Keith A
09-19-2005, 03:31 PM
I wanted to share with my fellow Serotta forum members of the opportunity I had to go and help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
I left last Thursday afternoon for a 10 hour drive to Pascaguola, Mississippi along with about 600 members of my church in the East & Central Florida area.
When we first arrived, I almost wondered if we were at the right place as the eternal appearance of this area didn't look to have received much damage (certainly nothing like we experienced last year). The center of the hurricane made landfall just 65 miles to the west, which puts this area in the strongest quadrant of the storm. There were downed trees here and there and some houses with some shingles missing -- but the real damage was hidden from view as this area was hit with what must have been about a 15+ foot of storm surge that traveled almost 2 miles inland. However, once you went down "Beach Blvd" which is right next to the Gulf, there you could witness the destructive nature of this storm as houses were completely missing and just the foundation was left behind, there were cars that had been moved hundreds of feet away from we they had been parked.
We were primarily involved in pulling out flood-damaged flooring, dry wall, paneling, cabinetry, house furnishings, etc, to help stop the aggressive development of mold that made the homes nearly uninhabitable. We also tarped roofs, cut trees off of houses, etc. Because of the flooding, the damage was more extensive than I have seen in past hurricane cleanups in Florida.
Many if not most of the residents did not have flood insurance and therefore will not get any help from their insurance companies; and the help they will get from FEMA certainly won't cover the expense of completely rebuilding the inside of their homes.
One of the homes I spent most of my time in, we had to remove every piece of dry wall, insulation, cabinets, flooring, etc. The only thing left in the house when we were finished was the 2x4 framed interior walls and their bathtub. Everything else (including almost all of their material possessions) was pilled out along the street to be picked up as rubbish. The owners of this home were a 74 year-old couple who had lived there most of their lives. The husband was in poor health and not able to do very much, the wife was trying to do what she could to get the stuff out of the house when we arrived to help. She was there all day Saturday as we worked on her home and was clearly overwhelmed by the loss. We stopped and talked with her often and she was on the verge of tears almost every time I spoke with her -- it was heartbreaking to see her pain. As I lay in my tent that night, I could only imagine what it would be like to see all of my earthly belongings being discarded as trash. They live on a small fixed income and I don't see how they can rebuild their home -- hopefully, we can have part of the process as well.
I am so grateful that I was able to go and help my fellow brothers and sisters that needed so much and couldn’t do this for themselves. I came away with a renewed perspective in life, recognizing (again) that our material possessions could disappear at any moment and it is the people that are precious and our relationships -- and that they too could be taken from us at any moment, so we need to make the most of the time we have with them now.
There is still much work to be done and am hoping that I will be back again soon. If you have the means and opportunity to help the victims of Katrina, I would encourage you to do what you can. If you are interested in doing the type of work that we did and don’t have an avenue to do so, please contact me and I can help make this possible for you.
I left last Thursday afternoon for a 10 hour drive to Pascaguola, Mississippi along with about 600 members of my church in the East & Central Florida area.
When we first arrived, I almost wondered if we were at the right place as the eternal appearance of this area didn't look to have received much damage (certainly nothing like we experienced last year). The center of the hurricane made landfall just 65 miles to the west, which puts this area in the strongest quadrant of the storm. There were downed trees here and there and some houses with some shingles missing -- but the real damage was hidden from view as this area was hit with what must have been about a 15+ foot of storm surge that traveled almost 2 miles inland. However, once you went down "Beach Blvd" which is right next to the Gulf, there you could witness the destructive nature of this storm as houses were completely missing and just the foundation was left behind, there were cars that had been moved hundreds of feet away from we they had been parked.
We were primarily involved in pulling out flood-damaged flooring, dry wall, paneling, cabinetry, house furnishings, etc, to help stop the aggressive development of mold that made the homes nearly uninhabitable. We also tarped roofs, cut trees off of houses, etc. Because of the flooding, the damage was more extensive than I have seen in past hurricane cleanups in Florida.
Many if not most of the residents did not have flood insurance and therefore will not get any help from their insurance companies; and the help they will get from FEMA certainly won't cover the expense of completely rebuilding the inside of their homes.
One of the homes I spent most of my time in, we had to remove every piece of dry wall, insulation, cabinets, flooring, etc. The only thing left in the house when we were finished was the 2x4 framed interior walls and their bathtub. Everything else (including almost all of their material possessions) was pilled out along the street to be picked up as rubbish. The owners of this home were a 74 year-old couple who had lived there most of their lives. The husband was in poor health and not able to do very much, the wife was trying to do what she could to get the stuff out of the house when we arrived to help. She was there all day Saturday as we worked on her home and was clearly overwhelmed by the loss. We stopped and talked with her often and she was on the verge of tears almost every time I spoke with her -- it was heartbreaking to see her pain. As I lay in my tent that night, I could only imagine what it would be like to see all of my earthly belongings being discarded as trash. They live on a small fixed income and I don't see how they can rebuild their home -- hopefully, we can have part of the process as well.
I am so grateful that I was able to go and help my fellow brothers and sisters that needed so much and couldn’t do this for themselves. I came away with a renewed perspective in life, recognizing (again) that our material possessions could disappear at any moment and it is the people that are precious and our relationships -- and that they too could be taken from us at any moment, so we need to make the most of the time we have with them now.
There is still much work to be done and am hoping that I will be back again soon. If you have the means and opportunity to help the victims of Katrina, I would encourage you to do what you can. If you are interested in doing the type of work that we did and don’t have an avenue to do so, please contact me and I can help make this possible for you.