Mission Trip Update
Tuesday, June 27:
About Slidell:
Large portions of the city were flooded when Lake Ponchartrain rose
after Katrina hit. Most of the houses had never been flooded before. The
city is now much more functional than parts of New Orleans, but many
people are still living in FEMA trailers and many haven't even started
rebuilding. The three houses we are working on have already been mucked
out and torn down to the studs and we are trying to get them back
together. Lynn's house needed the old insulation under the house
removed. We are doing lots of sheetrocking, flooring, painting, and
carpentry work. Lynn's front door was replaced and now she finally has a
way to properly lock her house.
 
Insurance is not covering the huge amount of damage and even in cases
where there is some money available, they have been ripped off before by
contractors and are wary of hiring others. People have lost many of
their belongings that were spared by Katrina due to theft
 
Here are the team assignments.
Joyce's house:  Frank Conery (team leader), Larry Cowen, Audrey Morgan, Charlene Robbins, Judy Niles-Simmons, Frank Rizzo
Lynn's House: Bruce Olsen (team leader), Andrew Wallis, Sharon Yergeau, Jim Wallis, George Reese, Katy Cowen, Cary Simmons, Chris Flanagan
Margarite's House: Eric Myers (team leader), Janet Wittenberg, Eric Wittenberg, Sam Myers, Diehl Ott, Cheryl Barlow, Keenan Pawley, Karen Hagy. 

Note: That's Eric about to eat a cockroach. Lynne's trailer and puppies pictured above.

Monday, June 26:
It was a busy day in Slidell! Here are a few photos from today, including a picture of one of the work sites. Scroll down for photos of Sunday's tour of the destruction in New Orleans.

Sunday, June 25:
The group had a light breakfast and met in the morning, then went to a 10:15 service at the Presbyterian Church. The parishioners were very friendly and very appreciative of our visit. We talked with them after church at the fellowship hour and heard several personal stories of what they have endured and how they have been helped by groups such as ours. Its amazing how gracious and optimistic they were with all they have been through.

After church, we headed into New Orleans for brunch. We took a different route into the city and drove through St. Bernard's Parish, one of the areas most devastated by the hurricane. It was a most sobering experience, driving for miles with gutted houses and commercial buildings, some which used to be nice areas, completely uninhabited. It was like the set of a post-apocalyptic movie. When we arrived in the French Quarter, the area seemed to be operating more as normal, although the number of tourists were down, and we saw many groups like ourselves wearing special t-shirts indicating the church or group they are representing to help with the reconstruction.

After a nice Jazz brunch at Muriel's in Jackson Square, where Keenan Pauley joined us to make us 22, we walked around the French quarter for a couple of hours, then headed back to Slidell.

(Above photo: Working on the levee.)

Yes, it is hot down here, but people seem to be holding up well, though we haven't started the work yet.

We have 3 houses that we are assigned to work on this week. Most of the work is construction and they are all in the Slidell area. Some of the folks visited two of the houses to assess the work to be done and try to figure out what tools and supplies we will need.

We will have pizza for dinner tonight and a worship service to get ready for the work beginning tomorrow.

Saturday, June 24:
The group of 21 of us left in 2 planes and arrived safely in New Orleans by about 5PM. We rented a total of 4 Grand Caravans and headed to Slidell from the airport. Along Interstate 10 we saw long stretches of abandoned housing complexes and shopping areas, including an empty Six Flags park. We arrived at the church in Slidell to find very nice accommodations with air conditioned sleeping quarters, showers, and a Kitchen area for preparing meals. After settling in and talking a bit with Van Jones, the volunteer work coordinator, we went out to a local restaurant for a nice dinner.