New Orleans Volume 3, 4 and 5!!

Yes, I know. You can yell at me now, I can take it. But I have a good reason to have not posted the remaining reports until now. That is I was soooooooooooo exhausted from sanding, painting (well priming) and ripping up floors that the last thing I wanted to do at 9 at night was think! So please accept my sincere apologies. Here are the updates!

Well Wednesday, Thursday and Friday consisted of the same tasks as before. We began priming the house on Wednesday while Leanne and Dennis continued sanding and adding more mud to the already indecent amount that was currently on the walls. Of course, this was after Leanne took off the 3 inches of mud so that Dennis could add the final coat. Three of us went off to a different house to install cabinets, so that left 8 of us to finish up in the shotgun house. We finished by Thursday afternoon.



On Friday, since we finished early on the shotgun house, we headed to a different house that was right behind one of the canals that broke. Forgive me please, I don't remember which one it was. This house ended up being placed on cinderblocks to prevent further flooding should an event of Katrina's magnitude strike again. However, judging from the water line on the house, it seems that this area also received 6-8 feet of water before it was all said and done.



We spent the morning here pulling up the original subflooring. Boy was that fun! Destruction has an odd way of being much more fun than construction! :) Don't ask me why, it just is.













And last, but not least, here is a photo of most of the crew. This crew was the one that worked in the houses.




Linda's phone-dialing skills have been given a workout, as she's been spending most of her time contacting clients. She's heard some really heartening stories as well as some sad tales. Over and over again she has heard how much people appreciate the work of the volunteers who come to help them. It is good to know that we really do make a difference in the lives of people.

Peggy and Joyce served us just wonderful meals. They received a much deserved break on both Wednesday and Thursday nights as the church provided the meals that night. Neither one was as good as the food that Peggy and Joyce cooked up for us!!

We all arrived home safe and sound on Saturday evening. We were all exhausted but gratified by the experience of helping to return two more families to their homes. There is much to be done still, and we are looking at again going back next spring.