I got this note yesterday from Ed Perry who took over the Hilltop camp in Houston from me a week ago.
There are occurrences in all of our lives that defy logic. There are moments that define our day as well as moments that define our purpose. I would like to share with you one such moment.
Wednesday in Shoreacres was a "normal" day as relief work goes. After almost 2 weeks of trying to synchronize our schedules we finally got to assist Terri with cleaning out her house and yard. A very stoic and self-sufficient woman, Terri's heart was softened considerably by the Southeast coC (Aurora, CO) youth group's enthusiasm. The work went quickly and it was evident that we would finish by lunchtime. My full intention was to use this time to pre-run ahead of the team's job schedule to insure that the upcoming jobs were as reported.
As I ran (yes, ran) to the truck my cell phone rang. I paused to answer so that the oh-so-very annoying warning alarm of the truck wouldn't disturb the caller (or me) only to notice that during this pause that one of the kids had an item that Terri wanted to save. After correcting this I started once more for the truck. Sitting on the seat was the Release form for the homeowner to sign (sorry, June!) I ran back to the house again to get the signature. Sprinting to the truck like a man half my age (cough, cough) I reached for the keys when I remembered that Terri had some new shovels that we were using and they would surely be mixed up with our tools. Terri said as I entered the house "Ain't you gone yet?" No, but I asked her to watch for her shovels and hugged her once more. On my way at last -except that I turned left out of the driveway instead of right and was going the wrong way. Sigh.
About 4 doors down I spotted a semi-clear driveway to turn around in but there stood a short woman pushing a very full wheelbarrow of moldy drywall. I hit the brakes, rolled down the CRANK windows on the truck (none of them fancy push-button things for us) and asked if she was the homeowner. Yes, she said, with sweat rolling off her face.
Would she like some help with her house, I asked?
"No, I couldn't afford that."
"But this help is free, there is a gaggle of teenagers a few doors down."
As the look on her face turned to disbelief, I backed up the street to ask the kids and sponsors if they would help, and help they did. As I finished my errands they moved furniture, took out drywall and cleaned up the mess. Only later did I learn that her young daughter was very seriously ill and in the hospital. It is my understanding that she and her husband and family take turns staying with her and cleaning up the house from the flood, in which they lost most everything. The kids were touched deeply and one later offered a book she had brought as a gift to take to the daughter, since all hers were ruined. Grateful tears came to this woman and the volunteers alike.
My point is this: Had my grand plan of getting these IMPORTANT things done for the Lord gone even remotely like I envisioned, I never would have met Edith Sanchez. Five seconds in any direction would have caused our paths to miss.
At least now I know who is really making out my itinerary!
Praise to the One whose ways are higher than our ways!
special ed
Monday, November 03, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Sunday Worship
Clear Lake Church worshipped as usual Sunday morning while the volunteers from Northside Christian, Harding, and Lubbock Christian drove home and the volunteers from Prestoncrest finished a yard cleanup and pulled a large stump.
Mick and I spent the afternoon with the church youth group cleaning out Stennie's (like Jennie's) house in San Leon. The waves had washed the front wall in (facing Galveston Bay), washed the contents against the kitchen in the back of the house (towards the street) and pushed the bottom of the back wall out.
We had to tear loose the hinges on the door and force it out to get the refrigerator and other debris out of the house.
Her daughter, son-in-law, and grand kids got there after we started and she arrived from Batton Rouge just as the crew got in the church van to come back for Sunday evening activities.
Mick and I spent the afternoon with the church youth group cleaning out Stennie's (like Jennie's) house in San Leon. The waves had washed the front wall in (facing Galveston Bay), washed the contents against the kitchen in the back of the house (towards the street) and pushed the bottom of the back wall out.
We had to tear loose the hinges on the door and force it out to get the refrigerator and other debris out of the house.
Her daughter, son-in-law, and grand kids got there after we started and she arrived from Batton Rouge just as the crew got in the church van to come back for Sunday evening activities.
Saturday, everyone hit it hard for their last day working
The Lubbock crew didn't get back till 9:00 at night. They planned to knock off at 3:00 and see the beach since they had been working in Galveston, only blocks from the water all week and hadn't gone, but they ended up unloading a surprise 18 wheeler of food and supplies from Nashville at the Broadway Church and got to the ocean about dark.
The Harding crew cleared Walter's house in San Leon and his yard, what I thought was more than a day's job. They finished by noon! After having lunch on the shore of Galveston bay, they headed down to Galveston to pick up more door to door work with the Lubbock crew. They have a professional journalist in their crew so I hope to have more links to post on their work for his stories and pictures soon.
The Northside Christian team spent a third day at Sharon and Brandon's house helping her to sort her stuff and part with that which is not recoverable. You can imagine how painful this can be to throw away all you have...
There is still an entire lot of fallen trees she owns next to her home that we have to clear.
The 4th group for the weekend was a "young marrieds" (or almost there) group from Prestoncrest Church of Christ in Dallas. They cleared the home of Jerry and Connie in Shore Acres. I walked in and they introduced me, but before they even got my name out, Connie had worked her way around the stuff piled in the room and grabbed me for a hug.
They both had tears for the hearts of the crew that had given their time to help them out.
I drove through the neighborhood since I hadn't been there yet. It's just as bad as San Leon. Chalmette type of Neighborhood, but the houses right on the bay are battered and one burned badly during the storm. Of the 640 homes in the burg of less than 1500 residents, 575 had at least four feet of water.
The Harding crew cleared Walter's house in San Leon and his yard, what I thought was more than a day's job. They finished by noon! After having lunch on the shore of Galveston bay, they headed down to Galveston to pick up more door to door work with the Lubbock crew. They have a professional journalist in their crew so I hope to have more links to post on their work for his stories and pictures soon.
The Northside Christian team spent a third day at Sharon and Brandon's house helping her to sort her stuff and part with that which is not recoverable. You can imagine how painful this can be to throw away all you have...
There is still an entire lot of fallen trees she owns next to her home that we have to clear.
The 4th group for the weekend was a "young marrieds" (or almost there) group from Prestoncrest Church of Christ in Dallas. They cleared the home of Jerry and Connie in Shore Acres. I walked in and they introduced me, but before they even got my name out, Connie had worked her way around the stuff piled in the room and grabbed me for a hug.
They both had tears for the hearts of the crew that had given their time to help them out.
I drove through the neighborhood since I hadn't been there yet. It's just as bad as San Leon. Chalmette type of Neighborhood, but the houses right on the bay are battered and one burned badly during the storm. Of the 640 homes in the burg of less than 1500 residents, 575 had at least four feet of water.
Friday was a good day to work
We added 18 Harding students to the volunteer base Thursday night. They started on three tree jobs for a church member, Jeanie, and two of her neighbors, Connie and Ms. Francis who live in Santa Fe. They brought out an enormous pile of branches from Ms. Frances' yard where several trees went down.
They also removed a tree that has been leaning on Jeanie's roof since the storm.
They cut up a large tree with a 2' trunk and another large tree in Connie's back yard.
And Jeannie fed them all really well!
The Lubbock crew worked more in Galveston while the Northside Christian crew continued working in Shore Acres.
I surveyed San Leon, checking out a request for help with a house that had lost a wall to the waves to make sure it was safe for volunteers. While there I found 91 year old Walter trying to get his storm door off the back addition to his two story house.
The wall had slid off the foundation in the waves and was leaning at an angle that made the door hit the eves when it opened. I removed the door and the extremely water logged exterior door he had already pulled off and left leaning in the doorway. The opposing wall was leaning the other way and the structure seemed stable, though it was obviously not sound. More on the crew clearing his house on the Saturday posting.
I dropped contact information with a couple of churches near the area, the post office, where the postmaster said her 81 year old father needed help, and another relief operation working at the Maranantha Baptist Church there in San Leon.
They fed me a great lunch. Committed relief was heading back to California Saturday and a new group is moving into the flooded, soggy, recovering church.
The entire area is heavily damaged. Much like the 9th ward after Katrina.
The first row of homes that received the bulk of the wave action are heavily damaged, or moved off their foundations. Large boats are in yards. Newer vacation homes are mostly up on stilts and were not badly damaged, but many full time residents' homes are small, built on the ground, and not well maintained. There were quite a few "yard sales" going on where everything was set out on the lawn to dry out...
Some people are living in tents.
They also removed a tree that has been leaning on Jeanie's roof since the storm.
They cut up a large tree with a 2' trunk and another large tree in Connie's back yard.
And Jeannie fed them all really well!
The Lubbock crew worked more in Galveston while the Northside Christian crew continued working in Shore Acres.
I surveyed San Leon, checking out a request for help with a house that had lost a wall to the waves to make sure it was safe for volunteers. While there I found 91 year old Walter trying to get his storm door off the back addition to his two story house.
The wall had slid off the foundation in the waves and was leaning at an angle that made the door hit the eves when it opened. I removed the door and the extremely water logged exterior door he had already pulled off and left leaning in the doorway. The opposing wall was leaning the other way and the structure seemed stable, though it was obviously not sound. More on the crew clearing his house on the Saturday posting.
I dropped contact information with a couple of churches near the area, the post office, where the postmaster said her 81 year old father needed help, and another relief operation working at the Maranantha Baptist Church there in San Leon.
They fed me a great lunch. Committed relief was heading back to California Saturday and a new group is moving into the flooded, soggy, recovering church.The entire area is heavily damaged. Much like the 9th ward after Katrina.
The first row of homes that received the bulk of the wave action are heavily damaged, or moved off their foundations. Large boats are in yards. Newer vacation homes are mostly up on stilts and were not badly damaged, but many full time residents' homes are small, built on the ground, and not well maintained. There were quite a few "yard sales" going on where everything was set out on the lawn to dry out...
Some people are living in tents.
Thursday started out Rainy
Really rainy! That didn't slow down the volunteers though.
The Northside Christian Church group started on Sharon and Brandon's house in Shore Acres.
Brandon, 16, really hooked in with this group coming back for dinner with them Thursday night and helping them on another house on Friday.
That Job was for Phyllis, also in Shore Acres.
They worked the weekend on Sharon's home as there was so much to be done.
and they had some fun in the Gulf checking out the damage to the beach homes in Galveston
The Lubbock Christian group spent their whole weekend doing work around Galveston with the Broadway Church of Christ. They cleaned up around the building, unloaded truckloads of mattresses and food. Served 900 meals a day to the community, and mucked out six "or more" houses. Or more, because they would move from one place to the next doing small jobs for those who needed help as well.
Houston Relief Update
I've been in Houston for a week and a half now managing the Hilltop Rescue operations on the ground. We have been VERY busy. There is a lot of need here and we are receiving volunteers. We can use more! The need is real and the work is stacking up. here's the story.
Hilltop has been on the ground since right after the storm. We surveyed the area and and found a definite need for outside volunteers. The local community has responded amazingly well, but local volunteers are drying up as people get back to their lives after giving days or weeks of their time. The need is greater now for outside volunteers. Between our own requests for help and those going unmet by other relief organizations in the area there are hundreds of work orders to fulfill.
This past weekend, we had 62 volunteers in from Harding University in Searcy Arkansas, Northside Christian Church in Tulsa, Prestoncrest Church of Christ in Dallas, and Lubbock Christian University. They were awesome workers and amazing people to work with. Some would have been happy working day and night.
We completed 14 jobs mucking houses and clearing downed trees from yards over the weekend as well as getting a lot of small side jobs done for neighbors of those we were working with, or just driving down the street and asking who needs help.
The worst hit areas where we can work are Galveston, San Leon, and Shore Acres. Areas on the Bolivar Peninsula (across the mouth of the bay from Galveston) are still off limits and most homes were completely washed away in those towns. Those areas are marked by yellow and red on this map respectively.
Wind damage to trees covers a much broader area, but is pretty much confined to the Galveston Bay area.
Our operations in Houston are being hosted by the Clear Lake Church of Christ. We are 20 minutes from most of the hardest hit areas. We have 42 real mattresses, 6 showers, plenty of bathrooms, a huge kitchen, and a gym we can use if it isn't being used for other purposes. We have a pool table, fooseball, and air hockey! We have plenty of tools for volunteers to use in their work, a 15 passenger van, a pickup truck, and two tool trailers to haul tools around in as well. This place rates 4 stars compared to the flooded school buildings, tents, and MASH showers we've had in the past. The church has basically turned over the back third of their building, their youth area, to us to use as long as there is a need.
The church has been awesome! The elders and church leadership have been overwhelmingly supportive of our operations to help them reach out to their community and responsibly spend the funds they have collected for the work. This is a place where "real Christians" prevail as the hands and feet of Christ. We are only supplementing what they are doing in their community. The youth group continues to work mucking houses in the area and church members made some fabulous dinners for our volunteers this weekend. I am personally quite impressed with our partners here.
Like the man said "Come on in boys! The water's fine!"
Servants Unite!
John McGuire
Hilltop has been on the ground since right after the storm. We surveyed the area and and found a definite need for outside volunteers. The local community has responded amazingly well, but local volunteers are drying up as people get back to their lives after giving days or weeks of their time. The need is greater now for outside volunteers. Between our own requests for help and those going unmet by other relief organizations in the area there are hundreds of work orders to fulfill.
This past weekend, we had 62 volunteers in from Harding University in Searcy Arkansas, Northside Christian Church in Tulsa, Prestoncrest Church of Christ in Dallas, and Lubbock Christian University. They were awesome workers and amazing people to work with. Some would have been happy working day and night.
We completed 14 jobs mucking houses and clearing downed trees from yards over the weekend as well as getting a lot of small side jobs done for neighbors of those we were working with, or just driving down the street and asking who needs help.
The worst hit areas where we can work are Galveston, San Leon, and Shore Acres. Areas on the Bolivar Peninsula (across the mouth of the bay from Galveston) are still off limits and most homes were completely washed away in those towns. Those areas are marked by yellow and red on this map respectively.
Wind damage to trees covers a much broader area, but is pretty much confined to the Galveston Bay area.
Our operations in Houston are being hosted by the Clear Lake Church of Christ. We are 20 minutes from most of the hardest hit areas. We have 42 real mattresses, 6 showers, plenty of bathrooms, a huge kitchen, and a gym we can use if it isn't being used for other purposes. We have a pool table, fooseball, and air hockey! We have plenty of tools for volunteers to use in their work, a 15 passenger van, a pickup truck, and two tool trailers to haul tools around in as well. This place rates 4 stars compared to the flooded school buildings, tents, and MASH showers we've had in the past. The church has basically turned over the back third of their building, their youth area, to us to use as long as there is a need.
The church has been awesome! The elders and church leadership have been overwhelmingly supportive of our operations to help them reach out to their community and responsibly spend the funds they have collected for the work. This is a place where "real Christians" prevail as the hands and feet of Christ. We are only supplementing what they are doing in their community. The youth group continues to work mucking houses in the area and church members made some fabulous dinners for our volunteers this weekend. I am personally quite impressed with our partners here.
Like the man said "Come on in boys! The water's fine!"
Servants Unite!
John McGuire
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