Alumnus joins BonaResponds effort in Texas

The story based on Bill's letter:

Alumnus joins BonaResponds effort in Texas:

"In a recent edition of the alumni newsletter an announcement caught my attention. I had heard of BonaResponds and that they had done disaster relief after storms in Buffalo, Mississippi, and Iowa. It always made me proud to see the service and efforts of the students, faculty, and alumni to help other people. It was a sacrifice, but one that showed what St. Bonaventure is all about.


Now they were looking for volunteers to help with disaster relief in Bridge City, Texas, during the first two weeks of January 2009. I live in Dallas, so if they were coming over 2,000 miles, the least I could do would be to drive 250 miles and try to help out."

SUPER fast update

* Volunteers needed a break today. Many of them are really tired. Unfortunately with many leaving tomorrow, there really was no time for a day off since so many homes still need gutting and there are very few volunteers to be had.

* New pictures are up here.

* The new T-shirts arrived today! They look good!

* John made it home.

* Large contingent goes home tomorrow :( which means I can only work a half day since I half another airport trip to make.

* Everyone went to Sonic and Wal Mart tonight. The Wal Mart trip include meeting a real cowboy outside the store. Oh and BTW he was carrying a baby lamb. I don't know. So don't ask.

Tuesday's update

* The day got off to a smelly start when there was a strong smell of sulpher. Then things got worse when, in spite of duct tape, the door of the world's largest refrigerator decided to open for the first time since the flood. Yeah, the smell (and gallons of black liquid) exploded from the door onto the floor, our gloves, and just about everything else.

* Good but not great day today. Some of the volunteers seem burned out and the house was frustrating as much of the structure was damaged beyond repair. Can only tell after gutting it, but gutting it is no fun when you are not confident it can be salvaged. Moreover, the house had undergone several remodels with drywall, on top of paneling and even closets and a room build beneath the original ceiling.

* had two neighbors stop today at our site to say thanks. One made coffee for the volunteers. Also tomorrow the homeowner at the other site is buying them pizza for lunch.

* We all received Red Church of Christ Disaster Response Team shirts today.

* We had paper plate awards tonight. All were funny and some well deserved...lol..(for those of youwho do not know, paper plate awards are funny awards written on paper plates. For instance in the past I have won the "What not to wear award" etc.

* The departures pick up pace tomorrow with Alicia and John leaving. Which means a 4:30AM airport trip. With a stop at both Houston airports.

Bona gives back: St. Bonaventure students travel to Texas to aid in Ike clean-up - Wellsville, NY - Wellsville Daily Reporter

Bona gives back: St. Bonaventure students travel to Texas to aid in Ike clean-up - Wellsville, NY - Wellsville Daily Reporter

"Bridget Morgan, a St. Bonaventure senior from Cleveland, Ohio, is on her fourth BonaResponds trip.

“It’s a great program. I’ve been doing it since I was a freshman. Every year, it’s been a blast,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity to help people out and make friends at St. Bonaventure.”

Morgan remarked about how the owner of one of the houses BonaResponds worked on was very depressed at first. The BonaResponds volunteers found the house the way it was left after Hurricane Ike. The volunteers took out the drywall, the insulation, the cabinets and other items. 

“When we went there, the guy was very sad. He didn’t talk to any of us,” she said, adding that his spirits improved as things went along.

Also in the same article:

"....A couple of BonaResponders who didn’t go to Texas helped one or two days in Friendship. They were joined by a father and son from Massachusetts, Bill and John Driscoll....Bill Driscoll said he met Mahar in Mississippi during a relief effort following Hurricane Katrina. He said he told Mahar in December that he and John were looking for something to do as volunteers....“Ed asked us to do the ceiling,” Bill Driscoll said while he, John and a couple of other volunteers worked on placing drywall sheets and fastening them to the ceiling. “He said if we can get the ceiling done, he can figure the rest out with the Bona kids.”

Van Curen said they were grateful to BonaResponds and the Driscolls for donating their time "

Updates on many things...

* Weather was cool in morning but warmed nicely.

* Judging from the cockroaches, it seems that everything really is bigger in Texas.

* Several local people stopped to say thanks today.

* Interestingly our group of volunteers got at least 4 or 5 times more done today than the paid gutters on a similar house across the street. ed

* Running here is pretty good....Not as good as Newton County Missouri, but much better than in some places we have volunteered: little traffic and some grass running. Wish there were some hills and/or trails. Mike saw a dead alligator on his run the other day; I have seen many live turtles,

* Both teams made great progress today. Jerry's crew of 12 gutted the first four feet of a house (the homeowner did not want the rest done). They were they so interesting that the neighbor pulled out a chair and sat and watched for hours. The house was a former mill with 14 foot high ceilings so everyone was sort of relieved that they did not have to do the entire house.

This owner approached us a few days ago and asked us if we could do his house. Pete scouted it, and only a few days later he was rushed to the top of the list.

My crew of 7 volunteers gutted a double-wide that had been remodeled in 2002. It was interesting in that there was drywall over paneling throughout much of the house. There was a great deal to haul out, but as far as gut jobs go, this was about as easy as they come. As mentioned on Twitter, it is amazing the difference from the previous house (as well built as any I had ever gutted, to a prefabricated one.

* Have spent quite a bit of time on pictures today. Have some from Rob, Bill, Jerry, and Alicia uploaded. More to come.

* Bill made it back to Dallas. What a great guy. I speak for all of BonaResponds when I say I hope he comes on many many more trips!

From ROB: TEXAS

From ROB: TEXAS
Originally uploaded by FinanceProfessor.

We uploaded quite a few pictures tonight after the bonfire. Enjoy them!

Work going well. . going to finish Jimmys house then take a half day. . the vol have worked really hard and have earned a break. . floors mainly done, some removing nails, going to leave upper layer of ceilings due to insulation and lack of respirators. . sunny and cool today.

Friday already? Wow..

* Hard to believe it is Friday already. Great week so far! Volunteers are really working hard.

* Today was another very good (and extremely tiring!) day. I am exhausted to this will be short.

* Two teams today.

Cool kids: tree house. Mission accomplished. Flat out difficult and exhausting. Hardest tree I have ever taken down no question about it. Did not damage roof, house, and only mior damage on the deck.

PM: gutted at Jimmy's house. Talk about great construction. Build to withstand any tornado, the flood waters snuck around the construction and did much damage. Joine by Jerry, Steve, and Mike at end.

Potentially cool kids: did an all day house gutting job. Finished a bit early and came to help the cool kids.

* Uploaded more pictures today, including some from Jerry. Up to over 330 now.

* tomorrow: "Mud House" Mudding out a house and then gutting. All volunteers will be working together.

A story for the ages

There are very few boring days in volunteering. oh sure, there are a few, but they are few and far between. More often than not the whole unpredictability of it makes it fascinating and fun.

Take today for instance:

The work day started boringly enough as we got to a home that we were supposed to finish bleaching and gut the back garage and haul some appliances to the road. Not a problem in the least except that electricians were already there and there was no way we were going to get in their way, so bleaching was off.

So we had too many people for the job. Fortunately the group from Indiana was working across the street so we went to see if they needed help. There house was really big so the coolest of the cool team went to help.

It turned into one of the best gutting jobs we have had here. The Indiana crew was excellent and together we flew. From Kitchen, to living room, to garage, to bathroom.

In the afternoon our team changed jobs and went to cut a large tree off of a house. We got there and almost at once we were met by a neighbor who was very opposed to us cutting the tree. Complicating matters a bit was the fact that it was her tree that had fallen on the house and deck.

Now we had been warned abiout this woman. Jerry had said it and even the post woman had told us. BUT nothing could prepare you for her. She told us we were angering God, that we were doing the Devil's work, and just about everything else one could imagine.

The next thing I new the police were there and after explaining she did in fact need help, said we could go on cutting. About 30 seconds later that was put on hold as she wanted to buy the tree; for $2000.

Stop. Seriously stop. This is a transaction that should not have been allowed to go through. the tree was not worth $2000, ESPECIALLY when it was going to be in firewood sized pieces. I actually told the police officer that there was not a court in the land that would allow the contract to stand if in fact it was questioned. She was not sane and rational at the time.

But transact they did and we were told to cut the tree as we were before. The difference however was that the wood would go to her ("except for the trashy limbs".

So we continued cutting. But that was not east either as the tree turned out to be quite the challenge. Anne and Carrie did an amazing job cutting branches from the roof. It is not completely donw, but the majority is and we will all always remember the day!

More on the tree tomorrow.

An email from an Anonymous Bridge City Resident

I just wanted to write and tell you I wept as I read your blog. There is so much destruction here, along with the uncertainties and depression you talked about. It makes me so happy that you guys are here, helping!

My dad is 75 (76 in March) and is doing most of the work at their home alone too. He is strong for his age, but mom isn't able to help him much at all, so he gets tired easy. My brother works 7-12's and comes when he is able, but daddy just keeps on going and he wont let me do anything to help. So it's him and one of our neighbor friends who comes after his job and helps late into the evening to try and put things back together.

[He] is a proud cajun man who won't ask for help much....All the outside help he has had, has been from me just signing him up with groups and them showing up. So I say all this to show you how much everybody truly appreciates you all being here.

It's like this a lot for the older people in our area. They won't ask for help and they try to do it alone. But you guys are AWESOME! And I just wanted to say thank you again. It means so much that yall are here ... more than you know.Thanks!!!!

When we get letters like these, I really have to ask, why doesn't everyone help? It really does not take that much time and you make such a difference. Want to come back with us? Feb 27-March 7. Or go volunteer without us. The Church of Christ Disaster Response team is good, well organized, and very helpful. Give them a call and go volunteer. You will make a big difference!

Quick AM update

* Going to try and mingle the cool and uncool teams today. Both doing doing gutting jobs. The team formerly known as the Uncool kids, did walls yesterday. Today is floors for them. The formerly (and still) cool kids (who amazingly lost in kickball) will begin a new house today.

* Rob made a midnight earplug run to the storage shed for a few girls who could not sleep due to the snoring of a few others.

* Breakfast is a "do it yourself" meal. Choices include cereal, instant oatmeal, fruit, bagels, and the seemingly ubiquitous donuts.

* Weather is to be in the upper sixties and clear.

* Rob mentioned that Sonic is delicious. Steve is partial is WhataBurger but puzzled by the mustard or mayo question on the sixty question test required to order.

* work time!

Thoughts from today

I wish there were more hours in the day. Every day is full of so many stories that I can not do them justice, but want to at least point out a few of the high points from today.

* Big Picture stuff: One more home gutted. One partial house gutted. No injuries. The homeowners so affected by the storm are just a bit, a tiny bit, but still a bit, better than they were 24 hours ago. So the day was a success.

* Possibly my favorite part of a very good day was talking with the the homeowner at our first house (which we did finish). It will be a long road back, but at least their home is gutted.

* One of the interesting things the homeowner mentioned was the enormity of this. Try to imagine working alone and essentially tearing your own home apart. (I have a hard enough time finding time to paint a single room. Now try throwing out all of your possessions, taking down all the walls, taking up the carpets and floors, and ALMOST rebuilding your entire house. While working. While raising a family. Seriously, take a few seconds and try to imagine it. Wouldn't you want any help you could get? I know I would.

* After lunch we returned to the site we had been working on and we saw an elderly woman struggling to move a pallet in her yard. So Carrie and another volunteer went and helped her to move it into position to help construct a walk way through her swampy front yard.

After the pallet was moved, I got to speak with her. She spoke of the difficulties facing the residents: too little money, too much work to do to recover, and a great deal of uncertainty as to whom will be allowed to rebuild and what houses will need to be raised.

She also talked about how she had lived in the back of an 18 wheel truck body for weeks after the storm and how while thankful for FEMA (she now calls Bridge City FEMA town since so many live in FEMA provided housing), she fears most won't be ready when the government wants their homes back. She is also afraid of another hurricane, but not sure what else she can do.

* As a grocer whose family did have a store flooded (Portville) in the flood of 1972 in the Olean area caused by Hurricane Agnes, it was with special interest that I went to the temporary Market Basket store located in front of where the original store was 4 months ago. Not sure how much it cost to set up, but the store was both very small and quite busy when I was there.

* I really like the set up the Church of Christ Disaster Response has at the comunity center. Much food and good supplies. They are at once organized and flexible. Good job Mark, Shirley, and the rest of the volunteers!

* Talked to Michelle today. We will be getting shirts before we leave! Very exciting. The shirts were donated but as I am not sure if she wants us to share that, I will leave her last name out of it until we have permission to use it.

* Also talked with Bill Driscoll and Donna. The work contined to go well. I am not sure if or when it will run, but the Wellsville newspaper is interested in doing a story on the work that is on going there.

* uploaded more pictures and videos to flickr.

* I have been asked what this trip is like. All trips are unique and it is way to early to say, but things are going very well. And I know I should not try to classify anything this soon, but I will attempt to:

1. Work seems most like Iowa so far. Gutting and more gutting but at a pace slightly less frantic than the first Biloxi trip. (Maybe more like Biloxi January 2006)
2. Base Camp sort of has the feel of first trip to Biloxi in Oct 2005. Why? maybe because of all the supplies, maybe because there is not an awful lot more to do besides work.
3. Residential area where we have been working reminds me of a larger, richer, Pearlington.

* a reminder that you can follow what is going on with BonaResponds at our twitter account as well.

Bridget sweeping up a semi gutted house in bridge city

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Rob playing a piano

Rob playing a piano
Originally uploaded by FinanceProfessor.

Posted about 50 pictures of the BonaResponds Bridge City Trip. More to follow.