Christmas presents in Sayre

  

Back in October we worked on a trailer in Sayre.  It was a really tough job for lots of reasons.  We were under the trailer for 5 hours removing insulation and cleaning up around the area.  But more than that it was a difficult job emotionally.  The family had very little to start with and had had an incredible run of bad luck.   




Months prior to the floods, the mother had been in a serious accident when she was hit by a truck while walking with her children.  Thrown far by the impact, she broke her back and was left in bad shape.  She did survive but was largely bed ridden and the family's time and resources, already very limited were pushed to the breaking point by medical costs, physical rehab, and refitting the trailer to make it more handicap accessible.

Then the flood came. 




Several of the volunteers who worked at the house planned on doing something for the kids for Christmas, and while things did not go as planned, Chelsea and her family came through big time and collected money, donated money, shopped, and delivered gifts!  :)


Here is a picture from the day:

From Chelsea:

"It was amazing, the parents were so incredibly thankful and the kids loved their presents. I ended up having $125 to spend on the family... We got little dress up clothes and things to make jewelery for the girls and the boy got a little indoor nerf basketball hoop set along with a nerf gun. Then we gave the parents some money. It was great "

In Caitlin's words:

"We weren't able to get a picture of the kids opening their gifts but the family was incredibly thankful for the gifts and the help"

'Green Tags' Offer Simple Way to Manage Cleanup Efforts - WETM 18 Online

'Green Tags' Offer Simple Way to Manage Cleanup Efforts - WETM 18 Online:

"For Brian Johnson and his family, cleaning up their Athens home seems like a never-ending process; after more than a month of demolition, it’s also a process they could no longer handle by themselves.

“I don’t got the time. We’re working constantly, [and] then coming back here. There’s no time to do it,” Johnson said.

The video has Holly in it (she was helping to find us jobs and worked with us (or us her?) on a home). Also has shots of three of the homes we worked on :)

Day one in Athens

Saturday -- three jobs ALMOST completed...1 really big, 1 pretty big, and one average sized...


First job was on Suterlee in Sayre PA.  The house had been gutted but the basement had not been touched.  It was a combination of mud and cement blocks as one side of the foundation had caved in.  Relax Larry, it was safe.  We had an assembly line up the stairs and to the curb. Went VERY fast.  Then turned attention to the mud which was just wet enough to be relatively easy to scoop so long as there was not concrete in it--a fact which means that approximately 1 in 20 shovels were easy.  Just when we thought we were getting close to done we realized there was a large crawl space with much mud, insulation, and heating conduits.  Steve (Banger) did a great job of handing out barrels of insulation and wood to be disposed of. 


AS the work began to near completion about half the group broke off and moved furniture and cleaned out the basement of the next door neighbors.
 
The largest job was a house on Maple that had not been touched since the flood; it had mud everywhere, carpets covering floors, and mold rampant, oh and by the way, there is still about an inch of water in the basement.  The volunteers completely gutted 5 rooms and a stairway in about 4 hours. We have to go back to do the basement but otherwise the job is 95% done for gutting (some in bathroom).

BR in the News all over the place! wow.!

From the BV on Friday:

Bona’s responds to Catskills’ call - Features - The Bona Venture:

"BonaResponds volunteers were inundated with a desire to help the people of the Catskills region after Hurricane Irene's devastation, and the group stepped up to help the suffering community.

Upward of 30 students and volunteers came together in Marga-retville, N.Y. to help with the restoration and revitalization of the city. Jessica Misiaszek, a senior journalism and mass communication major, was among the volunteers.

"I have never experienced a tornado (or) hurricane disaster, so when I see other places undergo these disasters, I want to help," Misiaszek wrote in an email. "I would rather spend my time helping others that need it, than doing nothing and worrying about my own life."

and later in the same article:

"Residents were extremely gracious and appreciative of St. Bonaventure's outreach. The two-day trip allowed students to get a true sense of the importance of helping communities in need.
"The people of the Catskills thanked our group several times for our efforts," [Alexandra] Perl wrote. "BonaResponds is a phenomenal organization dedicated to providing comfort, stability and emotional support to victims of tragedy."

On Saturday we were in the Olean Times Herald:

"For many college students, summer is a time to relax, travel, work, or catch up with friends and family.

For a number of dedicated St. Bonaventure University students with the BonaResponds group, this summer was anything but relaxing as they helped with several natural disasters around the country"

We were also in on Sunday but I can not find a link.


And on Sunday James Torres was on the front page of the Elmire StarGazette:
Flood cleanup in the Valley | stargazette.com | Elmira Flood of 2011 | Star-Gazette: JASON WHONG / STAFF PHOTO
James Torres, 21, of Long Island, an English major at St. Bonaventure University and volunteer for BonaResponds, dumps insulation material in a pile Saturday in front of the home of Sue Green on Maple Street in Athens.

Another picture from inside the paper is here. (shows Larry and James)

"

Video of the destruction in area we are working

:(