Trip 3 to Pearlington

Well, I have not been as good at daily updates while we are here in Pearlington. I will try to catch you up with some pictures over the next couple of weeks, while I tell you below about some of the work we are doing here.

First, progress is being made. Slow is a safe word to use without blaming. I would say frustratingly slow, but once you come to Pearlington and begin to understand the process and money available in Hancock County, you see that progress is made as it can be.

In some cases, the volunteers here may slow the process a bit because of the unskilled labor and energy to help but maybe misplaced. For instance, at Don and Lois Lee's house, where we are helping get within weeks of finishing we had to spend 2 days with 2 of us removing the flashing installed upside down and replacing it with white rather than galvanized to match her house trim. Let me leave that particular discussion for another time (I think that I said the same thing last trip - and the need to describe those thoughts faded because I didn't take the time).

This trip is different from the other 2 trips. We are all guys and we are split between the 5 of us at the PDA village and 8 of us staying at the Pearlington Recovery Center (PRC). At the PRC, the 4 pairs of fathers (grandfather) and sons (grandson) are in a big tent that can hold about 80 people. About 200 people are staying at the PRC (many of the groups with high school-age kids) with Spring Break like us. You can be encouraged to know that kids are interested in helping. Many of the kids are working on finishing the Missionary Baptist Church where the volunteers in town eat lunch each day. The dynamic is a bit different, although we have worked out arrangements to let them eat and work near us.

We have separate groups working at 3 different places. At one house, Doug/Connor, Bob/Ryan, Milt/Steven, and Scott/Preston are filling Dallas Trammel's yard with dirt and building a shed to cover the well pump to keep people from trying to steal it. Crime isn't really a problem I don't think. If you know Dallas, then you get a better idea of why someone might try taking hers. The 6 foot fence that she is building around her house might help, as well.
At another house, Matthew, Tony, Scott, Russ, and I are working to help finish up the Lee's house. So far, we have fixed the flashing, painted the fascia, installed a front and back door with storm doors for each, set an interior door, and nailed the trim. Matthew has done all of the detail painting work to clean up the backwards flashing that was painted after installing incorrectly. He was the hard worker of the day and received the honored job of installing the house numbers under Lois's supervision. She brought us the numbers and asked if we could put them up. She is getting excited. She said that she was moving a boxspring and mattress into the house tonight.
You should come meet Lois. On the next trip in April or after that in October or both. She patiently watches us discuss how we should do something, and after much talk and multiple measurements and sometimes multiple cuts, we have finished a particular task. Then, when we aren't looking, she cleans up after us and puts things into a burn pile or keep for others or later pile.

A little of her story is important. She has received only $5300 from FEMA to repair her house (that was submerged to the roof - we could see the mud caked under the roof boards when installing the flashing). She is living in a FEMA trailer now, and waiting on a Katrina Cottage. Luckily, her particular trailer didn't have the formaldehyde problem. You can get a little upset about that. A pastor from Michigan calls her each week asking if she is in her house yet. They worked on her house a year ago...

To talk about the fellowship at the camp, I sat down to type this entry out and upload some pictures about 3 hours ago. But, we have been talking with other volunteers from other churches and I am now one of the last 2 sitting up. Here are some pictures. The commentary can follow.

Last night, we took a road trip to New Orleans. Russ's cousin, Bill, took us on a road tour through the 9th Ward, downtown, and through St. Bernard's. The sheer size of the flooding for 15 miles x 15 miles is stunning. Being able to see the areas in person sets everything up. Pearlington is tiny, but has little national attention. The 9th Ward has the attention, but in many blocks of probably thousands of previously occupied houses, 2 are rebuilt by investors and are for sale. Should the areas be rebuilt? The discussion needs to happen. The current situation is to just wait them out - I think that the decision has been made - and is probably correct. The 9th Ward should be a national monument like Ground Zero.

Here is a picture of our group in New Orleans at the Industrial Canal break. More to follow tomorrow...

Back to Pearlington

We are heading back to Pearlington in 2 weeks. I have been unbearably busy with work, and that work is taking up its usual time and my personal, free time. My mind is cluttered. We have split into 2 groups to go back this time. I am leading a team of 14 people (including 4 father and grand/son pairs) for the last week of March during the kid's Spring Break. Then, another group will head out in late April. By splitting up, we are able to give more people an opportunity to experience the work and people of Pearlington and the energy there with volunteers from around the country.

I speak with Jane Els there and she says that it was a bit slow for a few weeks during the winter, but volunteers are pouring in. We were able to get only 9 slots for the week of March 23rd. And, we will end up using only 6 at the PDA camp. Since anyone under age 18 isn't allowed at the PDA camp or worksites, those 8 will be over at the Pearlington Resource Center (PRC). There is plenty of work for any group. We will hopefully connect with Pastor Glenn from One House at a Time who we had the honor to meet on our trip in October.

I am looking forward to it, I wish that I had more time to spread the word and energize others. We will see you there soon