BonaResponds: a pictorial history

Collection: BonaResponds: Just put together a collection of some of the nearly seven thousand BonaResponds pictures of the various events we have had.

I am not really sure what order they are in, but it is a nice pictorial view of some of what BonaResponds has done since its founding right after Katrina hit in late August of 2005 through the current work in Friendship. Take a look!

A look at all of our camps--Enterprise Alabama

Enterprise Alabama—By Jim

Today we switched parts of town. We moved from the area immediately adjacent to the Enterprise High to the Baptist Hills region to the West of town. On three different occasions over the past two days I have had people come up to me and suggest we go to this area as it is the poorer section of town and was not only very hard hit but largely forgotten. So today we did. And “they” were right. Wow, it was bad.

The houses here were all smaller but many had been completely destroyed with roofs blown off, windows broken, and trees and wires down everywhere you looked. It was bad. Really bad.

Working with Persevere Volunteers we came to the job site and I almost laughed. There was no way we could clear it. There were at least 15-20 trees down in the now shared (the fences had been smashed by falling trees). And these were not small ornamentals! They were HUGE! Indeed one was at least 10 feet in diameter and was estimated to have gone through the Civil War. But even more than the HUGE tree, was the sheer magnitude of the work. There was just so much to do! It was surely impossible.

But with the help of a tractor, some local volunteers, and a much needed tractor, BonaResponds and Persevere succeeded in moving most of the downed trees and brush around the yards. The yards still need a part of another day, but the improvement was simply remarkable.

Again the crew was phenomenal: they did not even stop for lunch and never once complained. To a person they worked incredibly hard. How hard, in a futile effort to keep up, I even worked! In fact, it was probably the most physically demanding day of tree removal I have ever done!

At the end of the work day, we physically left Enterprise. To a person we wish we could stay and do more, but it is time to go to Mississippi. So we drove to Pass Christian where we separated into our assigned teams. For the time we spent in Alabama, I have only great things got say, I expect hard work for BonaResponders and this group may have raised the bar.

GREAT JOB!

oh and here are more pictures!

Ant Hill

BonaResponds was all over the place today. One of the benefits of having such a large group of volunteers is that we can split up and work on many sites at once. While the optimal number of volunteers varies by both people and job, it is generally between 6-12.  

Some agencies like, indeed seemingly crave structure and hierarchy, BonaResponds does not. In fact few things with BonaResponds are structured in the traditional sense and team creation is no exception. So as we walked into the disaster area today, we broke into groups of various sizes and began work at homes throughout the neighborhood bordering the Enterprise High School.

The job I stopped at happened to be immediately across from the high school. The house suffered some relatively minor damage to the roof, but there were many branches down around the house and on the back shed. The residents and some family and friends were already working on the yard when we walked up and offered our services.

Working with the residents always makes the work more fun and this was no exception. In quick fashion the group picked up the downed branches and hauled them to the front yard where an excavator with a giant claw will lift it into waiting trucks to haul it away. There was however one major task to tackle, the back yard also had a shed with the parts of three trees across the roof. This was going to be a big job, but due to the tight proximity to two fences and the patience needed to carefully remove trees, it was a job that only a few people could efficiently do. Thus, rather than stand waiting for branches to be cut, the team separated further and only two (Anthony and I) stayed and the others went to work on other jobs further into the disaster region. Effective team size 2.

Taking the trees off the shed turned out to be a longer job than expected (or I was more incompetent than people give me credit for). Climbing trees is however one of the few things I can do reasonably well so we tried to attack the three trees from the above. Unfortunately, I again showed my ineptitude and after several attempts yielded the floor (or more appropriately roof) to Joe, the son of the homeowner. Of course he succeeded in a matter of minutes and the shed was cleared. Hauling out the branches provided an opportunity to talk get to know the homeowners who were remarkably nice people who graciously invited us back for dinner. 

After the house was done, Anthony and I walked taking pictures looking for other BonaRespond team members. And did we ever find them!! They were everywhere!

Have you ever stopped and watched an ant hill? Ants are amazing. They all work together but apart. Apparently without communication the ants all work in unison. They keep busy going to and fro, carrying things larger than they are, and pretty soon they have moved a huge pile of dirt and debris and created a home.

Why the sudden interest in ants? Because as Anthony and I walked down the hill towards Reese Street and looked ahead all that I could imagine was what we were looking down on a giant ant hill. I had to stop to take it all in. 

Laid out ahead of us there were people dressed in brown t-shirts seemingly everywhere. All of the other BonaRespond volunteers had, without any order being given, congregated in the midst of the worst hit area of the neighborhood. People in brown shirts scurrying up and down the slopes, people in brown shirts rolling tree trunks down hills, people in brown shirts dragging branches to the curb, people in brown shirts stooping to pick up debris, and people in brown shirts lifting spirits everywhere.  

A quick count showed that there were about 40 (or a possible 47) within a quarter mile area.

The largest contingent of these worker ants was at two houses next to each other on Reese street. It was a huge job. At these two homes alone there were over 20 BonaRespond members, several local Church group members, a few football players from Enterprise High School, and many neighbors, friends, and family as well as some professionals with heavy equipment. It was amazing.

These lots, which had been totally covered with trees only a few hours before was being cleared. Slowly and surely it was being cleared. The land was again becoming visible. The piles out front grew in anxious anticipation of an overworked excavator that was struggling to keep up with this onslaught of human muscle and determination.

By the end of the day, the lots and lots were cleared. The warmhearted volunteer ants (people) had won.

Hope amid the destruction

It happened again. Total silence. Much like the "oh my God" moment that happened in October 2005 when we crossed into the destruction zone along the coast. Today it happened on foot. We were walking into the the zone around the High School where the tornado hit.

Eight people lost their lives. The majority of whom were high school kids in the assumed safety of their school.

Seeing the destruction, I am surprised more didn't die.

Houses destroyed. Roofs blown completely off. Trees on top of roofs. Wires on the ground. Large pieces of sheet metal stuck in trees 50 feet up. Grave stones flipped over. Scores of cars with windows exploded.

National Guard troops armed with M-16s and police officers on every corner.

And into this maelstrom came a small army of 47 BonaResponds volunteers adorned in their brown shirts. Walking with mouths agape. Seeing the destruction. Seeing the damage. And then, the volunteers got to work. No, we could not do everything but we could do something. We could help haul debris, help cut trees, help pick up branches, and, most importantly, to help encourage and to help give hope.

And so we did.

As a personal aside, I have to admit that in the weeks leading up to this trip, there were days when I questioned whether the headaches, late night emails, and constant phone calls were worth it. Today I was reminded that it is. It most definitely is.