Short update from Ohio

Good day of tree work in Millbury Ohio. We worked with many local volunteers and family members/neighbors.

* The work was mainly clean up after heavy equipment had been through, but still very much needed. We did down three damaged trees and cut up several that were down.

* Laura and the United Way people at the fire hall in Millbury have several jobs lined up for us tomorrow.

* Jen and Phil got in late tonight. Emily and Anita are coming in the morning as is a professional tree guy who called tonight and is coming in to help from Canton. He will be bringing his tree climbing equipment which will help on several.

* We are staying at the First Presbyterian Church in Clay Center. It is an almost perfect set up with two big rooms separated by a kitchen. No showers, but otherwise ideal.

* here are some pictures of the day.

* The number of trains and the amount of traffic on streets at night remind me of Randys Rangers camp circa 2007 in Pass Christian MS

Updates on Ohio

Updates on Ohio--
We have had several contacts with people in Ohio today.

Short version: much work to do, so come one with us!  or meet us there!!

1. It is very difficult to assess damage from afar, but it seems like Millbury is a bit ahead of surrounding towns in their clean up process.  The fire chief and a member of the Board of Education both felt that they were well along in the clean up process.
2. The MainStreet Church is acting a volunteer and distribution center.  We have had a couple of discussions with them.  They have two locations.  One was destroyed.  The other is helping with recovery both physically and spiritually as two members of their congregation died in the tornado.  They are having funerals on Friday and Saturday.  It is a very sad situation and they are doing better than could be expected.  They have been VERY helpful to us in finding work and even in attempting to arrange a place for us to stay.
3. ISOH/Impact has arranged much work for us (as in we can not run out of work).  They are helping in several smaller towns in the area (including in Michigan).  We might be working in any of them, but the most tree work seems to be in the  Delta area.  Ironically ISOH/Impact was very active in Biloxi (medical mainly) in and around Yanqui stadium where we had many meals! So we might have met them after Katrina!
4. Tom and others from Chicago are going to try and meet us there!  As is Gina from Cincinnati.   Andy (back from haiti and an original BonaResponds founder) is also coming!  As is Phil, Nate, Jen, Emily, Laura H, and hopefully you! :)

Tornado aftermath video from Millbury Ohio

Video from Millbury Ohio

Under the trailer

Originally uploaded by FinanceProfessor.

How many people can you see in the picture? I finally got around to uploading some of the other pictures from Ohio. This is what it was like under the trailer.

There are over 260 pictures online here.

My Favorite

My Favorite
Originally uploaded by FinanceProfessor.

BonaRespinds and HODR brought together via this picture :)

The shirt is filthy and it was under a long sleeve taped down shirt! More pictures of this job site are here.


A video of the day is here.

A thank you from Ohio

Received the following from Carl from Bucyrus. We took out the drywall and carpeting in two and a half of his rooms.

"Dear Bonaresponds,

Thanks you so much for your efforts. I am an 58 year old man who is disabled and I am very grateful to have experienced such kindness. I appreciated all of your efforts with the damaged drywall.I wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Carl"

Interestingly he had told others of what we did and we then also got another job request, but I had to reply that we had returned to SBU.

Some more new pictures

I think I am up to about 100 pictures now. Many more to still come

No matter the size of the disaster

No matter the size of the disaster
Originally uploaded by FinanceProfessor.

No matter the size of the disaster, it is still disastrous to those affected. Here we are reminded of that by a simple photo album that was largely destroyed by the water.

Mr. Perry Sings some good advice.

Mr. Perry Sings for Group
Originally uploaded by Nif.

Mr. Perry is the owner of the trailer who's cleanup was the dirtiest job I had done (see yesterday's blog entry). Here he sings to us after we cleaned up and got got ready to leave.

This picture was taken by Jen. It is one of over 280 other pictures from the trip that she uploaded.

Want to listen to Mr. Perry? Here is a video of one of his songs which serves as our send-off as well as a piece of good advice for us all.






BTW I will be uploading a few other videos of his songs soon.

Where are you Mike Rowe?

This has to go to Mike Rowe. It just has to. And Mike, please come with us on our next trip!

What a group and what a day!

Wow that was a day! I could easily write four of five articles, but the most visually telling is this story (with accompanying videos) of what may have been the dirtiest BonaResponds' job I have worked on. Definitely the dirtiest since March 2006. Actual pictures will follow, but the video shows, we might have Mike Rowe look like he was the cleanliness inspector at computer chip manufacturer. Wow were we dirty.

We we at a trailer in Shelby Ohio that had been flooded pretty badly. The carpets on the inside had to be removed but the really dirty work was under the trailer where insulation and other "debris" had to be removed. Wow. It was disgusting.

First you are in a dark, wet area with itchy fiberglass insulation (fortunately we were covered head to toe and taped into our clothes with masks etc on) all around. Add to it you had less than three free to moved around in and you get some small idea of what it was like. Bad? It gets worse. There was mud everywhere, bugs galore, and even the occasional skeletal remains of various wildlife (we think it was a raccoon, but maybe possum).

Add to the wonderful mix, despite the fact that it was announced the plumbing had been disconnected, a volunteer decided to use the "facilities" when other volunteers were underneath the trailer with predictable consequences. In fact, here is Mike describing what happened:





But as they say in show business, the show must go on, so we continued (although a few did opt to work inside).

We got it done and then a neighbor who graciously allowed us to shower before getting in car and driving back to Olean.

Tomorrow we will be doing a partial day back in Olean (working on trails etc).

Here is us "calling out Mike Rowe" and inviting him to our next trip.

Quick recap

I am really tired, but realized I had no pictures and very little description of the day other than the audio posts, so a quick recap:

We broke into two groups again. But today rather than letting people pick which group they worked with, we broke into groups based off of what they were wearing. One team had all shorts, one team had all pants. (And of course this was started by the saying that was something like: anyone without pants is go with Jim, anyone with Pants go with Jerry).

The shorts team went to do two mold jobs (one in Gileon and one in Bucyrus). The pants team did a really tough job in Bucryus that involved removing insulation from a crawl space in what would be the basement for a blind 83 year old artist/WW II veteran.

While more may be forthcoming on the other jobs, the short version was that we were too fast for the jobs and the length of list we had. So in spite of many phone calls trying to line up more jobs, we called it a day about 3:30.

We then had a really fun few hours with football, poker, volleyball, running, and much good conversation. It was followed by dinner (spaghetti and guacamole), a birthday cake for Kaelin (sorry if I spelled it incorrectly!)a reflection (which was excellent), and an all hands meeting.

In the meeting we discussed the uncertainty of jobs tomorrow. What impressed me more than anything was when I told them this, rather than use it as an excuse to be done, the volunteers came up with new ideas. So tomorrow AM we will be helping around Camp Michael doing some roofing, landscaping, basic carpentry, and painting. In the afternoon we have a job in a near by town.

After the job we MAY head home where we will have an impromptu work day around Olean and on campus to finish up some jobs that have been on our plate for a while.

Overall I can not say enough good about the volunteers. We really have a great group again. For those of you who have never been on a trip, I again strongly suggest that you come on one. They really are fun and the people you help are just so grateful.

Cell phone report from the field-Emily

A direct report from the field on what is happening, what it is like, and why you too should volunteer!

Cell phone report from the field--Lynn

A direct report from the field on what is happening, what it is like, and why you too should volunteer!

Cell phone report from the field--Jen

A direct report from the field on what is happening, what it is like, and why you too should volunteer!

Artwork

Really cool story today from Jerry's Group. They helped an elderly gentleman remove insulation. In return he gave BonaResponds about 10 signed pictures that he had painted prior to his blindness got too severe.

We are debating what to do with the pictures, but currently think we will be auctioning at least some of them off to raise money for future trips.

More details to follow.

Cell phone report from the field--Sean Ryan

A direct report from the field on what is happening, what it is like, and why you too should volunteer!

Removing garbage from the basement

101_0322
Originally uploaded by FinanceProfessor.

Good day today. Got quite a few homes done overall.

Here Jen and Mike haul garbage up the stairs to carry out.

Here are more pictures from the trip.

Cell phone report from the field by Carrie

A direct report from the field on what is happening, what it is like, and why you too should volunteer!

BonaResponds in the news

From Today's BV

On the Ohio Trip:

"While many students will spend their midterm break hanging out with old friends, relaxing and enjoying the comforts of home, volunteers from BonaResponds will rebuild communities in Bucyrus, Ohio.

Floods swamped nine counties in north-central Ohio in late August when water forced thousands of residents to evacuate and left at least 500 homes uninhabitable."

Bob's Woods Trail:

"Bob's Woods...has recently been cleaned up by BonaResponds to make a new path in memory of Father Bob [Stewart].

Father Bob died in 2001 after a fight with cancer, leaving behind his beloved legacy. Besides being an Italian language professor at St. Bonaventure, Father Bob is remembered both for the great friendships he forged and his pleasure of athletic activities."

Students may not be politically aware, but at least they're socially responsible - Opinion:

"Not only do their actions improve the lives of others, they do fantastic PR for the university. Admissions officials have noted how many students were attracted to Bonaventure because of BonaResponds' service."