2nd Day of Work

Today our team split up into two groups.
Group one (Terry, Cathy, Ed, and Kara) returned to Ms. DeDeaux house to try and finish up. There was more finish work to do. Terry work all day to get the electrical work completed. It was really messed up with faulty wiring. Nothing was connected to the distribution panels and Terry just plugged (no pun intended) away all day; one circuit at a time. There is only one circuit remaining to fix. He also wants to hook up the air conditioner for Ms. DeDeaux. Kathy and Kara finished up all the trim work, painted all the baseboard and doors. They also replaced some tile in the bathroom and put tile near the front do to make a nice landing area. Ed put shelves in the closets, and hung closet rods in all the closets. he also pitched in to help the team finish up. Looks like one half day left to get it all done. We learned today that Ms. DeDeaux made here last mortgage payment on this house one week before Katrina. She did not have sufficient insurance. Tornadoes on the edge of Katrina blew the roof off and her home and it was flooded by rain water. She really wants to get out of that FEMA trailer in her front yard and get back into her home. Here is a picture of Ms. DeDeaux and her granddaughter who lives with her.
Group two (John, Brandy, Bob, Chris, and I) went to the home of Karen Riad (ree-odd). George Martin (not the old Beatles Manager) of "Campers for Mission" joined us to help on the Riad home. Ms. Riad was there and told us her story. Her home is in Pass Christian, MS. The home was hit with a twenty foot wall of water (storm surge) and every window and door was blown out. All the sheet rock was ruined and parts of the exterior were destroyed. The home was sitting on foundation piers 10 feet above the ground and the water from the surge nearly touched the roof. Her husband died shortly after Katrina. Ms. Riad has been living in a FEMA trailer since Katrina. A few nasty contractors started repair work on her home and ran off with her money. She lost over $100,000 to these bad people. Camp Hope as been helping Ms. Riad out. Today we put in her kitchen cabinets, grouted a hallway tile floor, and primed handrails along her stairway.
Here is a picture of Ms. Riad and her new kitchen cabinets.


Below is Brandy and Bob installing baseboard in Ms. Riad's her bathroom.

Over the last year volunteers have signed the sheet rock in her living room. Ms. Riad framed around the names with some molding and never plans to paint over it. It is a reminder to her God's love for here by sending volunteers to help her. We plan to sign her wall before we leave Camp Hope.