Biloxi Day 2--This is amazing

Day 2: Gulfport/Biloxi HandsonUSA Headquarters

Hi again!

Our second day was really amazing.

I have been debating about how to write this one up all day. The problem is not what I want to say, but that the people I am writing about are also going to read it as well. And I have to live with them. But oh well, I’ll chance it. They deserve it!

But first you have to hear about our day.

Sure enough we arose early 5:45. I was out the door running by 6:10. The run was better than yesterday. About 50 minutes through the side streets off of Pass Road. The damage was definitely more severe the further south I went. Indeed, it was not too far before the roads were closed and I could only look towards the water at an absolutely beautiful sunrise (something I almost never see with my regular hours ;) )

Rick (a school teacher from Bucks County Pennsylvania) cajoled the Bona contingent to going with his interior crew that “guts” houses rather than the tree crew that we had originally planned. The drive to East Biloxi where we would be working would take us past military checkpoints and into the area down by Route 90 by the water.

As we entered the zone, hushed cries of “look at that” sounded from everyone in the car.
The destruction is shocking. Some buildings are just gone. Others are damaged beyond repair. The large beachfront hotels (presumably built to withstand strong storms) suffered major structural damage. What houses that do remain, are, and in most instances will remain, uninhabitable. It really is beyond description.

We then turned away from the water and drove past street after street of houses that while still standing, had suffered catastrophic damage. Most homes in this area were small one storied homes. We saw relatively few people and many that we did see were riding bikes on streets lined with the remnants of the homes and yards.

We parked and walked about three blocks to the first “job”. After Rick gave a brief description of what our work would entail, we got to work gutting the house.

Everything has to go. Everything. Absolutely everything. Furniture, clothes, shoes, aquariums, walls, ceilings, and floor coverings. Everything.

And, after a look at each other as if to say “no way”, we did it. I would again remind you that this was my first day in the field, so I can’t compare our “team” to other volunteer teams that have obviously worked under much more challenging conditions (we are after all more than five weeks post Katrina). That said, I have worked pretty much my entire life in my family’s grocery stores. I played basketball and baseball from second grade through high school. I ran cross country and track in college. I have worked with, studied with, ran with, biked with, and played with people who I would argue are the nicest anywhere. I have never seen a group of people come together and work so well together in such a short time.

And work it was. The drywall, the paneling, bathroom fixtures, the ceilings, the floor coverings, EVERYTHING. And not only does it have to be torn apart. It also has to be taken to the street. And in a seemingly unimaginably short time, it was done. Only the exterior walls, studs, and supporting beams remained.

My best description of what the job is like is that we tore down a house with a few hammers and crowbars. No power tools. No heavy equipment. Just a few basic tools, elbow grease, and a lot of heart.

And like that it was done. And on to house two.

This house called for extensive lawn clearing. Unlike the first home, the person who lived here stopped by as we cleaned. He rode out the storm on his roof. His roof stayed on his house. He was lucky: as he was telling us this, we cleaned his neighbors’ roof from his backyard.

After a break for lunch, the third job of the day. This was an apartment house. Actually I can not quite grasp what it looked like before. I did try. But it just seemed like a hodgepodge of rooms connected by a long hall.

Even without knowing much about architecture, it was readily apparent that this building had gone through many remodels and additions: cinder block in some rooms, dry wall, on top of 1970s era paneling in others. It was not fun. Pulling dry wall was fun. This was not. It was dirty, grimy, and sweaty. To say nothing of the crack, porn, and cockroaches. (yeah you read that right.)

I was told (and have not yet verified) that a resident had drowned in the building. Water through the area was about 12 feet high, so it is definitely possible, probably probable.

The apartment was larger than the other jobs we had today and slower as well so Rick called us off just before 5:00. A little more work remains to finish its gutting, but not much. We’ll finish it tomorrow.

I would love to mention everyone who worked on the team today by name. To individually give them the credit they deserve, but I can’t. With hats, safety goggles, and masks required equipment, I know many by only the color of their tee-shirt. I know some were college students from North Carolina State. I know some moved to Tennessee last year, I know some were from Massachusetts. I know Rick is from Pennsylvania. I doubt I will ever hear from many of them again. They were amazing today. All of them. The ones I mentioned and the ones I didn’t.

Fortunately, I do know the ones from SBU and can give them the credit they deserve.

To a person, Annie, Bridget, Christine, Meghan and Sean performed amazingly. I have tons of pictures to show of them working. But the pictures only partially tell the story of hauling load after load of garbage, of the cockroaches, of the smell.

I grew up in Olean and went to St. Bonaventure as an undergrad. So I have a long history with the school. I remember when I started my MBA with students whose undergraduate degrees were from prestigious Ivy League schools and realized that my education at SBU was just as good as theirs. I remember the basketball team taking Kentucky to double overtime in the NCAA tournament. But I had never been as proud of Bona students as today.

My hat is off to you all. “You done good.”

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In unrelated news Andy Hartnett and my sister Mary made it down today. They arrived after we had already left for our jobs so they got stuck at headquarters. However, each made full use of their time here. They moved supplies and helped to build (and then stock) a “supply wall” for the provisions (masks, boots, gloves, cleaning supplies, etc) needed for HandsonUSA volunteers.

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Tomorrow we currently plan on splitting up. Some want to try their hands on a tree crew, while the rest of us will return to the interior team.

But it is time to sleep now. This was much longer than I had planned.