Bucyrus Volunteers Meet Here

We'll be in our volunteer coordination office at 7:30am in Bucyrus. I invite SU volunteers to show up around 9:00

1313 East Mansfield Street, Bucryus, Ohio 44820

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Look for the Dominos Pizza sign.


We had 80 people show up for the local church, civic, and community leaders meeting today! The local groups appear to be turning out well.


See you in Bucyrus tomorrow! Or when you can come up.

Bucyrus Needs for Donated Items

Bleach - to demold mucked houses. There is none available here
Diapers - will go to ODJFS to distribute. Victims are out of diapers
Mops
Buckets

Power Washers
Coolers

Bucyrus Thursday Update

First, I need some experienced volunteers to assist in assessing potential cleanup jobs tomorrow in Bucyrus. If anyone is available, call me on my cell, 614-404-8610, before noon.

The meeting place is not solidified yet for Saturday. I have a location at a downtown church, but it isn't optimal and I'm looking for a better option still tomorrow. We will meet at 9:00 Saturday, but I'll have to get you the definite address via email tomorrow.

I spent the day with Linn Ash, the newly anointed EMA Volunteer Coordinator and Tim Flock, the directory for Crawford County. You'll like them, they are the kind of people we've grown to respect for their leadership in disasters.
We spent the day plotting how we were going to prioritize work requests and validate they are ready for volunteers. We also connected with the Red Cross and Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services. We talked to a few churches, checked out a few homes, and got the lay of the land.

Tomorrow we are having a meeting of church, civic, service organization, and other leaders in the area to ask them to mobilize their constituencies to volunteer in their community. We will be surveying the first jobs to be handed out on Saturday and solidifying a base of operations. Without taking on too much, we are going to check on other counties' progress in volunteer cleanup management and find a way to help them get going as well.

Volunteers from around the region are needed in the effected area. While flood water has receded in Bucyrus, Findlay still has high water and as I write this, more than an inch of rain is predicted from storms entering the area now.

Some residents are cleaning out their homes and a few have insurance to cover it, but there will be many who need our assistance.

The tote board in the Crawford County EMA office of residences damaged looked like this by the end of the day:
Affected - 255 some damage
Minor - 542 mostly flooded basements, water heaters, and furnaces
Major - 179 flood damage in the first floor of the house
Destroyed - 59 structurally unsound
Total - 1032

More homes collapsed today as water was pumped out of basements and the pressure outside the walls caved them in. Prayers for these families and all the others left homeless please.

The Major and Destroyed homes are 10% of the residences in this relatively small town. Some other statistics. ODJFS estimates 200-300 homes in the county are unlivable, 500 families or 3000 individuals are homeless and staying with relatives. that's 7% of the county's population. They also note that the storm victims are disproportionately elderly and poor. The Sandusky River crested 17 1/2 feet above average making this a 100 year flood event. The water hasn't been recorded that high since 1912.

My phone is Cingular/AT&T and does not work within 5 miles of Bucyrus... So if you don't get an answer, please contact Linn Ash at 419-561-1110. I'm hoping to have a Verizon phone up tomorrow to use while I'm up there. Special thanks to Mitchell Ratalczak at the Verizon Wireless store in Westerville (614-563-0863) for his assistance. Give him some business if you would!

Bucyrus Work Lining Up

I need 4 volunteers to work in Bucyrus tomorrow. The task will be helping Crawford County EMA to qualify requests for assistance and start to organize volunteer workers. This is not physical work and offers a lot of contact with storm victims. They have up to 840 requests for assistance, but need to gather considerably more information to begin prioritizing them and assigning volunteers to the task. More requests will be coming in. Call me to sign up for tomorrow at my cell phone, 614-404-8610. No such thing as too late.

I'll also need the same or replacement people for that task through the weekend and into next week. Please sign up for that via john@servantsunite.org. We will start out working in Emergency Management in the Crawford county Courthouse at this address.

I am looking for local churches to work out of and through. We want to work with a local church so the people we help know where to go for support when we are no longer there personally.

Specifically I need a local non-instrumental Church of Christ who will help distribute relief funds and supplies from relief organizations of that affiliation. Accounting for those donations would become a job for an elder of the church. Resources are available, but I need someone to take that responsibility.

We need to build cleaning kits to donate to victims. Here is the inventory I pirated from Nashville Disaster Relief. I recommend filling the bucket with the supplies covering it with a towel and holding it in place with a rubber band (or a lid if there is one).

• 5 Gallon Bucket
• Heavy Duty Hand Brush
• Heavy duty scrubbers (Brillo pad)
• Woolite
• Clorox cleanup
• Heavy duty cleaner (Degreaser)
• Sponges
• Playtex gloves
• Waterless hand gel
• Formula 409
  
• Pine Sol
• Comet
• Bathroom cleaner
• Soap
• Rags
• Flashlight & Batteries
• Dust Masks

EMA is asking for church organizations to serve meals for the community and volunteers. This could be distributed in the neighborhoods, and available at a church building or defined location.

Volunteers will need to come prepared with tools till we can get with a church and purchase some.

Volunteer coordinators are needed. These should be experienced volunteers from Katrina work who can give a week (or whatever) to lead day workers in demucking homes.

We are not really prepared for this financially. Our current funds are at $3,665.32. I'm working on getting funding for some of this from other disaster relief orgs, but Servants Unite will most likely incur some expenses in this. I am already purchasing magnetic vehicle signs, a display banner, and will need "yard signs" to advertise who volunteers or storm victims should contact in the affected area.

We will need some funds coming in quickly. You or your church can donate through the paypal link on the Servants Unite web site under "Supplies Needed". You can send checks to my address which is also on that page or deposit them directly to our account at Chase. I can give you that number over the phone if you need it. We are functioning under non-profit status applied for, but do not have an answer back from the IRS. This means that donations should be tax deductible, but I can't tell you it is guaranteed.

More updates from ground zero tomorrow.

Ohio Flood Relief Wednesday Update

Nine Ohio counties, Allen, Crawford, Hancock, Hardin, Putman, Richland, Seneca, Van Wert and Wyandot are all under a state of emergency; up from the 6 last night.Just heard from Troy Blair, youth minister of Northland Church of Christ (Team 1). He’s working in Bucyrus cleaning out his sister’s basement. He’s met with the EMA directory for Crawford County who I will be speaking with shortly as he is intent on getting help into their area as soon as possible.

Troy reports a lot of residential damage in Bucyrus where Marion and Shelby have more commercial and government building damage. Since our initial connections seem to be in Bucyrus, we will plan on working there Saturday and Sunday. Friday is a maybe. Additional days and work locations will be determined as we assess needs, progress, volunteer turnout, and volunteer availability.

We will arrange for accommodations for volunteers who live further away from the area at a local church as we did after Katrina. While these plans aren’t defined yet, contacts are happening to solidify this aspect of the response.

Presently I have 4 volunteers scheduled for Saturday. I need RSVPs from you via email to john@servantsunite.org ASAP. I need to know how many people we can offer to the effort so that I can estimate how much work we can commit to. I need to hear from you now for us to be effective this weekend and beyond.

I also need you to engage your church leadership and get this message out to your church email list. 500 people will get this email, but their church congregations represent thousands of potential volunteers. This is an even easier opportunity for an introduction to the type of mission work we have been doing on the gulf coast. Our friends, families, coworkers, and church families should have the opportunity we have had to witness God at work through our efforts and we have many many families hurt by these storms that are in need of our assistance. I know how addicted you all are to this work. If you think back to your trip to the gulf coast, you’ll have to join in.

I am available to discuss this work with anyone who has questions. Have them call my cell number 614-404-8610.

We will require standard mucking tools:

• Flat shovels
• Wheelbarrows
• Plastic bins to carry wet debris up out of basements
• Boots
• Gloves
• Safety glasses
• Hammers
• Wonderbars (prybars)
• Old clothes

More updates later or tomorrow as plans are firmed up

Servants Unite!

We are activating in response to Ohio flooding

We are getting more info on Oklahoma flooding and will try to send a team in a week to two if volunteers are willing to go. It appears the need will persist. The need there is severe and we are needed there just as we were after Katrina.

First though, we have trouble right here. Six Ohio counties are under a state of emergency from up to 9 inches of rain yesterday which has flooded many towns here. I expect you’ve seen the video on the news this evening of the flooding and coast guard helicopters plucking people out of the flood water. More rain is in the forecast for the rest of the week.

The town of Shelby, in Richland County has people sleeping in a shelter tonight in the High School on the West side and an elementary school on the East side. The black fork river has cut the two sides of town in half.

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Bucyrus in Crawford County is also flooded making national news tonight. Many of us have traveled through there up route 4 on our way to Cedar Point. The Sandusky River is still rising there and won’t crest till tomorrow, IF no more rain falls. Many are in a shelter in the YMCA there tonight.

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In Mansfield, the post office flooded and the news isn’t covering additional areas.

Van Wert, Allen, Harding, and Wyandot counties are also under a state of emergency.

Only 1 in 10 households in flood prone areas tend to have flood insurance and the most needy people don’t tend to have the insurance. There will be many who will need lots of outside assistance getting their homes put back together and replace their belongings. Some will likely lose their homes altogether from collapsed foundations and basement walls destroyed by the rushing water.

Plans are not yet defined, though I already have at least one volunteer to work this weekend. I will be contacting Senior Citizen’s Centers, the Red Cross, Mayors, Emergency Management directors, and local groups coordinating volunteers that we can partner up with to offer assistance in the areas affected.

You are needed for the kind of kingdom work we have been doing in the gulf coast, but this is right in our back yards. We can serve all day giving people hope and come home to sleep in our own beds after a hot shower, thankful that we have both.

Please forward this note to your church email lists, friends, and family who would be willing to give up their weekend to help our neighbors.

I will get more info out to you on email and via the blog over the next couple days to firm up those plans.

Servants Unite!

Team 27 Video

Glenn Needham of Sunbury United Methodist Church put this together for their congregation from the footage he shot working in Bayou La Batre in July.

View it on YouTube

Habitat Opportunity for Saturday 8/18

Hi all,

We have another very last minute need for volunteers. We are looking for anyone who is available to help tomorrow (Saturday) from 8:30 to 4:00 at 2895 Woodland Ave, in the northeast part of Columbus. We could use 6-8 people if possible.

I am out out of town, but if you have questions, you can call my cell phone 332-9192.

Thanks!
Deb

For Lutherans and Thrivent Financial Members

[Editor's Note: Habitat houses are frequently built off corporate and church donations (@ $100,000 per house). Frequently those corporate sponsors require the volunteers come from their company/church/denomination as is the case with this request from Deb Light, volunteer coordinator at Columbus Habitat.]

We still are in GREAT need Lutheran or Thrivent Financial volunteers to finish 2 Habitat homes and to meet the Thrivent grant volunteer requirements for the 2 houses.

Please consider:

• signing up for one or multiple days
• recruiting some people from your congregation or small group
• introducing someone new who is either Lutheran or a Thrivent Financial member to Habitat and Thrivent Builds

You can either sign up at our volunteer hub: http://columbus.volunteerhub.com or contact me.

Workdays run from now until the end of September (or until the houses are completed):

Tuesdays 9am to 4pm
Thursdays 9am to 4pm
Saturdays 8:30am to 4pm

No experience required. Leadership provided.

If you haven’t scheduled a work day before, now is a great time to start.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Deb Light
Volunteer Director
Habitat for Humanity-Greater Columbus
3140 Westerville Rd
Columbus, OH 43224
Office 614-364-7020 (direct line)
Cell: 614-332-9192
Fax: 614-414-0432

Marion Cleanup

Mission Accomplished doesn't really describe the day. There are probably a few yards left untouched. One we know of that is filled with the remains of 2 trees is waiting on the insurance adjuster. The town of Marion, however, was quite a different place by this afternoon compared to when I first went up yesterday.

Eleven of us worked through the day on approximately 12 yards for residents. My family and 6 volunteers from Mt. Sterling Nazarene, Katrina veterans as well, had a great day of fellowship, service, and chain saws :-)

David took some pics of our last site which you can see here.

The town residents have cleared an amazing amount of brush and stacked it at the curb for pickup. While I was originally concerned about a lack of volunteers this morning, I was amazed and impressed at how fast all this was done. After Monday, there may be more requests through the Senior Center and we may need some volunteers a couple evenings this week for that.

I know God will provide what is needed and I'm grateful we got to go and serve after this storm. I am concerned, though that when it appears we are needed it is difficult to gather the volunteers together for local relief. I'm interested in your ideas and feedback on how we can make such a response more fruitful.

Look for more updates over the next couple days as to what additional help will be needed.

Marion pictures from Friday

I put up a gallery of the parks and streets of Marion that we need to clean up here.

Cleanup Help Needed in Marion, Ohio this weekend

Your help is needed in Marion Ohio this weekend. A strong thunderstorm passed through Marion Thursday evening causing wide spread damage and killing one resident. I surveyed the area this morning and met with Mayor Jack Kellog, Safety Director Daniel Cobb, and the EMA director Harry Burdick. There is damage across the entire town, though some blocks are worse than others. There are still live wires, intermixed with branches, which Ohio Edison is working to repair in residential neighborhoods. They hope to complete that work by tomorrow afternoon.

The Mayor has asked us to begin by clearing brush from the city parks where there isn’t the risk of live electricity. We can then work into residential streets as we verify with Emergency Management that the electrical repair work has been completed.

Please contact me on my cell phone, 614-404-8610 if you plan on coming to work. I’ll need to know how many people you will bring and what tools you will have.

The First Church of the Nazarene downtown Marion is allowing us to use their parking lot for a staging area. We will begin meeting there at 7:00 am tomorrow, Saturday, August 11. The address is 233 West Church Street, Marion, Ohio 43302.

Volunteers can come to this location all morning for work assignments. Sunday’s plans will be made Saturday afternoon as we gauge the response from volunteers and the progress of our work. I will broadcast those via email and post our progress to the blog.

Work will consist of tree and brush removal to the curb and minor repairs to roofs and homes. We will not work on trees entangled or leaning on wires or structures as we risk doing more damage. We will leave those to the professionals.

We need crews with the following tools:

• Chain saws (with experienced adults in charge)
• Lopping sheers/pruners
• Bow saws
• Rakes
• Wheelbarrows
• 2 wheeled dollies (to move large logs to the curb)
• Light, open trailers
• Small tarps

Individuals should bring:

• Safety glasses
• Gloves
• Work boots, preferably with steel toes
• Ear plugs (for noisy chainsaws)
• Hats
• Sunscreen
• Drinking water

Again, this area is definitely in need of our services and for tomorrow, at least, I don’t believe we can send more people than we will keep very busy. There may also be specific work assignments to be completed evenings next week as requests come in through the Marion Senior Center and possibly other sources.

The weather forecast is great and the weekend is convenient for us all to go serve. Thanks in advance for your time and commitment to this work.

Servants Unite!

John McGuire
www.ServantsUnite.org
614-523-3996 home
614-404-8610 cel
MSN servantsunite@hotmail.com
AIM servantsunite

Difficult tale of praise

I spent last weekend with two of our other volunteers packing up the Hilltop camp in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. If you went this summer, you'd be amazed at how empty and quite the park is now. Only squares of dead (but recovering) grass remain in the space where hundreds of volunteers lived while serving that community the last two months.

The gear is all being stored in Virginia where June and Rick White can maintain it and prepare vehicles for the next hurricane we will respond to. We drove my newly purchased Ford Excursion diesel down to tow the 30' shower trailer to Virginia and hit the road Saturday afternoon. We also had the 3 king kids who were riding up with us to visit the New Life Canal Winchester team who had worked on their house. After a couple hours we switched drivers and a few miles down the road I leaned over on my pillow to go to sleep.

I felt the truck start pitching back and forth. The trailer had started swaying in increasing oscillations which eventually pushed us into the Median of the highway. The truck rolled completely over landing on it's wheels in the oncoming fast lane, but there were no vehicles coming at us. The shower trailer rolled 3/4 of the way over and was laying in the median.

We all walked out. God protected the 6 of us from a horrific rollover and the only injuries were one broken arm (Alex King) and some glass cuts. We are so thankful that He loves us and chose to save us from death and serious injury that we would all expect to have been the outcome of this accident.

Alex's arm was set and cast successfully Tuesday morning and our cuts and scrapes are healing up. While Ursula has no interest in attempting another road trip, the boys both are still eager to come up for a visit. I suggested Christmas break when they may see some snow.

We praise the Lord in this for our health and everyone's attitude and response. This could have been a major tragedy, but has been (as disaster relief always is) quite an adventure.

Pictures from Team 26 a week ago

Sorry, technical problems kept me from being able to load these up sooner, but here they are. I collected 1500 pictures from volunteers and another 400 of my own.

Jim Gaul

Kali

Katy

Lisa Baughman

Liz

Mark Day

Matt & Phil Moon

Michelle Clark

Paul Lewis

Rob Martin

Sara

Terry Eddy

Tina Poole

John McGuire

Thanks team for an amazing week. With the groups from Oklahoma, Nashville, and Virginia added to our 115 we had over 160 people working in Bayou La Batre for the week; more than any other work week since the storm. You are all amazing and I look forward to working with you all again soon.

Habitat Opportunity for Saturday 7/21

We will need some extra volunteers this Saturday, July 21 from 8:30am to 4:00pm. Site and activity will vary depending on need. We will schedule people on a first come first serve basis as space permits. No prior skills required, leadership provided.

Volunteers need to wear comfortable clothing that they don’t mind getting dirty. Volunteers must wear hard-soled shoes (work boots preferred) or tennis shoes. Absolutely no sandals or open toed/open heeled shoes allowed on site. Bring a water bottle and lunch. Hats and sunscreen are always a great addition to your work day.

If you have your own tools (i.e. hammer, pencil tape measure, nail apron/tool belt, utility knife, and speed square), please bring them, but label and keep track of tools. If you do not have your own tools, tools will be available on site.

Please let me know if you are available and interested in helping out, and I can send you more information.

Thanks!
Deb

Deb Light
Volunteer Director
Habitat for Humanity-Greater Columbus
3140 Westerville Rd
Columbus, OH 43224
Office 614-364-7020 (direct line)
Cell: 614-332-9192
Fax: 614-414-0432

Team 26 on the way home or there already

Here we are right now in the gym at the Hendersonville Church of Christ just north of Nashville. The Westerville group stayed overnight here last night. We had an uneventful trip home so far. Sunbury UMC got home around Noon Saturday. Though I haven't heard from them, I believe the Canal Winchester New Life group got home late last night as did the South Dayton Church of Christ group who left Thursday to check on the people they worked with on previous trips in New Orleans before heading home.

I have a lot more to post for this week, but with my clone backordered that'll have to be done after I get home.

Thanks for all the support that's been poured into this week from parents, family, churches, and friends of all 115 participants of this team from Ohio. Special thanks to the Westerville Schools. The staff, parents, and students who were the original base for this team are amazing and I'm extremely pleased to have my kids in this district with these people. High caliber does not describe what I have seen in them.

John McGuire

Team 26 Thursday Update

A note from one of our volunteers and a few pics from today. I have more to post tomorrow!

I have heard that when you go on a mission trip, you get more out of it than the ones receiving whatever you may do or say. Frankly, I really wasn’t sure that actually happened. In my mind, a mission trip is hard work, tiring, lonely (away from loved ones), and way out of my comfort zone. Also, mission trips cost money and currently being a family of 5, we struggle financially. The very thought of being away from my 3 kids for a week is not something that I wanted to do. However, my husband and I both felt that God was knocking on our hearts to maybe consider going to the Gulf Coast when we heard that a group from our church was going. Immediately, I thought how? How God? My husband doesn’t have any vacation days left, so we would lose a weeks paycheck. Where would our kids go that they would feel comfortable and have fun. It seemed too big of a sacrifice for me and our family. We could just go on with our life and let someone else go, I am sure they will have enough people to get the work done.

For some reason when I said no to the trip, something inside of me knew I was making the wrong decision. So, I prayed and argued some more with God, but in the end I knew we had to go. I needed to put my trust in God to take care of us financially and to watch over my kids. When I told God yes, I had peace. Now, I still didn’t know how things would come together, but just by saying yes and telling others of what we were to do it finalized our commitment.

It was funny, all of a sudden, there were several people that asked my husband if he could finish their basement, siding for a house and other carpentry related things for different people. My husband is a carpenter, so this was so unexpected that we would be bombarded with work. It was hard to have him gone so much, but we both knew what we were working towards and so thankful for the extra money. My friend offered to take my oldest daughter and my mom volunteered to take my younger 2. It was really working out!

As good as everything was going, I was all of a sudden fearful to go. What if something happened to me and my husband or what if something happened to my kids and I wasn’t there? What if I wasn’t needed, or maybe I would get stuck on something I really don’t like to do? So I really had to battle with these emotions and again trust God. This week that I have spent in the Gulf Coast has been an experience. There have been ups and downs, but I can truthfully say that I am extremely glad that I came here. I was able to meet and work along side a wonderful family and help try to get their house in better repair. I have made a lasting friendship with a 14 year old girl, who reminds me of myself at her age. That alone has made this week awesome, however there is so many other amazing things happening, it would take too long to type. I can see God working in others lives and my own. I am so thankful to God for allowing me to have this opportunity to draw closer to Him and to others. He is good all the time!

Gina Long

Team 26 Wednesday work

We all had another VERY productive day. The final tally of Ohio people here is at 115, but there are also three other groups of up to 20 who are working in town this week so we are an obvious presence here with a population of 2700. Many jobs were completed today and people are starting new tasks tomorrow.

Everyone went on fun trips tonight. Some to Harry Potter, some out to restaurants, and the New Life group got a boat ride from the man who docks this boat next to their project house.
Jim Gaul, and the Westerville Schools group spent the day painting and cleaning. Some worked to build up the church building's electrical, plumbing, and drywall.
Gotta make your work fun...
Here's the group picture from the Westerville Schools group from the restaurant they ate at tonight.
Ms. Nancy who's house we are rebuilding turned up with Watermelon for the volunteers this afternoon. The temperatures have really been unbearable, but I have yet to hear anyone really complain or whine. I'm really impressed with the groups we have and feel immensely blessed to get to serve with them.
The King's house is coming along, but there is a lot of work left to do. More volunteers will work there tomorrow and Friday to try to finish as much as possible. We're hoping to raise some more funds to get replacement glass for windows that were broken during the storm.
South Dayton Church of Christ Flat cleared off the storm damaged house next to the park.
Matt Moon and the Minions have nearly completed the awning they've been designing and building all week.

Macey from the Sunbury United Methodist group paints trip with Timi who lives at their project house. 25% of the population is Vietnamese/Lao shin/Cambodian as the boat people after the war were settled here.

With this many people in camp, it's impossible to enumerate all the work we complete in a day each night. I can't reach all the people with cameras and stories are harder to come by, but keep checking back the rest of the week to share in our experience.

Team 26 Tuesday Update

Whew!!! It's Hot!!!

And busy!!! Really you can't understand either statement unless you are here. We have 26 concurrent job sites being worked. We've completed... I don't actually know.... A dozen or more with more coming online.

Some have been large rehabs of kitchens, bathrooms, painting, roofing, windows, walls, electrical, all in one structure and the progress on those after 2 days work has been incredible. Some have been tear downs and cleanup of properties so that rebuilding can even begin... 2 years after Katrina... Many have been small roof repairs, half roofs, some drywall, steps, painting, community cleanup, and other efforts.

Five jobs are helping the local Nazarene mission effort complete the work left over from their relief operation which is no longer receiving volunteers. The cooperation of the Body of Christ is incredible. People participating in these jobs are working through 5 different organizations (church, Servants Unite, Hilltop, Bayou Recovery, and the Nazarene group) to serve seamlessly. Not to mention the impressive cooperation we've gotten from the local government and other disaster relief orgs supporting the efforts here.

What an amazing work He has given us. Below are a few pictures from the last day's work:

Team 26 Monday Update

OOPS! The blog didn't happen last night. We did have 26 new sites yesterday and (as predicted) productivity was bad during the morning till we got all the new supplies and tools delivered that we missed in planning Sunday night. It was crazy busy, crazy hot, and crazy crazy for all of us.

I'll post more pics from the last two days this evening.

Team 26 Sunday

Every time I come down the fellowship hall at the newly dubbed, Hemley Road, Church of Christ (old Methodist building) fellowship hall is further along. It was crowded at church there this morning with many of our 130 volunteers in attendance.
Supplemental tents are added to the 100 person capacity Hilltop camp to shelter volunteers from the (2nd night in a row) tropical downpours that come out of nowhere.
Today was a free day for most of the crews to go sight seeing. This morning Sunbury UMC took their group picture at the dock by our camp.
Their T-shirts have a roster of all their group.
The Westerville Schools group spent the day at the beach. Pictures below is the South Wrestling "Bayou Smack Down!!! Sunday, Sunday Sunday!!!"
South Fencing Team...
South Sunscreen Club...
Hey Team 3 and 7 participants! Remember Sharon Oaks and Vicki and Tim Smallwood from South Dayton Church of Christ?
They get the pleasure of tearing down one of the last remaining, half Katrina demolished houses along the waterfront which happens to be right next to our camp. Today was shoveling and hauling debris from the area. Tomorrow is tying on a rope and pulling it the rest of the way down with some.... persuasive horsepower.
I spent the afternoon matching job assignments to the skills of the MANY construction leads we have in this team. It's very unusual to have so many experienced construction people in a group and that will make us very productive. Tomorrow, teams will be working 24 simultaneous sites!

A large group will be starting repairs on this 1800s home on the bayou to get the grandmother and 3 kids out of the camper and back in their home.
This place has a lot of character, charm, and a kewl veiw.
More updates tomorrow and through the week, so check back daily to keep track of us.

Team 26 Cruises Into the Bayou

Originally planned as Team 27, some consolidation makes this our 26th Katrina response team. Groups from Sunbury United Methodist Church, Westerville Schools, New Life Church in Canal Winchester, and South Dayton Church of Christ are arriving throughout the day in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. Actually 80% of them all arrived between 7:00 and 7:30 this evening.

I'm waiting for the last group as I write this and enjoying an offshore lightshow.

...And now as I come back to this posting I've been working on since 2:00 this afternoon, I've helped them set up their tents and get settled.

Tomorrow is church and sightseeing for the team. I hope to get back some pics of their adventures and have a few to post from our exploration the last couple of days. Then Monday it'll be everyone hard at work.

Keep watching all week for daily updates.

Prayers are requested for our safe travels, work for the week, and success at showing the people here they are cared for and not forgotten.

John McGuire

Update on our friend Brendan

Friends,

I hope this finds you all in good health and spirits! As for here in St Bernard we are coming right along. It has been a long 22 months and i am sad to say that my run has come to an end. As of June 1 i had to stop with the volunteer operations through Hilltop and IRC. Financially i just cant do it anymore and have to go back to work. It has been a fun 2 years and i don't regret one minute of it. We had fun, helped a lot of people, and started something that will continue on for years to come. I am honored to have met and worked with each and every one of you. As for me i am currently working for the American Red Cross out of Washington, DC but stationed here in Chalmette as a Community Recovery Specialists. This is a temporary program started by the Red Cross after Katrina and wont last long so in the nature of helping people and construction i am in the interview process with the St Bernard Long Term Recovery Committee for the position of rebuild coordinator for the parish. So wish me luck with that endeavor. And since i am use to pretty much working seven days a week while you guys were here i am also trying to speed up the process at Home Depot of getting material and will be starting there next week part time. So next time you guys come down i will try and speed up the loading process for you!

I will still be involved with volunteer efforts here and in New Orleans, but instead of being committed to one group i will have access to dozens of groups. So if you find yourself needing a place to go let me know. If and when i finish my home here in Chalmette I will be able to keep groups of 15-20 in my home so i will keep you all updated on that.

Once again thank you all for your dedication and patience while you all have come down here to help us. I think about and tell stories of our time together at most all of my presentations and it seems like just yesterday you all were here.

Take care and if any of you are in the area drop me a line and well have lunch!

Thank you all

Brendan Hendrix

985-517-1581

2304 creely dr

Chalmette, La 70043