderful care of their guests. Fran brought us
breakfast, and she didn't have to tells us twice that we could start
eating. Answered prayers abound, as we are just so well taken care of.

Arrived in Knoxville early

Travel from PA to Knoxville TN went very well. We had possibly 10 minutes of bad traffic, and the rest was smooth sailing. We even took a 45+ min stop for lunch and got some frisbee in.

The Baptist church here in Knoxville is so nice we may have trouble getting people to leave in the morning. We had a Mexican buffet and everyone has been playing, basketball, ping pong, shuffleboard, racquetball (they have two courts!) and pool.

Thanks so much for all of the goodie bags provided. Everyone was so very grateful for the extra munchies. :) SUGAR!!!

They are wonderful here at Central Baptist and are even serving us breakfast in the morning! In case you haven't heard, all of our worksites are all in New Orleans and not in Slidell, so for all of you who donated extra for gas money...THANK YOU!!!

Keep those prayers coming! :)

There would be more pictures, but we're having technical difficulties. Maybe later, hopefully with a better connection and a better web browser.

Approximate work site locations

This is a photo of approximately where our work sites will be. Keep in mind that anything could change. Also note that all sites are within New Orleans proper, not in Slidell as originally expected.