Hello everyone,

Today marks the five-day countdown until eleven of us (ten from the UU church of Davis and one brother of a member) head down to Biloxi, MS for a week of hurricane relief  work. We hope you will tune into our blog site throughout the week of July 28-August 4, to get updates about our experiences and work while we are down there.

I myself hope I can speak for the group in saying we appreciate your support on all levels, and that we look forward to bringing back to our homes and community all that we learn from the trip.

 Peace to everyone,

Eliza

Before we even landed in Biloxi, I experienced the gratitude and kindness  of native Mississippians I remembered from my last trip, talking to a man sitting next to me on the small plane from Dallas to Biloxi, who, upon hearing we were coming down to hurricane relief work, thanked me several times over. I could feel his heart go heavy as we approached the airport, passing over Pass Christian, a town that was very hard hit. 

Now that I'm back, it's a strange mix I feel myself, of gratitude for the chance to be here again, and of my own heavy heartedness, seeing how things are so much as they were in March. Sure, there are good changes. The bridge connecting Biloxi to Ocean Springs is being worked on, much of the debris has been hauled away. But there's still a feeling of so far to go. The man on the plane told me it would take at least ten years to recover.

 Still, it's great to be here with nine other folks from our church, and the brother of one, who has very willingly jumped into our little community within a community. We all worked hard this morning, sweating, sweating, sweating, and drinking, drinking, drinking. At lunch, I took everyone to the tip of the peninsula, to see the bridge and to catch some breeze. Afterwards, we went over to the campsite of Grassroots Volunteer Network, the group whose wing we're working under. The campsite is on the property of a Baptist Church, and we got to meet the pastor, Pastor Davis, who invited us to attend services in the morning, promising some amazing singing. Since we already had plans to attend UU services at the Gulf Coast UU Fellowship, we're going to hit the early Baptist service, and do a double feature Sunday morning!  Then we'll be off to New Orleans for the rest of the day. The work will begin again Monday morning.

 For now, I'm just very happy to be down here again, and feel energized by the enthusiasm the group is already bringing to the trip. Thank you, all!   Eliza

Thank goodness that we were blessed with record setting in heat in Davis for the week preceding our trip to Biloxi, because when we woke up on Saturday morning and stepped out the door we were pleasantly surprised that the temperature and humidity didn't seem as bad as we had been warned it would be.  Perhaps a "dry heat" isn't always preferable to overcast skies and balmy moisture.

After having stocked up at a local Win Dixie Market the night before, we breakfasted in our rooms and packed our lunches in preparation for a day on the town - working.  First we visited the Grassroots camp where we received our assignment and were chaperoned by Jerry/Tony (who for whatever reason introduced himself to each of us using one of these two names) to our first worksite.  There we met with the property owner, Arsel, aka The Rev (as in short for Reverend).  We were introduced to two huge piles of dirt and received some vague instructions as to where to move them to.  Seeing as there were 11 of us and only two shovels and one wheelbarrow, Jerry/Tony returned to the Grassroots camp for the necessary tools.  Jerry/Tony has been here since March and it was evident that living in a tent all this time may have dampened his spirits.

 After tools arrived we spent until lunch time spreading dirt, pulling weeds, uprooting small trees and hoisting chuncks of cement (found buried in the dirt) out to a trash pile.  Many of us wondered if/when/how these piles would ever get picked up.  Evidently they must, because the whole town had a one time been massive piles of rubble which have been removed since Katrina's attack.

We decided to  have lunch near the water with a full view of the accordioned Ocean Springs br idge.  After seeing many, many FEMA trailers on the way to our hotel the evening before and on the way to lunch, it was a relief to see a normal sight of a family fishing by the waters edge.  Even amidst the blight and ruin, life returns to normal.

 After lunch we returned to the Grassroots camp.  We were happy that we had decided to stay in a hotel because the camp was basically an empty field behind a car dealership, outfitted with a couple of portapotties, two outdoor showers and a few tents and canopies.  Together we moved pallets (which were used for the foundation for just about everything at the camp), and possibly the world's heaviest bunkbeds in preparation for the next round of volunteers.  We were mighty happy to return to the comfy, air conditioned bliss of our well appointed rooms and hot showers.

It is now 9:40 pm and I am standing in the lobby of our home away from home (the Suburban Extended Stay in D"Iberville) where 4 feet of water filled this lobby and all rooms on the first floor of the hotel.  Nearly a year later, much of what we have seen (like this hotel) appears not to have experienced damage and destruction of the most natural disaster in our country;s history.  But everyone we have spoken with has a story that is vivid and full of both horror and wonder.  

Tonight we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Ocean Springs, a town about 15 minutes from Biloxi and during an after-dinner-walk in a residential neighborhood we spoke with a woman and her neice.  Their street, which was a couple of blocks from where we met them, had flooded.  The woman told us of friends whose house floated away under them and after hanging on to a tree for 3 hours they were resued.  

The Grassroots Network organizations with whom we are working is located on the land of the black church.  As we headed to our vans this afternoon after completing work there, the Reverend of the church walked down the driveway and we had the opportunity to talk with him for about 30 minutes.  About 100 members of the church have left the area and will not return leaving some 200 members.  He told us of being in his house and watching his roof lift off and return several times.  The church was badly damaged by wind; however, the water did not enter the buildings.  Looking at the church, it was hard to believe that it had been severely damanged.

Just south of the hotel is another residential area and this afternoon Maria and I walked through the area having heard of the Plughs walk there last night.  Foundations were all that is left on some lots and FEMA trailors were in countless yards.

While Katrina affected rich and poor alike, East Biloxi, where we worked this morning, appears to include many businesses and families that are having a harder time re-building and restoring environments to a pre-Katrina state.  

But the strength and spirit of our host this morning and the Reverend we met this afternoon is a strong indication that people here we succeed.  We have been thanked endlesslywhich I confess makes me a bit uncomfortable.  

Eliza's organizaton and attention to detail has been remarkable.  Today during lunch I asked her a question and she whipped out her notebook to find the answer.  She also read information about East Biloxi which included the fact that the median annual income is $18,000.  As the Reverend with whom we spoke this afternoon said there is poverty in the shadow of each casino in this his beloved home town.

It is now past 10 pm and I have got to return Jac's computer to her so that is all for today from the 11 of us here in Biloxi.  Thanks for your interest..  

Mike was going to write tonight too but the wireless connection does not work in his room.  McKenzie he asked me to send along his hello to you since I was writing from the lobby.  

Good night.

Stefan 

Greetings all Davisites! The Biloxi branch of the Plude Family (i.e. Keldon and Bryan) is/are checking in and letting everyone know we're ok!

Day one in Biloxi has truly been an eye opening experience. The trip from Biloxi/Gulfport International Airport to our hotel in Biloxi was merely a glimpse of the overall devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. However, despite the toppled bridges, caved in parking garages, dilapidated churches, and collapsed homes, Biloxi seems to be pulling itself out of the wreckage. Trailers and tents abound where people are already working to rebuild their homes and neighborhoods.

Our first day, as you already know was mostly spent helping a gentleman named Arcel spread dirt around his yard. Once Jerry got his bearings without his glasses (which later turned out to be in his shirt pocket!) we all got to work. From then on, wet was a constant state of affairs. The already humid air was buffetted by several hearty blasts from the yard's hose, leaving everyone downright drenched. This however did not have quite the desired effect that it does in Davis' dry heat. But no one complained (much) and by the time we were done, we went from being soaked to just being damp again.

Back at the hotel, after helping lay a pallet pathway for Grassroots, and even on the way back, stiffness and achiness started to set in (even for the younger ones). Hot showers and Ibuprofen helped to aleviate this, but I have the feeling that everyone will still be thankful for the day of rest tomorrow. We city slickers certainly have our work cut out for us, and we all are going to have to do our best to cope.

Until next time,

Bryan and Keldon Plude

Yesterday, us Davis Biloxian's (can I call us that?) had a full day.  We did not work at a job site because it was Sunday, but we were fortunate to be invited to a Baptist Church run by Reverend Davis.  The church is located right next door to the Grass Roots camp which is our base camp.  Services were at 8:00 am and there were many volunteers who attended as well as local parishioners.  The choir was outstanding and I felt very welcomed.  From there, we went to the UU Church in Gulf Port.  We thought services started at 10:30 but they started at 10:00 (oops).  The people were very gracious about our tardiness and they were also really interesting to talk to after the service ended.  The differences between the two services was quite amazing and the people in both congregations were kind and happy to have us attend.  

From there, we headed to New Orleans.  It was absolutely pouring rain for awhile!  We drove through the Ninth Ward, spent some time on the French Quarter, and visited 2 UU Churches in the Orleans District.  The belief is that one of those churches is going to try to be saved but the other one is not salvageable.  That sentence condenses quite some time, but it is difficult to express how haunting it was for all of us.  Words we were using, such as overwhelming, sadness, disturbing, anger, frustration.........hardly can describe the sites we saw.  I had no idea what it looked like to see block after block, mile after mile, neighborhood after neighborhood destroyed and deserted.  How can this be?  But yet it is....Eliza said that ~half or more of the people who lived in New Orleans and called it home have not returned.   Many of the places we saw are going to need to just be torn down.  Some already have.  We had seen damage in Biloxi on our first day here, but it really set in how bad and how widespread Hurricane Katrina was when we traveled through Mississippi and into Louisiana.  But there is so much more to do and I for one can say that after seeing that, we were all ready to get back to work helping in any way we could.

Our second day of work started out at the Grass Roots Camp meeting our new supervisor, Jim.  He has been here for 10 months and is a great source of information and know how!  We spent the morning working in a Vietnamese neighborhood finishing up gutting a home that was going to be fixed back up again.  Jim told us that this house was very fortunate to survive the 30 foot wave that hit it and that it was because it was built so well.  I had never seen rectangular/square nails before, and we worked very hard at trying to save any wood paneling that we removed.   Thanks to everyone on our crew for teaching me new skills on how best to remove those nails!!

For lunch we went to the Volunteer Relief Camp,  What a great experience it was to see so many people from so many organizations working together.  Lunch was served under a high school bleacher stand.  Everyone was friendly, there was lots of food, and a clean bathroom!

In the afternoon we went to the Grassroots warehouse and helped to clean, sort, and organize all of the donations and stuff.  From lumber to lighting fixtures, from windows to waste baskets we did our best and were pleased with the end result.  I must say, I was very impressed with the window frame that some of the guys made!

Jim then took us to a home that had been gutted but could not be saved.  It looked so good from the outside and we learned the lesson that what you see on the outside does not tell you much about the inside.  That sounds like something we should know!  We met Marion, whose house we will be working on tomorrow, and planned our next morning before finishing for the day.  Wow what a busy 2 days!

Susan