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Day 3 - New Orleans
Adrienne:
It's our final build day. Its kind of sad. I really want
to stay and finish the job, see it through. It's amazing
how connected you feel to the project your working on.
Feeling a sense of pride and excitement for the family
who will live here. Everyone fell into a rhythm with
their jobs and worked hard to get as much done as
possible. The kids worked so diligently on their
painting. Seeing them so passionate about what they were
doing and really understanding that this house is going
to make a HOME for someone. It was so moving.
Billie joe, jason and mark worked on soffit again, this
time on the side of the house with some pretty tall
ladders. Man, those guys busted their booties to get
that soffit up. I think that they - by FAR- had the
hardest job of the week.
It was just three days. Three days! And we made huge
progress on the home for that single mother and her
daughter. Those three days will help to change those
lives. That's what its all about.
I have to thank the Americore people we worked with-
thanks ben, jolene and sam!! You were awesome! And I
want to thank our Habitat team, especially Ali and
Alison. You made our build, truly an experience! thank
you beckers and whites! I can't wait for the next
build...
Janna:
Our final day! I have to tell ya'll that Jason was
talking about the soffit in his sleep! That's the word
of the week- soffit! Anyway, I spent our final day
painting, going crazy with the detail work trying to
make it look perfect!
These 3 days have been so fun and inspiring. I'm proud
of everyone, especially the kids- 6 in all, including
the Becker clan (Armstrong family friends.) They all
wore brown matching Carhart overalls and boots, and at
one point, they were all standing in a line painting the
side of the house. Super cute! And they spent hours
upon hours diligently preparing a beautiful sandbox for
the little girl of the family.
We didn't get to meet the homeowner of the house we
worked on, but we did meet the kind lady from across the
street (she let us use her waterhose-holla!) and we also
met a newly accepted homeowner who came to tell Ben
(site supervisor) that he'd gotten his acceptance
letter. He was so excited, and his enthusiasm was
contagious. He was waving his letter around, smiling so
big! We were so happy for him.
I feel so honored to have been a part of this and I am
truly moved by the enormous impact that Habitat makes on
people's lives. And thank you Armstrongs-good call!
Billie Joe:
It was our last day and I really wanted to bust ass to
get some work done. Its definitely been a learning
experience. I've never worked on a house before so I
have a new respect for the labor involved. Mark, Jason,
and I finished our part of building the soffit.
Everywhere I look now, I see soffit.
I want to come back and build again. I recommend it to
everyone. It not only builds a home for a stranger, but
it also builds a home for your soul.
Jason White:
Last day for us helping with the house. Day two was
frustrating. Billie & I, awkwardly high up on ladders
around the side of the house, replanning, correcting
and rethinking our approach. As we left, I didn't feel
as though we got enough done. But, we set ourselves up
for a much more productive day today. A great feeling
of accomplishment at the end - making one small step
forward. It is, in some small way, how the rebuilding
of this great city of New Orleans goes. Some days are
frustrating and defeating. Some days you move ahead.
I just hope no one will forget what this place and these
people have been through. I will not.
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Day 2 - New Orleans
Adrienne:
The morning started off misty and I was hoping it
wouldn't rain so we could work outside today. We arrived
around 9:30am. Yay! We were able to sleep a little
extra.
Everyone jumped right in to find a project to work on. I
chose painting since the weather was good and I was
ready to see some visible progress.. Janna,Marki and I
worked all day on the front of the house and the trim.
Its like painting a fairy cottage - its colors grey with
pink trim. The woman and her daughter who are moving in
chose those colors! They are perfect for this house.
Marki has a sprained ankle that is puffy and bruised yet
she worked all day with a smile. And janna- well- she is
a sunshine smile always!
We had a mid-day highlight as an ice cream truck came
by. Jakob and cade heard the music blocks before it came
down our street. We all were excited to get popsicles
and stuff.
Towards the end of the day as we were nearing the finish
of the front, I suddenely had a rush of emotion. I felt
so connected to this work we are doing. Working with our
hands, sweating in the sun and helping to provide a
place to call home for this special woman and her
daughter.
Janna:
Today was awesome! I was part of the painting crew,
informally headed by Adrienne. She's a great cheerleader
and motivator, and I don't think she stopped working at
all today. We painted the front of the house gray with
pink trim, as requested by the homeowner. I have to say,
painting is a lot harder than I thought it would be,
especially for a very sloppy person like me. (I had to
be neat!) But today what struck me most was the
dedication and enthusiasm of everyone- our group is
perhaps the most cheerful group of folks anywhere, and
I'm very humbled by this experience and grateful that I
am able to help.
And the Americorps volunteers we are working with are so
inspiring to me . These are young people who volunteer a
year of service to organizations like Habitat for
Humanity. Daily, we work with Ben, Jolene and sam and
they are all encouaging and supportive. And I have to
give a shout out to my husband Jason and to Billie Joe,
who have spent the past two days sweating it out on
ladders, installing something called soffit. Painting is
hard work, but I'll take that over the soffit anyday!!!
Billie Joe:
Today was a great day. The house is really coming
together. It was great to see everyone busting their
asses to get this house together. I asked Ben how long
it took so far for the house to get put up at this
point. He said 8 weeks!! That's incredible. He's also
taking the extra scraps of lumber and reusing it into
green building.
Another special moment today was the ice cream truck
passing by. All the kids (and grownups) ran the truck
down for a hot afternoon treat. The ice cream truck
music had a bit of a 808 drumbeat to it so everyone was
kind of dancing as they were eating snow cones.
Adrienne's painting looks really great. The owner of the
house picked great colors.
And I don't know about you, Jason, but I think I'll be
dreaming about extremely high ladders and soffit for the
rest of my life!!
Come back tomorrow for Day #3!
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Billie Joe and family are currently in New Orleans volunteering their time to Habitat For Humanity. Each day they are going to send us an update with pictures of how their day went. Check back each day for updates!
Day 1 - New Orleans
Adrienne : Its early. Really
early. We are still on California time. So its 4:30am.
Today is our first day of building. Everyone is fired up
and excited to start ! We are heading to a safety
training/welcome before we begin our day with Habitat
for Humanity.
New Orleans is an unforgettable city. The people are
warm and welcoming and the hospitality is unparalled.
We just had our safety meeting and its raining. We are
going to drive to our site with our construction leader
(Ben). The home we are working on has been in
construction for 9 weeks with 2 weeks left!
Janna: I spent a few minutes chatting with a neighbor
who is also a Habitat homeowner.. She was so open and
friendly, with a beautiful smile and awesome New Orleans
accent. As we stood on her porch, she told me that her
house only lost 2 panels in the hurricane and had only a
couple of inches of flooding, a testament to how well
built these houses are! I'm hoping the house we're
helping to build is as strong!
Billie Joe: Today we worked at the upper 9th ward. I
hung
soffit over the front porch. I had to do some
upside down hammering technique but we managed to get
the job done. We felt a great sense of accomplishment
when we finished. Before I nailed the last piece of
soffit , I reached inside and wrote my name with a
pencil and dated it.. Ben is a great construction
leader. Jason was a great partner.. It was amazing to
see everyone getting their hands dirty in good
conscience, working together for the greater good.
Jason: New Orleans has long been one of my favorite
cities on the planet. It's really good to be back, and
in some way, to try and help rebuild the city. I have no
prior skills in construction and am not considered
"handy" whatsoever. But today I learned enough to help
put in the soffit over the front porch. Didn't know
what it was until today in fact. A new word, a new
skill. Looking forward to tomorrow!
(Day #1 photos by George Long)
Come back tomorrow for Day #2!