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OPC Mission Trip to New Orleans
November 11 - 18, 2006

Out of chaos...hope. That's the slogan for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, and it was apt for this week. We worked hard and all our work was a small drop in a large ocean of woe, but we knew from the people we met that we had brought hope. Homeowners, neighbors, people who were driving by, ...just about everyone we saw...they said thank you for coming, for remembering us.

The trip down and first day of work
Tuesday we worked on two houses
Wednesday we started the big house
Thursday we emptied the house, mostly
Friday worked more and left the house for next weeks crew

Thursday -- We got an early start today, and the sky was beautiful (but chilly) at 6:45 am when we set out for our work site. We worked again at Miss Alice's. We knew it would be a hard & difficult day, but we didn't realize just how hard & difficult it would be. Below you can see a small part of what we picked up, shoveled up, carried out by hand and by wheelbarrow. The moral of the story is ...do not be a pack rat!!!! There wasn't enough space for us all to be in the "clean up" area, so part of our group tackled the overgrown yard. There are some very tough vines that grow down here! The lawnmower quit and the weed eater was broken, so all the yard work was done with loppers & by hand. After several hours of backbreaking work, the yard was transformed and we found a sidewalk running beside the house...who knew? The FEMA truck that picks up debris came to our job site 3 times today, so yes, we did have a bit of debris on the street.


More stuff to clean up, and Jack can still smile.


Another suspect ceiling beam. In this case, the owner bought two screw jacks and you can see Dianne & Gene installing one of them.


Anne in the yard jungle, trying to lop her way into the light.
Here is one of three large debris piles that we took out of the house.

The full two car garage before we emptied it, one wheelbarrow at a time. Miss Alice is a pack rat, but also she ran a flea market for 30 years and she kept her inventory in her house.

The FEMA trucks that come around to pick these piles up come with a Bobcat and this machine with a large jaw that just picks up huge "bites" and puts it all in a very large truck.

 


Gene and his new best friend.


This requires a little explanation. One of the other work crews here in Luling this week makes "prayer quilts" which they give to people who need comfort. They brought extra quilts this week for all of us to give to homeowners with whom we were working. Here Anne is giving a quilt to Miss Alice. Her daughter, Bonnie is looking on. The idea of a prayer quilt is that as it is tied, every knot represents a prayer...in this case it represents a prayer for Miss Alice.

Another daughter very kindly brought us a New Orleans lunch today...Po Boys and Corn/Shrimp Chowder, with Barq's Root Beer to wash it all down. This family wanted very badly to do something for us, in return for all they felt we were giving them. So even though we had a lunch all packed in our cooler, we accepted their gift to us gratefully.

Thursday we emptied the house, mostly

Friday worked more and left the house for next weeks crew