Molding to the Oldies

I will let you in on a secret. It is something that 99.9% of the population does not know.

Ready? Ok here it is: "Mold abatement can be fun." Indeed in the right conditions, the hardest work imagineable can be made fun!

Oh sure it is hot work--drink 64 ounces of Orange Juice in about 2 minutes hot--work. And yes, it does get a tad boring--did I brush that section or not?. But it really can be fun.

Take today for instance. On a day where the high temperature in Southern Mississippi was in upper 80s and low 90s with equivalent humidity--a feat I think possible only in Mississippi and and on the planet Mercury, volunteers across the Gulf Coast donned Tyvex suits, cumbersome respirators, and gloves for added warmth, and went to work.

I was fortunate enough to be part of one of the mold teams working in East Biloxi. The boring details as reported at tonight's nightly meeting were that we finished one house and got a very good start on another. Which is true.

What everyone should also hear is that how, in conditions more suited for Paralvinella sulfincola (worms that live near underwater volcanoes), the volunteers scrubbed and brushed. They climbed ladders, hung from rafters, and crawled on hands and knees to remove mold from homes of people they do not even know.

People should also know that these volunteers sweated so much that when their gloves and boots filled as a torrent of sweat actually flowed down their arms and legs.

The volunteers that are helping to rebuild the Gulf Coast really do deserve the credit and then some that they are getting. I am absolutely blown away by many of them each time I get to visit the area.

And if the story stopped there, it would be noteworthy enough. You know, sort of the "volunteers work hard," blah blah blah story that gets run in almost every newspaper in the country.

But there is something more that people should also know. Something so big that it could bring thousands of more volunteers down to volunteer. Something that seems to happen and happen with great regularity.

What is this big secret? The team begins to have fun and work gets accomplished even faster.

It happens on mold teams, on interior teams, on animal welfare teams, and on street teams. It happens on teams with active "drill sergeant type" leaders and"laid back carefree" leaders. It happens so much that it can not just be random.

Today it happened. It all started when the local classic radio station played American Pie by Don McLean. Within seconds, people begin to sing along until almost every person in the house was "singing" the same thing:

"bye-bye Miss American Pie

Drove my chevy to the levee But the levee was dry

And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye

Singin' this'll be the day that I die

This'll be the day that I die"

It was one of those moments that instantly makes a team. One of those moments that takes strangers and turns them into friends. That takes inexperienced novices and molds them in to valuable pieces in the recovery efforts of a region. It makes even mold abatement fun.

Almost enough fun to make you forget that you were zipped into a suit that was soaked through and through. Almost enough fun to make you forget that your clothes looked like you just swam a mile up China's Dasha River. Almost.

But the funny thing is, that within minutes of being done, that "almost" vanishes and the only thing you remember is the fun times and the fact that some family is that much closer to being able to move back into their home.

Oh yeah, you also have something else to take home with you: you remember the lyrics. And the next time that song comes on, no matter where you are, you won't be able to forget the good time you had "molding to the oldies."