I am back. There are too many stories to share on here, but I will say that you have to be thankful for what you have. I met a lot of people who lost everything, but they are the nicest people and still hope for the best. Most of them don’t even have a house yet… The one thing I heard constantly is “Thank you for what you are doing. You have no idea how much it means.” By weeding a cemetary, clearning debris, or painting a house I was making someone’s life better. That’s awesome.
So, it was a challenging time, but also very rewarding and fun. High school kids are crazy! Some pictures are below. Enjoy…
Savanna and I as we begin our 20 hour bus ride… woot woot!
Dinner at Sonic when we got there. You order over the intercom and then your waitress brings your food out… while on roller skates. This would be my nightmare job…
One example of a house on the beach. Most of the houses were completely washed away. You can see that it is on stilts, but they had so much water that it didn’t matter. The water actually rose over 40 feet, so well over the roof. I can’t even imagine that much water!
A lot of insurance companies aren’t paying the people for their losses…
Examples of what most of the area looks like: empty lots that haven’t been touched since the hurricane…
The first day, my team cleaned up the Waveland Cemetary. It was hot, but we got so many compliments and “thank-you’s”
This was there Civic Theater. The city lost ALL of its city buildings (city hall, police station, fire station, etc.) and ALL of its city vehicles (police cars, fire engines, etc.)
However, some people are now rebuilding, so there is hope!
It looks like you guys had an incredible time…I can’t wait to see pictures and hear all about it! Knowing Savanna, I’m sure she had a fabulous, eye-opening experience as well… 🙂 love michele
Wendy, that is awesome. YOU are so cool for going! Not everyone would be willing to do that- you are going to be blessed! I’m coming to GR the last two weekends in April because Jon’s working on the Compass Arts 24 hour Film Festival- hang out?
This is great info to know.