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.

Bush Consoles Victims of Tornadoes in the South - New York Times

Bush Consoles Victims of Tornadoes in the South - New York Times:

"The president’s day began in Enterprise, Ala., where eight students were killed as a tornado on Thursday ripped apart Enterprise High School. Mr. Bush, accompanied by Mayor Kenneth Boswell and several student leaders, made his way through a destroyed wing of the school, stopping in the hallway, where raining chunks of metal and concrete cost the students their lives."

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.

One Path to Rebirth in New Orleans - New York Times

One Path to Rebirth in New Orleans - New York Times:

"While New Orleans haggles over a master redevelopment plan, people in some neighborhoods like Broadmoor have been rebuilding on their own. They are forming partnerships with companies, universities and nonprofit groups to help gut homes, assemble volunteers and find pumping equipment.

“I think what has happened is the government has pursued a very laissez-faire approach,” said Thomas Murphy, a senior fellow with the Urban Land Institute in Washington. “There’s been no strong redevelopment authority to date; that agency doesn’t exist.”

Rebuilding has not been easy. For those who choose to stay, sky-high insurance premiums and rising crime rates await. Insurance payouts have been slow, and a state rebuilding program has paid only a small fraction of applicants. In a city that often did not run smoothly before Katrina, some residents are growing frustrated and leaving. But others, like those in Broadmoor, refuse to go."

WireTap Magazine - New Orleans, One Year Later

One of the things we are planning on doing on this trip is to drive through parts of region to show volunteers how much work is still needed.

WireTap Magazine - New Orleans, One Year Later:

"I want as many people to come visit here as possible,' a Lower Ninth Ward resident told me as we walked past the infamous breached levees and destroyed homes of his neighborhood. 'The national media has forgotten us, the politicians in D.C. have forgotten us. I support anything to get the word out.'

Among the people of New Orleans, this sentiment is common -- the country has moved on, and if people would just come here and see, maybe they'll bring attention and consciousness."

VIdeo of NewOrleans

I know I had included this before, but this is a new group of volunteers, so if you have not seen this, I highly recommend watching it!

NOVAC - Home: "Why should New Orleans be rebuilt? NOVAC hopes to answer this question through a series of community-based short documentaries. Local filmmakers are directing the shorts that highlight the unique culture, people, and spirit that make New Orleans a city worth rebuilding.

While parts of New Orleans are alive and kicking, a short drive outside of the French Quarter or Uptown reveals neighborhoods severly damaged by the flooding. NOVAC is also producing a one-hour documentary called The Drive. "

The Next American City--Pass Christian

This is an old article, but I guess it still holds

The Next American City:

"Town officials have accepted an offer from Wal-Mart to turn the once-historic downtown, formerly a strip of antique shops, boutiques, and health food stores shaded by a canopy of 300-year-old live oaks, into an area to be known as Pass Christian Wal-Mart Village. According to the Mississippi Renewal Forum, a consortium started last October by Governor Haley Barbour, the retail giant has partnered with a New Orleans-based real-estate development company called Historic Restoration, Inc. “to develop the mixed-use housing portion of the project.”"

Bush to visit Miss. Coast and New Orleans

Bush to visit Miss. Coast and New Orleans:

"President Bush is scheduled to visit the Mississippi Coast and New Orleans this week, according to a report in The Sun Herald newspaper.
The newspaper quotes a news advisory issued by the White House. It says the President is set to arrive on Thursday."

10 Day Weather Forecast for Pass Christian, MS - weather.com

10 Day Weather Forecast for Pass Christian, MS - weather.com:

"Sat Mar 3
Mostly Cloudy 67°/45° 10%

Sun Mar 4
Partly Cloudy 64°/42° 10%"

Hometime - How-To - Project Help - Drywall

Given what we will likely be doing in the Gulf over break, this is a good site to take a look at:

Hometime - How-To - Project Help - Drywall:

"When hanging drywall always work from the top to the bottom. And always run the drywall sheets perpendicular to the framing.

Hang drywall on ceilings before walls, so the sheets on the walls can help support the corners of the ceiling sheets."

St. Bonaventure University: BonaResponds readies for return to the Gulf

St. Bonaventure University: BonaResponds readies for return to the Gulf:

"When St. Bonaventure University’s BonaResponds group invaded the Gulf Coast last March, it did so with sledgehammers and pry bars to help gut homes saturated by Hurricane Katrina. When the local army of volunteers heads south this year its mission will be focused on rebuilding. "

Katrina 'voluntourists' make labor a vacation - USATODAY.com

Katrina 'voluntourists' make labor a vacation - USATODAY.com:

"Shattuck is among the massive wave of volunteers — half a million, by one estimate — who have come here from across the nation in the nearly 18 months since Katrina struck.

Their impact on the storm-ravaged state has been immeasurable. From Pascagoula in the east to Bay St. Louis in the west, these volunteers have been the one positive constant for residents who have battled through lengthy power outages, mosquito infestations, stuffy FEMA trailers, recalcitrant insurers and an often molasses-slow government bureaucracy.

'They built our community back,' D'Iberville Mayor Rusty Quave says. 'Without those volunteer groups, we would be just starting. Our houses would be like some of the parishes in Louisiana where there are 10,000 houses that have not been mucked out.'"

Duke Program Seeks to Expand Service Work - New York Times

How can BonaResponds emulate this???

Duke Program Seeks to Expand Service Work - New York Times:

"Duke University announced yesterday that it would create a program backed by $30 million, half from a donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to help students work on projects like teaching at a school in Durham, N.C., or building one in Kenya."

NYTimes on Residents giving up

From the NY Times:

"A year ago, Ms. Larsen, 36, and Mr. Langlois, 37, were hopeful New Orleanians eager to rebuild and improve the city they adored. But now they have joined hundreds of the city’s best and brightest who, as if finally acknowledging a lover’s destructive impulses, have made the wrenching decision to leave at a time when the population is supposed to be rebounding.

Their reasons include high crime, high rents, soaring insurance premiums and what many call a lack of leadership, competence, money and progress. In other words: yes, it is still bad down here. But more damning is what many of them describe as a dissipating sense of possibility, a dwindling chance at redemption for a great city that, even before the storm, cried out for great improvement."

A thank you from our Snow Shoveling day!

We shoveled some elderly homeowners today. Most of our list came from St. Johns. We got the following email from Jen (a BonaRespond member and St. Johns employee.)

"Perhaps you can pass this on -- it's Friday, 4:15pm, and I just got off the phone with one of our parishioners, who called the office to say "thank you for sending those angels from St. Bonaventure to shovel for me. I didn't know how I was ever going to get it done. This is just wonderful! Thank you so much!"