well, my team got pulled from our assignment in florida and we are currently living in a tent city in biloxi, mississippi. we will be doing disaster relief for the next five weeks, putting our departure back to charleston at march 1. we will be doing a random assortment of jobs including but not limited to case managemnet, construction, food prep and distribution. this area was pretty much destroyed by katrina and i'm sure that it will be a tough and rewarding project.
we are living, as i said before, in a tent city--this literally means tents. picture circus tents with plywood floors, and 34 bunkbeds. we have about 10 port-a-potties and 10 portable showers that we share with anywhere from 200-300 volunteers. it's going to be a stretching experience, but a good one. picture it as an summer camp for adults. :)
continue to keep this area in your prayers. so many people lost everything.
i won't be able to write very often because there is only one computer for everyone here. snail mail is great! :)
grace and peace.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
hanging around with habitat
well, so far, we haven't been accomplishing too much with habitat. actually, I take that back--we have been getting things done, we just have too many people for everyone to be doing something. for instance, today we worked on three houses, which may sound like a lot, but when you have 23 people, there just isn't enough work for everyone. what I did today was finish a shingling project that we had started and almost completed yesterday. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty scary being on this roof. the slant was extreme and the gravel from the shingles had a tendency to be slippery...but I conquered my fears and ended up doing a fantastic job (if i do say so myself).
the people we are working with are super nice. there are two people with americorps national direct (look it up on the website if you want more info www.americorps.org) and then an older man who is originally from new jersey (totally has an accent) and has a quite a bit of knowledge that he enjoys sharing with us. good times.
we are hoping to have some more work for us to do starting tomorrow. the reason that we haven't had as much is that the weren't expecting us to accomplish as much as we did in such a short period of time...the beauty of having a large group of people who are committed to "getting it done." tomorrow we are going to be split up into smaller groups and we will be working on three different houses in different stages of constrution. it should b pretty awesome and we will also be working with more regular habitat volunteers (old people that are as cute as can be).
all for now.
grace and peace.
the people we are working with are super nice. there are two people with americorps national direct (look it up on the website if you want more info www.americorps.org) and then an older man who is originally from new jersey (totally has an accent) and has a quite a bit of knowledge that he enjoys sharing with us. good times.
we are hoping to have some more work for us to do starting tomorrow. the reason that we haven't had as much is that the weren't expecting us to accomplish as much as we did in such a short period of time...the beauty of having a large group of people who are committed to "getting it done." tomorrow we are going to be split up into smaller groups and we will be working on three different houses in different stages of constrution. it should b pretty awesome and we will also be working with more regular habitat volunteers (old people that are as cute as can be).
all for now.
grace and peace.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Happy Birthday to Me! he he
It's official... I am 24--yikers!
Last night I went out with some teammates to watch the Patriots v. Bronco's game at the local bar that is 2 mins. away from our apartments. We were the only people our age at the bar--shocking. Welcome to Florida!
When we got back, I was surprised to find my apartment decorated with streamers and balloons--how awesome is my team?
This morning, my roommates made me breakfast and then we watched some Friends gag reels. Also they gave me a crown, earings and a ribbon that says birthday girl. Seriously, I'm wearing it as I type.
Yesterday was our first day of work. We repaired 9 homes that were damaged by Wilma. It was pretty simple work, but some of it took longer than I was expecting. It was a good first day and our work supervisors are super nice.
All for now... I'm off to enjoy my birthday! Yea!
Last night I went out with some teammates to watch the Patriots v. Bronco's game at the local bar that is 2 mins. away from our apartments. We were the only people our age at the bar--shocking. Welcome to Florida!
When we got back, I was surprised to find my apartment decorated with streamers and balloons--how awesome is my team?
This morning, my roommates made me breakfast and then we watched some Friends gag reels. Also they gave me a crown, earings and a ribbon that says birthday girl. Seriously, I'm wearing it as I type.
Yesterday was our first day of work. We repaired 9 homes that were damaged by Wilma. It was pretty simple work, but some of it took longer than I was expecting. It was a good first day and our work supervisors are super nice.
All for now... I'm off to enjoy my birthday! Yea!
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Heading down to Florida..... AGAIN!
Well, tomorrow morning @ 6am, my team and I will be heading down to Florida, again, to begin our six week project with Habitat for Humanity. It won't be a typical project--we will be doing exterior repair for all the homes that were affected by Hurricane Wilma. For those of you who don't know much about Wilma, here's some 411:
Hurricane Wilma Category 5 hurricane
Hurricane Wilma at record intensity southeast of the Yucatán Peninsula on October 19, 2005.
Formed October 15, 2005
Dissipated October 25, 2005
Highest winds 175 mph (280 km/h) sustained
Lowest pressure 882 mbar (hPa) (Lowest pressure ever recorded in an Atlantic hurricane)
Damages $18-22 billion (2005 USD)
Fatalities 28 direct, 32 indirect
Areas affected Jamaica, Haiti, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua, Belize, Yucatán Peninsula, Florida, Bahamas, Atlantic Canada
There is a ton of work to be done in the Fort Myers area as it was one of the ares most heavily hit by Wilma. Although Katrina and Rita really caught the nations attention because of so many other contributing factors, there was extensive damage to parts of Florida because of Wilma and unfortunately, not many people are aware of the destruction in that part of the country. I think sometimes the media chooses to focus on the "hot topics"--race and poverty, which are valid and should be discussed. However, there are a lot of people in Florida who have been suffering for a long time because of the storms of the past two years. Whether or not you agree with their choice of residency isn't the point--continue to pray and support (if you can) those who have lost so much to things beyond their control.
In other news, Gold Rush has taken a hit this past weekend. Our teammate, my dear friend, Whitney Petters has left NCCC (personal reasons). She will be missed terribly and it will not be the same without her.
Finally, I am throwing it out there that I will be turning 24 this Sunday. I'm a little freaked out about it (not going to lie). So please, if you remember and decide to give me a shout out, please avoid the following words: old, grandma, senile, history, can't, ancient and the like.... :) I realize that it's not the end of the world, but I'm just a little sensitive!!!!
Grace and Peace
Hurricane Wilma Category 5 hurricane
Hurricane Wilma at record intensity southeast of the Yucatán Peninsula on October 19, 2005.
Formed October 15, 2005
Dissipated October 25, 2005
Highest winds 175 mph (280 km/h) sustained
Lowest pressure 882 mbar (hPa) (Lowest pressure ever recorded in an Atlantic hurricane)
Damages $18-22 billion (2005 USD)
Fatalities 28 direct, 32 indirect
Areas affected Jamaica, Haiti, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua, Belize, Yucatán Peninsula, Florida, Bahamas, Atlantic Canada
There is a ton of work to be done in the Fort Myers area as it was one of the ares most heavily hit by Wilma. Although Katrina and Rita really caught the nations attention because of so many other contributing factors, there was extensive damage to parts of Florida because of Wilma and unfortunately, not many people are aware of the destruction in that part of the country. I think sometimes the media chooses to focus on the "hot topics"--race and poverty, which are valid and should be discussed. However, there are a lot of people in Florida who have been suffering for a long time because of the storms of the past two years. Whether or not you agree with their choice of residency isn't the point--continue to pray and support (if you can) those who have lost so much to things beyond their control.
In other news, Gold Rush has taken a hit this past weekend. Our teammate, my dear friend, Whitney Petters has left NCCC (personal reasons). She will be missed terribly and it will not be the same without her.
Finally, I am throwing it out there that I will be turning 24 this Sunday. I'm a little freaked out about it (not going to lie). So please, if you remember and decide to give me a shout out, please avoid the following words: old, grandma, senile, history, can't, ancient and the like.... :) I realize that it's not the end of the world, but I'm just a little sensitive!!!!
Grace and Peace
Friday, January 06, 2006
Back in Chucktown
Hey all! I'm back in somewhat cold Chucktown (Charleston) gearing up for my next project. Yesterday was spent in meetings and today we did a local project with Goodwill--we worked in their PC recovery area. I personally stripped apart computers. I had no idea what anything was, but I was able to place it all in the right bins! :)
Last night, a few of my teammates and I watched the premiere of Dancing with the Stars. It was fantastic! I'm pulling for Jerry Rice--Yup, he's on it! :) Do yourself a favor and watch, you won't regret it! :)
Other than that, I'm just dreading turning 24... I don't know why, but it sounds old (sorry to all my readers who happen to be older than that--I hope you understand!) I think a lot of it is the fact that I don't feel like an adult--I'm still just a kid inside and I don't wanna grow up (I'm a TOYS R US kid...sing along if you know it). Hopefully I'll get over it soon and be able to enjoy my birthday, even if I'm in hot & humid Florida.
All for now, more to come sometime soon!
PS. For all those I was able to see over break--it was AWESOME to see you and thank you for taking the time to hang out with me! Even if if was for a short while, it meant sooooo much to me. You'll never know.
For everyone I wasn't able to see--I miss you! I hope that we can see each other as soon as I get back in June!
Grace and Peace.
Last night, a few of my teammates and I watched the premiere of Dancing with the Stars. It was fantastic! I'm pulling for Jerry Rice--Yup, he's on it! :) Do yourself a favor and watch, you won't regret it! :)
Other than that, I'm just dreading turning 24... I don't know why, but it sounds old (sorry to all my readers who happen to be older than that--I hope you understand!) I think a lot of it is the fact that I don't feel like an adult--I'm still just a kid inside and I don't wanna grow up (I'm a TOYS R US kid...sing along if you know it). Hopefully I'll get over it soon and be able to enjoy my birthday, even if I'm in hot & humid Florida.
All for now, more to come sometime soon!
PS. For all those I was able to see over break--it was AWESOME to see you and thank you for taking the time to hang out with me! Even if if was for a short while, it meant sooooo much to me. You'll never know.
For everyone I wasn't able to see--I miss you! I hope that we can see each other as soon as I get back in June!
Grace and Peace.
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