On the Road Again...

Just after 4AM on Saturday, we awoke, cleaned up a bit, dressed and hit the road for the airport.

As we reviewed our luggage, we were once again grateful to Barbara and Roland for hauling much of our heaviest and bulkiest gear in their car.

We arrived at the airport at the same time three buses of Navy Seabees pulled up. Apparently, they'd been in Biloxi for two weeks of training and were scattering to the four winds. We had several Seabees on our plane to Memphis and Max enjoyed listening to their stories.

Once in Memphis, Chelsea and I made a beeline for Starbucks. COFFEE! Chelsea kindly wrote the blog entry for Thursday as we waited to board our plane to Detroit.

Remarkably, our flights were on time and our travels without incident. Max's, Chelsea's and Emily's parents all came to the airport to meet them; they just couldn't wait another moment to see their young people. And who can blame them? They're all remarkable. And I am grateful to have had the opportunity to spend this past week with them.

In the days to come, we'll establish a time for our group - as well as a couple of other LOLers who went to the Gulf Coast over break - to share our photos and stories. Stay tuned!

Grace and Peace,
Sue

Friday!

On Friday morning, Roland returned to do pastoral care in the clinic while the rest of us hoofed it through a couple of neighborhoods, checking in with folks, sharing information regarding the services available through Lutheran Disaster Relief and doing preliminary sign ups for those in need of assistance. We were welcomed warmly and with gratitude by the folks we met. One woman took us out back of her house so we could the view of the bayou; she also pointed out that one of her magnificent oak trees is approximately 600 years old! She was most gracious and clearly a proud resident.

In the afternoon, we took to the highway to see some of the areas we had missed (Long Beach, Pass Christian, etc.) We stopped along a section of beach that had been sifted. (No one is allowed on the beach until it has been sifted for debris by large trucks with conveyor belts; they leave interesting patterns in their wake.)

After this portion of our trip, we went to Ocean Springs, now accessible from Biloxi only via I-10 (the bridge is out between the two cities). Ocean Springs has a charming downtown, including a very nice toy shop where Chelsea enjoyed having a photo taken with a very large Lego figure and Roland and Barb engaged the owner in extensive conversation about vacuum cleaners and their experience of the hurricane.

Across the street, we visited a lovely gift shop that Dorothy (at Bethel) had recommended and a little ice cream parlor and gift shop as well. When the woman in the ice cream parlor discovered what we had been doing, she insisted on paying for our ice cream. "That's what I've been doing for everyone (who has volunteered)," she said. Again, she was most gracious, thanked us generously and willingly shared her family's story.

Friday night, we had our last meal at Bethel - barbecue - and enjoyed our final games of speed Scrabble, which is too much fun! We bid farewell to our new friends and turned in for a short night's sleep.

Grace and Peace,

Sue

Meanwhile, Back at Lucinda Marie's House and Elsewhere...

While Max, Chelsea and Emily were trying to do their part to beautify Biloxi, Roland took a group of 8 students from Augustana College to Lucinda Marie's house to finish the project. They completed the gutting of walls and removal of ceilings. Roland tells a very cute story about how two young men were pulling down a doorframe with their hammers. Despite Roland's encouragement that they use crowbars rather than hammers, they continued in this mode until they brought down the door frame. One young man held out his hammer to Roland and said, "I DID use the crowbar." Roland gently corrected him, saying, "That's the claw of the hammer." (Insert visual aid) "THIS is a crowbar." Well, we all learn along the way, don't we? From Roland's description, this group of Augies worked hard and accomplished a great deal, helping out neighbors and others along the way.

Meanwhile, Barbara was busy working at the Distirbution Center at Camp Biloxi. You could really see the fruits of her labors both at Bethel and at Camp B. Early in the week, Judy had walked into the back room that served as a warehouse of household goods (mostly linens) and clothing and said, "Someday, we'll get this all boxed up and moved down to the distribution center." That was followed by, "Someday, we'll get these shelves moved out and put into the Fellowship Hall." And finally, "Someday, we'll get these shelves in the Fellowship Hall and fill them with food." When she said those things, Judy wasn't counting on Barbara to take her "Someday" wishes to heart - but she did! And by Thursday, "Someday" had become a reality.

Barbara and friends (especially Lynn from Lancaster, with whom we all fell in love - what a sweet soul!) had not only packed up the items in the warehouse but labeled them so that one could tell sheets from tablecloths and twin size sheet sets from full. That made unpacking and distributing supplies much easier on all involved. For weeks, people will be thanking the invisible angels who will have made this work much easier!

Barb, along with Emily, Max and Chelsea, worked most of the afternoon in the distribution center. One woman, who was living in a FEMA trailer with four children (she had two sets of bunk beds and a full size bed; I can't even imagine how she fit all of that in one of those little trailers!) was in need of linens for the beds. However, one of the full-time volunteers - a stickler for the rules - told her she could only have one set of sheets that day. Since people are allowed to return once every four days, she would have to return four more times over a period of more than two weeks in order to obtain the linens that she needed. Well, this didn't seem right to a number of folks, including Lynn, who was working in the clinic with me that afternoon. Lynn trusted this woman and felt horrible that she hadn't received the help that she truly needed. After some conversation and a little thought, I remembered that, stacked up in the hallway at Bethel amidst the bedding set aside for volunteers, were boxes labeled, "Two Twin Sheet Sets." We checked them out. Each contained two fitted and flat sheets, blankets, mattress pads and pillows. Voila! We took two boxes and put them into the woman's car. We're about the business of caring for people in need, not making life more difficult for those who have already suffered much.

As noted above, I spent much of Thursday in the clinic, lending a hand with pastoral care. It was hard work - lots of intense conversation with people - but very rewarding. In a couple of instances, while people waited to see Dr. Bob (an amazing man from MN who is committed to spending 2 weeks of every month for at least the next 6 months working at the clinic pro bono), I was able to sign them up to receive assistance with home repairs. I heard amazing stories of survival, frustration, hope and determination. The resiliance of the human spirit is truly remarkable.

Thursday evening, we went out to dinner at O'Neals, a local restaurant recommended by Judy Bultman. Some of us had real gumbo, catfish and other seafood while others had hamburgers. (I'll leave it to you to guess who had what!)

Later that evening, we were introduced to "Robert the Roofer." For more than two decades, Robert was in charge of all of the maintenance of every roof of every building owned by Maricopa County (Arizona). He had just retired from that position and had trained 50 volunteers to be roofing site leaders. He was in Biloxi for the third time, to spend 5 weeks doing a roofing blitz. What a remarkable man!

Grace and Peace,
Sue

Thursday's "Beach Clean-Up" - by Chelsea Mathis

Thursday morning Max, Emily, and I trekked over to the Biloxi Town Green, an oasis in a desert of debris, to help out with the “Beach Clean-Up.” What we found after Pastor Sue dropped us off was a freshly sodded park with a grandstand and a brand new shoe fly. (A shoe fly, for all us Northern folk, is a deck wrapped around a tree.) We sat through an hour of speeches from local officials, like the Biloxi City Mayor and national representatives of the Keep America Beautiful program. It turned out that this ceremony was not a beach clean-up but the national kick-off for the Keep America Beautiful campaign for 2006. Several TV cameras and assorted press were filming and documenting the event. An overly chipper blonde woman promised us all kinds of freebies; from chewing gum to donuts to t-shirts, work gloves, and lunch, thanks to the several national sponsors whose logos were plastered all over the site. The Biloxi High School Marching Band led us in the National Anthem and paraded the crowds across the street where we were to pick up our supplies. Once we crossed the street, there were the usual odds and ends of donated free food, like cookies, crackers, and Gatorade. Everything was a little chaotic and disorganized from that point forward. We stood around waiting for nearly 20 minutes without instruction about what to do or where to go. Eventually, we gave up and crossed back to the other side of the street in hopes of finding a task appropriate for our skill level.

As soon as we stepped foot on the jigsaw puzzle of sodden lawn, the site director came up to us and started spouting off everything that needed to be done in that area. Max, Emily and I managed to find some shovels and we started digging holes to plant more shrubs around the shoe fly. Well, the dirt was packed clay and digging a hole proved quite a challenge. As we were struggling through the tough soil, a camera crew from Troybilt showed up and started videotaping Emily and me. Another man with the Associated Press snapped several pictures and even asked us for our names and hometowns. At the same time, we were getting flooded with more volunteers who wanted to take a stab at digging a hole. Eventually, the small garden we were working on was filled with nearly 15 people; however, there were not enough shovels, wheelbarrows, top soil or mulch, and we felt completely useless. It wasn’t long before the press caught wind of a third grade class mulching flowerbeds just a few yards from us and left us for more interesting subjects. We called a White Cap Society meeting and decided our green thumbs weren’t so green and we’d rather grab a few Glad Force Flex trash bags and walk along I-90 and pick up garbage (Glad is a national sponsor of the Keep America Beautiful Campaign.) We picked up a few remnants of the Mardi Gras parade but found that the piles of garbage that lined the street were a little bit too much for us to handle. Another White Cap Society meeting was called and this time we decided to throw in the towel and call for a ride anywhere but there. Our friend Doreen, a fellow volunteer at Bethel, came to save the day. All was not lost; we went to the distribution center and worked for the afternoon, filling food requests, carrying the supplies to patrons’ cars and stocking the tables of the tent.

- Chelsea Mathis

P. S. To see Chelsea and Emily in action, go to: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/photos/W/WXS11503030046.html?SITE=CODER&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Wednesday Report - A Day Late!

Now that Lent is underway, I must confess that I was just too tired to blog last night. In an attempt not to slosh myself with soup at supper, I tried to lean over my bowl. I couldn't do it. I had to lift the bowl off of the table! I'm really getting old!

Yesterday began with an interesting experience when we stopped at Camp Biloxi to pick up some tools. Imagine my surprise when the first person I met at the tool shed was Seth, our site supervisor from New Orleans! (I visited New Orleans in early February with a group from Lutheran Campus Ministry; we worked on three homes over the course of a weekend and Seth was our project supervisor.) I asked Seth what he was up to and he said that he was guiding a film crew around the Gulf Coast for three days.

I went into the little green house to check signals on our remaining work at Marie's house and to inquire about the student beach clean up, scheduled for Thursday. I was wrapping up my conversation with Bob and Cathy when there was a knock at the door. Cathy answered and announced, "The film crew is here and they want to see you." I thought that she was speaking to Bob but I was wrong. They were there to see ME! 'Seems they liked what I said to Seth but didn't catch all of our conversation on film. "Would you be willing to be interviewed?" they asked. "In my grubbiest clothes, with no makeup on and my hair a mess?" Okay. For a good cause, I agreed to do it. But I did insist on putting my hat on.

I'm certain that I looked afright but there's a bit of irony to this event. You see, Seth will be heading off to seminary (Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS)) in St. Louis this fall. The organization whose work was being documented is an LCMS charity. But here they were, interviewing a female pastor who was wearing a Yale Divinity School baseball cap! God really does have a sense of humor and irony. Of course, that footage may end up on the cutting room floor!

Emily, Chelsea and Max collected the tools we needed and were very patient and encouraging while I was being interviewed. Once that was over, we took off for K-Mart to pick up bug spray (remember the cock roaches?) before heading on to Marie's house.

We spent the better part of yesterday working at Marie's home. We finished pulling down the drywall (except for part of the kitchen), pulled down ceilings and pulled up flooring. We encountered many more cockroaches and lizards but we were prepared! We enjoyed a picnic lunch beneath the trees before returning to work for the afternoon.

A word about flooring. In the bathroom, we found (in descending order): two layers of linoleum, plywood affixed with (now rusted) 3 inch screws, another layer of linoleum and the base floor, which literally crumbled beneath our crowbars. It was nasty!

Marie wanted to keep the carpeting in her living room, so Emily spent two hours on her hands and knees vacuuming it up. She did amazing work with incredible patience!

Once again, Max's height was a blessing. He could reach up and take care of tasks that required others of us to climb ladders! That was an immense help when it came to removing kitchen cabinets from the walls - especially those that had been installed in interesting ways!

After showers (have I mentioned that we've found the daily shower at the close of a work day to be a gift from heaven not to be taken for granted? It is!), we had a soup supper and Ash Wednesday worship. I'd estimate that about 90% of the people in worship were volunteers. We could feel the weight of the ministry that Pastor Bultman bears.

I'm having trouble uploading photos tonight, so I'll hold off on those for another time.

Chelsea has agreed to blog the students' activities for Thursday, so look for her entry next!

Grace and Peace,
Sue