Our Volunteer Work in Pearlington

Our Work started Monday morning, April 2. I had no idea what to expect, but I was hoping that someone in our group would be able to lead us through the tasks. I can usually follow instructions. But, I am a man so without explicit instructions I can do more harm than good. I can usually put something together and have missing bolts or backwards pieces if I do not have instructions.

As I may have said before, I am pretty unskilled at building a house. I can do most repairs around the house, but I usually hire out the skilled projects. Here is one example. We decided to change out the spray hose on the kitchen sink because it smelled (there was a leak at the bottom of the hose that was going bad). I decided that I could replace the hose myself. After several hours and a couple of trips to Home Depot, my wife had to make an emergency call to a plumber because I had removed half of the spray hose from the kitchen sink and couldn't finish it. I did get some tools that didn't really help and she couldn't use the sink for a couple of days. The plumber saved me because he said that he had a lot of trouble as well and then explained that it wasn't installed properly to get to the piece that needed to be removed. He said that if it was properly installed then I might have been able to do it myself. He had better tools than I did. I like to think that he was being truthful, but maybe he was just helping my man ego.

So, for my second post, I am already off on a tangent... but now you know the types of skill that you don't need to have to be an effective volunteer worker.

The picture above describes what we saw when we got there. Wayne's house had most of the drywall hung, taped, and mudded. Electrical outlets appeared to be in place. Now, we had to figure out what to do. Some earlier crews had written notes that we didn't quite understand. We decided that we could finish sanding and prime the walls for painting. Eight of us for three days learned how to do finish work with mud and putty knives. Luckily, a couple of guys had more experience, so they could help teach us the proper techniques. This trip reiterated for me that taping and mudding are not my strengths after another person came right behind me to fix what I had done. The moral to this post is to highlight that even without many skills, our group found a spot to make progress. Even if our 3 days of work only move Wayne 1 day closer with a professional to moving in, he is at least 1 day closer.

I met Wayne on Neighbor Night at the PDA Village and was able to see how strong he is. If all of the residents of Pearlington are like the people that we met that week in Pearlington, then Pearlington is an excellent place to live. The positive energy of the residents will keep Pearlington a strong community when rebuilt. They will need our help for a while longer.

When my wife and I had to rebuild after a tornado, we had a ready supply of contractors to hire and it still took 10 months to rebuild. The people of Pearlington do not have ready access to hire professional contractors. The contractors are busy from Florida to Texas. Drive across I-10 and you see the wide-ranging impact still. The casinos must be paying the contractors the most money, because the casinos appear to be further along rebuilding than most other places. The big name gas stations are back in business, but the mom-and-pop gas statisons are just like they were as Katrina hit.

At this point 20 months after Katrina, my guess is that the families that could afford to rebuild themselves for the most part have done it. Everyone has stopped waiting for the government grants and aid and is rebuilding on their own with our help. To continue the rebuilding, the people (not just in Pearlington) will continue to need our energy and hope. They do not want to rely on us for help, but I think that our help is needed to keep their spirits high and continue to show that Americans do care.

On my next trip, I hope to be more efficient and bring along a plumber and electrician. Our group at Wayne's was done fairly early with priming and we could have done a lot more work on his house if we had some directions about plumbing and wiring.