Seven members of the Elizabeth Presbytery went to D'Iberville, Mississippi from February 11-18, 2006 to assist in post-Katrina cleanup and reconstruction. Two team members, Mary and Lynne Ann, are members of Christ Presbyterian Church.
The Elizabeth Presbytery group joined with groups from PA and VA as part of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance for Katrina victims. The group included pastors, scientists, IT folks, engineers and retirees. Only a few had construction jobs.
The PDA camp was located on a baseball field in D'Iberville. The concession stand kitchen allowed meals to be prepared on-site.
Our home away from home was corrugated plastic tents. They were "heated", but remained pretty chilly when the temperatures were in the 20's.
As we explored the area, we saw all levels of destruction from the hurricane and subsequent flooding.
Lynne Ann worked with a group at this home. Note the FEMA trailer next the house. The house next door floated away in the storm.
Why are the men watching Lynne Ann work? They were probably tired. Our job at this home was to remove drywall, ceilings, insulation, fixtures, and most of the floors. The house needed to be resettled on its foundation.
As you might imagine, the work resulted in a lot of garbage.
Can you imagine coming home to your house looking like this?
After removing so much from the house, it was refreshing to add things like this new wall.
Before new sheetrock and ceilings could be put up, the house had to be bleached to prevent mold. These guys looked cute in their bleaching suits.
We had seen the danger and destruction of mold in other homes.
Smaller groups worked on projects in other homes-removing stained ceilings and insulation (the blown insulation comes down like snow), removing fences, spackling and hanging drywall. Here a crew rebuilds a handicap ramp.
Mary was captain of a painting crew at another home. There was waist-high water in the house during the storm so all walls and trim were replaced. The work here required concentrated effort.
Our trip wasn't all work. We participated in morning and evening devotions and had fun getting to know one another.
