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Published: April 5th 2006
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Team Members:
Bill Dugar, Team Leader
Ramon Albino
Craig Nechvatal
Victor Amaro
Dawn Prevastke
Traci Monahan
Kathryn Larson
James Hilton
Maggie Hake
Rick Bailey, Keeper of the tools
I wanted to write a separate Blog article about our team, Black 12.
When we arrived on Sunday afternoon, the only people I knew previously were Amybeth Maurer, Susan Smith, Rick Green, Bill Dugar, Ramon Albino, and Brittany Hicks. One of the first things we had to do was to determine who was to be part of the two teams. So, Susan, Rick, Amybeth and I sat down and started writing names on the two lists. First thing we had to do was to select a team leader and a tool person for each team. Rick and I decided we’d be the tool people, we just had to make sure we started with the right amount of tools and finished at the end of each day with the same amount. Well, that didn’t always work out but the next day we were able to find the tools misplaced in the muck the previous day.
Monday morning was difficult at best, it seemed a bit disorganized at
The Young Ladies
(From left, Brittney, Kathy, Emilie, and Dawn) the camp, regarding busses and tool trucks.
Rick and I met the tool truck at 6:30am and arrived at the work site around 8:15am, a good ten minutes after the rest of the team members had arrived at the worksite. Since there were very few local residents at the camp, it was difficult at best to find homes on streets that had no signs. The rest of the week went better because we’d found the street on Monday.
The first day James got stuck by a nail, in the leg, and had to go to the clinic to have it checked and get a Tetanus shot. After that, James opted to help Amybeth and Spencer at the Soup Kitchen.
Dawn and Kathryn were already good friends and worked together very well, doing whatever was assigned by Bill. Oh, I do have to say this: Wednesday, Kathryn had her hair cut, this brought out the Kathy in her. :-) Once she had the haircut, which was a very stylish and a cute cut for her, she and Dawn opened up and conversed more with the team. We decided the haircut
Traci
(Traci with Eder and Rick Green in the background) affected Kathy in the opposite way that Sampson's haircut affected him. :-) Both young ladies worked very hard and long hours, either shoveling muck, emptying wheelbarrows, sweeping, or pulling drywall off of the nails in the walls.
Maggie and Traci became our demolition team. When it came time to remove the drywall, watch out!!! These two found their calling on a cleanup crew. If you ever need to have drywall removed, I guarantee this is your best team for it. :-) Also, these two became the search and rescue team for the valuables that may be in some of the rooms of the homes. The homeowners had to leave in such a hurry that they had no time to get any of their possessions out of the homes.
As for the rest of us, we were working wherever we were needed. We, Victor, Craig, Ramon, James, Bill, and I, took out most of the heavy furniture, appliances, mud, carpets, and any other debris. The young ladies did their fair share of moving heavy things as well. For the most part, the ceilings were already down from the sheer weight of the water soaked drywall and insulation. In a
few places in the homes, we did have to remove some of the drywall and insulation that managed to remain attached on the ceilings.
Well, Amybeth wanted to see what we were doing so she, Spencer, James, and Courtney drove to the site that afternoon, before the busses arrived. This actually helped us out because we then had transportation back to camp. The four of them rode back on the bus and we kept the van.
Bill, Victor, Ramon, Traci, Maggie and I stayed from our team and Rick Green and Eder stayed from Black 11. Rick G. And Eder worked on their home, across the street.
Remember, these folks had already worked from 8am to 2:30pm in the 85 degree Louisiana heat and volunteered to stay and help get some more work done on the homes. The only room we had left to gut, at about 5:45pm was the master bath. Well, it was full of seven month old water and muck, we weren’t going to drain it. I went down the street to find a board or door to cover the tub.
Wednesday morning we finished our first house and began the work on
"See-Food"
Happy Birthday Jenna
April 2, 1986 the second home. That afternoon, I asked Black 12 if they would volunteer to stay and get more work done so we’d be able to finish by Friday afternoon; no one had to stay.
Bill managed to get the bus driver to volunteer his own time and come and pick us up once we decided we’d worked enough. This bus driver also brought us lunch on Wednesday, Shrimp Po-Boy sandwiches; they were great!!!
I have to mention that Maggie Hake is a college student in Oregon and a first responder for the Red Cross. She hopped a plane and spent her spring break at Camp Premier working with us for Habitat for Humanity.
I have to also include a little about our bus captain, Jenna who hails from LaCrosse, Wisconsin . I taught Jenna an old family tradition, I think it was originally discovered by the Green family :-).
Tuesday, walking down the street a man appeared out of the door of the first home we cleaned, it turned out to be the owner, Frank. He was there looking for some more of their valuables. In particular, a cross that was a wedding gift. Well, Black 12, dropped what they were doing at the new house and we began sifting through the rubble looking for the cross. Ramon had found the cross and placed it with the valuables we’d found earlier in the week. We can only assume someone thought it valuable and took it, it wasn’t anywhere to be found.
We did have the opportunity to talk to Frank and he thanked us for what we did to help his family. It was difficult for Frank and his family to spend time at their home since they were now living in temporary housing in Slidell, Louisiana. Frank stopped by on his way home from work at the Super Dome.
Remember, these folks rode out the hurricane and thought they were home free; it was after the hurricane that the levees were breeched and the flooding began in the parish .
One evening, after showering, we left camp to go to the nearest Wal-Mart, so some could buy more socks and other things. We took the “Ferry-cross-the-Mississippi,” I know, not the right song :-). Anyway, we entered an entirely different world.
After leaving the ferry and going over the southern levee, we entered the southeastern part of Algiers. In this area, no homes were flooded and the major damage was due to high winds that took off shingles or sections of shingles on the roofs. All the businesses were open, there was electricity and street lights, homes were occupied, and there was new construction of homes. A ten minute ride got us to a community just like Elgin is right now.
Even though we were in a different world, the folks were just as friendly and thankful that we were there helping their neighbors across the river, to their north.
We drove back to the ferry and returned to our devastated world and shared or experience with the other folks that didn’t go shopping.
I can’t say it enough on how proud I am of the students that spent their spring break in a tent, sleeping on cots, and working so hard to help cleanup St. Bernard Parish.
Lastly, we left the New Orleans area on Saturday, the temperature was 85 degrees, we arrived at the school at 7am, Sunday morning to 35 degree weather.
Thank you again, Black 12; I look forward to sharing this type of experience with you again.
Sincerely,
Rick Bailey, the tool guy
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ECC Alternative Spring Break
Amybeth Maurer
Almost correct
I was stuck in the leg on the first day, but I did come back the second day (Tuesday) to continue, and we actually almost finished the house. I got sick (unrelated, I think, to the Tetnus or nail stick) Tuesday and decided the next morning (Wednesday) waiting for the bus that I had better stay behind. I then went to the soup kitchen to help serve meals. James Hilton