It's up to me now, turn on the bright lights

10 points to the first person who identifies that song quote.

Wow, 2 posts in one week ... I know it's a pleasant surprise for everyone!!!

Today I am working in the BSL Public Library, doing all sorts of admin work (I opened my big mouth and offered ... oops). It could be worse: I am in the the AC (it's in the 80's this week, and raining off and on), I am wearing real, clean, non-previously-worn-clothing, I have not pulled a single nail all day, and best of all: NO GNATS!!! Today, I set up databases of a) houses Disaster Coprs has worked on, and b) contact info for all of our volunteers. The rest of my assignments include researching material donors, sending thank-you letters, and emailing all previous volunteers to beg for money. Yes, solicitations here I come!

But, then again, I bashed nothing with a sledge hammer all day long :(

Speaking of sledge hammers:

For the past few days, we've been working on gutting the bottom half of a rather large house in Waveland. The house belongs to a family who owns a newly re-opened barbeque restaurant in town (which meant free BBQ lunch for 3 days -- SWEET). Working on their house put some things into an interesting and important perspective for me, and I thought I'd share.

Seeing the house immediately revealed that this family was in a tax bracket waaayyy above those of most other people for whom we'd worked. It was two stories, and had at least 5 bedrooms. There were 3 bathrooms on the first floor alone. There was a deck in the front yard as well as one in the back. This irked me: if they could afford contractors, and it seemed that they easily could, then why were we spending our time helping them for free?

In several minutes, that question was answered. The home owner came by about 10 minutes after we did, to explain the work he wanted us to do. First, he was suffering from a crippling case of arthritis, to the point where could not walk easily, and had no use of any of his fingers. In conversation, he explained that he, his wife, and his 5 sons (one of whom had taken a leave of absence from college for this) had spent all of their time fixing up the restaurant so that it could re-open. He mentioned the ongoing coversations with his insurance and mortgage providers, as the house had only been purchased 4 years ago and was not paid off. And finally, he said this: "You know, my wife and I have just been so depressed over losing all of this that we could barely bring ourselves to come in here and start cleaning. What got us in here was that y'all were coming to gut it out."

So, in 10 minutes, I realized that the size of the house by no means determines the size of the need. Yes, the work we did in there could have been done by someone else. But it seems like our group and his connection to it (he knew one of our volunteers) may have helped him in a way that a paid contractor could not have.

It also made me think about the real mental effects of the storm. When you're pulling nails out of studs and pulling windows out of frames, it's easy to think of things mechanically: first remove the fixtures, then the trims, then the drywall, insulation, and nails, and then scrape up the floor; sweep and repeat in the next room. But his comment put a different spin on each job. Each house is a story and it is a person. And we can only guess, in most cases, about how that person is doing beyond the state of their walls and ceilings. Now, we aren't trained to take care of those problems. Hopefully, somebody is.

OK, and now a fun story to lighten the mood before I sign off:

In this same Waveland house, we found some interesting items in the drywall. These things were INSIDE the walls, meaning only the people who built the place could have put them there. So, I have to wonder what the builders were doing on their lunch breaks when I tell you that I found the following 2 items:

1. A packet of lubricant
2. $5 cash

... one can only wonder.

Alrighty kids, it's about to rain again and our cook is gone for the weekend, so I need to go rustle up some dry food.

Have a fabulous weekend!!

Cori :)

The work train keeps a-rollin'

Hi Kids!!!

Ah, another day another dollar ... minus the dollar part :). Since my last post, I have had some experience hanging sheetrock and insulation, learning to mud a house (which, as it turns out, I am 100% terrible at mudding), have had a day off, and today, it was back to gutting.

Krista arrived on Sunday (my day off), and I got to have lunch with her, my mom, and Michael. I think she's enjoying her southern experience so far, which has been chock full of accents, mud, bugs (the mosquitos have finally arrived), fire barrels, and of course good food.

And now for my ridiculous, only-in-the-south story for the day:

For the past 4 or 5 days, we've been working on the re-vuild process in a home in Pearlington, MS. The homeowner and her daughter have been there a few of the days, helping out where they could and bringing us King Cake. The homeowner told us this story a few mornings ago. She knew an elderly woman who lived in New Orleans East, in a large 2 story house. She said she wanted only ohing from her home: a jewelry box on the second floor, which she thought would be abouve the flood waters. She sent in someone to look for it 1 week after the storm, only to find her house had been looted and her jewelry box, full of family heirlooms, was gone. So, later, the family goes in to work on the house. They go out to tbe backyard and drain the pool, and found the jewelry box sitting there at the bottom of the pool. And what did they find just next to the box?

The person who stole it.

It seems that, in wading through the flood waters, he didn't notice the pool, slipped in, and didn't make it back up.

So there it is, my ridiculous story for today.

OK, off to dinner ... tonight it's fried catfish. yum!!!

Cori :)

Gnats: The Newest Craze!

Or, I should say, the newest thing to DRIVE ME CRAZY!!! Yes, gnats do bite, and they swarm, and they make big, red itchy welts that are only dried by by ammonia, and the only thing that even begins to ward them off is not deet, is not bug spray or Skin So Soft ... it's vanilla scented body spray. The pharmacist this morning confirmed this, which had been previously a rumor. Now we all smell like warm vanilla fantasy. Well, I suppose it could be worse. For the women.

I smell like Nicole Witkov!! :)

Anyway, the jobs continue to be both challenging and rewarding. Today, we hung sheetrock and insulation in a house that Disaster Corps had previously gutted, cleaned, and re-wired for electricity. All agreed on how niced it was to be there fopr a house that turned the corner from mucky to something that is approaching a live-able status.

We have been doing lots of jobs recently in the nearby town of Pearlington, MS (for those who know the area, it's just over the Pearl River from Slidell, LA). It's a very small town of only about 700 people, and there is both a need and lack of help there.

Both there and in BSL and neighboring Waveland, MS, we've been transitioning out of the gutting business and in to two other areas: salvaging wood and supplies for Disaster Corps: acquiring sheetrock and insulation. So, another longer-term volunteer and I have been asked to spend a few days a week soliciting material donations from both larger corporations and smaller, somewhat local businesses (not too local, obviously, but in unaffected-yet-close places like Baton Rouge and Mobile). So!! If any of you know any business willingot donate this, or know anyone who woulod be willignto buy some of this for the organization ... CALL ME!! Or email me, or contact ANYONE listed on the DC website (listed in the right-hand column of this blog) and we'll chatr details. Remember, Disaster Corps is a 501 (c) (3) organization and your donation is tax-deductible :).

Here is what we need:

Sheetrock (Any kind will do)
Insulation (Again, any kind and any color is A-OK)
Respiraitor masks (both for insulation and for mold)
Any kind of food - we are expanding apparently. We do have a fridge, so any kind of bulk-type food is perfect.
Lots of freaking Warm Vanilla Fantasy Spray

So, that's the work for now. It's in transition in the moment - both nerve racking and quite exciting.

OK, a quick word about the make-up of camp before my dinner gets cold:

Right now there are 11 volunteers.

4 are here for a week from South Jersey nand actually know what they're doing.
2 are here for 2 (maybe 3, if we're lucky) weeks, and are a retired couple from SF. He's a liscensed electrician.
1 is here long-term, and is retired from Oregon
Another is here long-term, is a trained chef, and that's all the info I'm at liberty to disclose
1 is here for at least 3 months, is from Kentucky, and lives about 20 minutes from the Viacord lab
There's the Disaster Corps coordinator on the groud, who's here for the long haul
And then there's me: a chesty southern Jew from Boston who is finding usage of sledge hammers more and more appealing.

2 just left thiws week:
A kid from Oregon who ahd been here for months after biking from Washington State to Guatemela after quitting his job of being IT at a law firm
And Dan the Man, aka Gobo, aka Pants, aka Class Act ... who became known around here only as "Slim."

We all live on cots in tents, which is comfortable enough considering it keeps the bugs out. We have working toiltes, sinks and showers (Emily: things have WAY improved since the days of Kibbutz!!!! There are actual shower heads!). We have a wokring kitchen, including a shared fridge and a newly acquired (read: donated) oven and range. We have wireless internet (for a 10 foot radius), And we have at least obe outlet in eazch tent. We have a burn barrell that we all sit around at night. We have a bar up the road that hass catfish poboys, Abita Amber, darts and pool. All in all, we have all the makikngs of a wonderful (temporary) home.

Well, we have everything save a friggin' bug spray that works.

OK kids, I think my dinner is officially cold, so I am going to wrap this thing up. Give me a call sometime! I have lots of cell phone minutes to spare this month :)

Goodnight!


Cori :)

It's Day 5 of work, and boy are my arms tired!

Hello!!!

I just finished my fifth day of work here and yes, my arms are quite tired. I have had the opportunity to do all sorts of different kinds of jobs in my first week here; easy ones and hard ones.

The Jobs

For the first day and a half, I did the following: scraped linoleum off poured concrete floors. That's it. Me, a scraper, a heat gun in some cases, and tons of glue. Disaster Corps, the organizaiton with whom I'm volunteering, is currently involved in mostly demolition work. We go in to homes which have been deemed structurally sound and therefore able to be rebuilt, and we gut the insides. The special thing Disaster Corps does is that we work with the home owners in the gutting process, so that we can salvage any valuables that we may find. So, the last leg in most of these gutting jobs - after the homes have been cleaned of debris, sheet rock, insulation, everything from light fixtures to stary nails in baseboards - we pull up floors. So my crew was assigned to finish up a few houses, which consisted mostly of scraping linoleum and cleaning insulation. Let me implore you all now: please think twice before installing thin off-white linoleum in your homes. And let me doubly implore you not to use entire buckets of glue whilst installing said floor.

After using several muscles I never knew I had, I got to move on to some different jobs. Yesterday, I and the rest of the Disaster Corps team went to a house that, though it had been lifted off of it's foundation and turned 90 degrees, was deemed able to be re-set and structurally OK. In addition, the house was some kind of hisytoric landmark, and was holding many antiques that both the city of Bay St. Louis and the nephew of the homeowner were interested in saving. So, the crew went in to the house, which had not been entered since the day of the hurricane. Needless to say, it was pretty nasty: it took an hour to clear a path into the rooms where we were going to work. We removed an overturned fridge (complete with petrified eggs and jars full of unknowable items), cabinets full of sheets and clothes that were still waterlogged, mattress and beds that ripped to shreds upon trying to lift them. There were roach families, rat families, and something that smelled too much like cottage cheese to make me ever want to eat cottage cheese again. But, between noon and 5 pm, with shovels, wheelbarrows, chainsaws (no they did not let me use a chainsaw), and anything else usable, we cleaned out the kitchen, living room and one bedroom. And, in the process, we were able to save 5 of a set of 6 antique chairs, a chest of drawers, a bed frame, and several knick knacks (the entire house was in shambles, and yet there was a teapot with its lid. It's unbelieveable).

Today, I spent my morning with another group who is helping one guy rebuild his house by taking salvagable materials from houses that will be demolished - apparently Disaster Corps is thinking of helping them expand this idea.

This afternoon, I and 2 others went to a house that fared OK (it took on 5 feet of water, but was brick, so is being cleaned out and renovated). The woman in the house, Debbie, turned her home into a distribution center for many months because, as she said, "It's what I could do." We were packing up her stuff to move to a bigger distribution center at the camp where we're staying, to make the distribution more centralized. And, though the job was easy, clean and without mold masks, she had an interesting story to say the least. She evacuated, but her sister in New Orlenas did not. In trying to save her 17 (17!!) chiuauas, she was killed in teh flood. Her nephew made it, however, by holding on in a tree for 3 days. He didn't learn about his mother until the day of her funeral.

I and the other newer person were blown away by the story. The veteran with us said, "You get used ot those after a while."

The things you see here are unbelieveable and mostly undescribable. I took a drive down the road bnby the beach yesterday. It was just destruction followed by more destruction for the entire length of the rad. There was a desk chair between 2 uprooted trees, blankets wrapped up in tree branches, stop signs wrapped around the poles behind them. There were boats 3 block up the road, which had been docked in the water. The most striking and telling image to me were the blocks upon blocks of concrete steps and landings that just led to nothing.

So, regardless of the job, be it dirty, sweaty, clean, easy, short or long, it is helpful on a daily basis to know that, in a small way, we're helping people who otherwise wouldn't find help.

Other than the copius amount of gnats (did you know gnats bite? did you know they don't respond to bug spray?), the camp experience has been a positive one. In fact, one of our fellow volunteers just happens to be a clasically trained french chef, and just popped his head in to my tent to let me know that the boudin and texas bbq he just cooked up will be ready in 10 minutes. So, I'll have to post about the camp itself next week. For now, off to what promises to to be a delicious dinner!!

I lookj forward to everyone's comments!! And if any of you have any other questions about Bay Saint Louis, the gulf coast, or Disaster Corps, just let me know!

Cori :)

The saga begins

So the saga begins ... with a travel saga!

Here's the story:

I was at work until about 5:45 on Thursday afternoon. I left and took a cab to the airport (I didn't want to be on the T with those big bags during rush hour). My flight to JFK wasn't until 8pm, but since I was flying standby on my friend Eddie's jetBlue buddy pass, I wanted to check in as early as I could. I got there at 6:15 ... and the check-in agent validates all my neuroses by saying to me, "Oh, you'll be lucky to get on this flight!"

I proceeded to my gate, where the gate agent was indeed very nice, and explained that 1) all paying passengers would get seats before me, since they paid and I didn't, and that 2) there was also a 9:15 flight, on which he promised me I'd be if I missed the 8pm. But, luckily for my samity and the sanity of those sitting near me, I got on the 8pm flight. I was the LAST person to make it, and apparently there were other people on my standby level who checked in after me and didn't make it. Good thing I was being neurotic!

Anyway, I must say that the flight was very pleasant - I watched Mythbusters on DirectTV. I also must say that EVERYone at jetBlue was SO friendly! I recommended the airline; the customer service training given to the employees is very apparent.

Eddie, being the fabulously supportive friend that he is, came and met me right at the airport. Since he lives very close to the airport and works for the airline, we took a free shuttle to his apartment. We went for dinner and a quick beer down the street from his place, then came back in. We got to catch up on each others lives for a few minutes - all in all, a nice evening.

So, since Eddie works for the jetBlue corporate office, he brought up my flight info to see my status ... and, upon checking it out, said that he thought my chances of getting to Louisiana before SUNDAY were looking slim (!!!!!!!!!!!). So, he made a phone call, and said he would fly down with me to boost my status. I guess, as a buddy pass holder flyng alone, I'm status level 4 (out of 5). But, if I am a BP holder flying WITH a jetBlue crew member, I become status 3. He put himself on the flight with me (he's still approved as an "inflight crew member," meaning he can sit in one of those jump seats that the flight attendants sit in, so he doesn't take up a "real" seat). He told me that, with my new status, my chances of making the flight went from improbable to possible. Eddie wins the best friend ever award!!

We woke up at 3:30 am, caught the 4am shuttle to JFK, and I was in line to be checked in at 4:30 (the earliest they start checking people). After the check-in, I got to go hang out in the flight attendant lounge ... that only crew people could be in!!!! I met a bunch of other flight attendants, including a cute woman named Penelope from New Orleans. She told me she lives midtown, but has lots of family in Baton Rouge. Her son is a juniorJR at LSU and plays Tennis there. The conversation then turned to the hurricane. Her house was OK, but unfortuately, her brother's and sister's houses were flooded and condemmed. One is now living with her, and the other in Baton Rouge. We shared opinions on how the disaster was treated, and what we each thought of the city plan for New Orleans. We both share dcour hope that, in the end, most people's dignity would be restored

So at 6:25, Eddie and I head to the gate to wait and see if I get called for the flight. Now, I had been checking my fleece pocket approximately every 10 seconds to make sure my boarding pass and ID were in there. So, when we get to the gate, I check again and: NO FREAKING ID!!! Figuring it had fallen out of my pocket, we re-trace my steps, check with jetBlue customer service and TSA ... and nothing. So now, I am looking at being stranded in NYC with nowhere to stay, no ID and no idea how I could get a new one for a month; needless to say, I was freaking out a little. Poor Eddie was trying to calm me down, and actually, he did a pretty good job of it. I guess thta's why they gave him a customer service position!!!


At 7:01 (my flight was to leave at 7), God smiles upon me, and (again as the very last passenger!!!!!!!) I make the flight. In fact, there were no other level 3 standby people, and since I was the #1 level 4 person w/out Eddie flying, I was able to make the flight without him ahving to fly as well. So I give Eddie a big fat hug, and I dash to my flight, where I watch about 30 minutes of a very interesting documentary on the real scorpion king of ancient Egypt, and then pass out until I land in NOLA.

But the good news isn't over yet! When I land, I get a voicemail from Eddie: he checked with jetBlue again, and my ID was found!!!! Someone picked it up off the terminal floor and turned it in. So, Eddie got my address, and jetBlue sent it overnight to my house here in Baton Rouge. I'll have it back tomorrow before noon!!! I promised Eddie I'd duck tape it to myself next time.

So WHEW .. .that was my saga. And it all happened before 11:00 am!

My mom got me at the airport, and so far today, I have:
Had coffee
Had king cake
Had a catfish po boy (from George's, for those of y'all who know the area)
Ran errands for all of my extra needed items for camping
Cleaned my house
Posted this

In a bit, I am going to meet my Uncle at Zippy's (the bar/restaurant where my brother works). Then, I'm not sure ... my mom has a date, my brother is working, my other brother is going to an invite-only frat party, and my sister is continuing to pack up her stuff to move tomorrow. I think it'll be a good excuse to re-arrange my bags and get a good night's rest, which I definitely need.

Tomorrow, Dan and his friend Nick are coming to Baton Rouge. My only other plans for tomorrow are to:
visit my grandmother
eat crawfish etouffee
get to bed!

In about 36 hours I'll be in BSL ... but, strangely, I am much less nervous than I was before. I think being here now reminds me that any issues I may have can be solved, and that, once things get started, I'll be able to jump in and simply take in the experience.

And I continues to anxiously await the experience!

Welcome!

Welcome!! This is where I will post news, updates, information and stories about volunteering with Disaster Corps in Bay St. Louis, MS. I, along with other Disaster Corps volunteers, will be working on tearing down and cleaning out buildings damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Bay St. Louis is located in coastal Mississippi, just an hour east of New Orleans. See a map.

Disaster Corps is hosting me as a volunteer. Get info on the organization, volunteering, or make a donation.

Thanks!

Cori