Good evening. We're all tired after working our second day here in Chalmette. I've uploaded some pictures for your review with captions explaining them.
This is most of the Columbus contingent at University Church of Christ where we stayed in Tuscaloosa on our way down.
And we got down here to find that there is still quite a bit to be done before this place will be anywhere near what someone would call normal.
Still, there's been a lot of progress. Traffic is heavier here than it was in the spring. Many houses are finished with people living in them compared to only a few then. And more businesses have opened up. Life is slowly returning to normal, but quite a few homes look like the one above, or have been gutted, but the lawns cut.
A lot of the reason many people have been able to move back into their homes is due to volunteer effort. I stopped by St. Bernard Project to check on Liz and Zack who run that group who we worked for last Christmas. Here's their present tally from the sign on the wall:
They're going gangbusters and have helped a lot of people get back in their homes.
Churches are rebuilding and opening up too. I found a couple of new churches along Judge Perez Drive over by Aribi. I also snapped this pic of the newly rebuilt and expanded Chalmette Church of Christ by Home Depot:
The part of the building in the foreground is the new addition and the part to the right is the old auditorium where Team 7 nailed down sheathing and covered the exterior with tar paper in January '05. The foundation for this new addition was laid in April, but I was amazed and how nicely completed it is.
Yet... Across the street at the washed out apartments, repairs are moving slowly. Some are done and one resident I talked with had just moved in last week.
Here's our team at devo. John Chilcote from Westerville Christian put these together for this week and has done a great job of highlighting biblical exortations and relating them to our work here. This space serves as our cafeteria space and common room here in Chalmette Middle School.
I got this great sunset over New Orleans from the high I-510 bridge last night too.
There have been a lot of volunteers working on the community center clearing out old debris and getting it ready for an open house this afternoon.
The space was a bowling alley, but The Gathering has leased it to set up their community center, daycare, and church.
The Nashville group (Richard Swint who has cooked for us so many times on our overnight stays) has been wiring and plumbing Todd's house. Todd will be the community center director.
This view of an abandoned school is out his back yard. The neighborhood (
Charles Court in Chalmette) has lots of evidence of a wave of water like the caved in wall in this shot.
This is a "house for sale" two lots around the court from Todd's
And this is across the court, two houses over on the other side.
All fairly normal in these neighborhoods.
The Worthington Christian crew have been working on Matt Woodward's house. Matt's the guy holding his son leading the prayer when the guys finished today.
He'll be the preacher at the new church and his family is already living here in the house.
The floorplan for the building we are working on looks like this:
And here is a shot of the building at the beginning of work along with a drawing of what the completed center will look like:
Aaron Johnson has been my primary contact for our work here. He's been organizing us volunteers, finding work, and making sure everything is in place. Matt says they are praying hard for someone to come manage the volunteer side here so Aaron can focus on the rest of his job. He's here with his family in a rehabbed house as well after living in the Crossroads building while his daughter was due.
How awesome is it that these people and others here on staff have picked up their families and left their previous lives behind to start a new church in a place they haven't known before and on the faith that God is calling them and the community here will become a new part of the Body by their commitments. What an impressive group of missionaries to America.
Tomorrow is our last full day working here and there's a lot more work lined up. I'll try to get you another update when we get back from dinner in "the Quarter" tomorrow night before we head home on Friday.
John McGuire
