Pete's Grey and Maroon House

This week a group of between 15-20 people depending upon the day have been working on scraping, caulking, and sanding a house. The story of the man's house we are at is actually a little humorous. I was inside the house to use the restroom and as I was walking out I decided I'd ask him what happened to him when Katrina hit. He said the morning it happened he stepped out of bed and before he hit the floor he hit about 4-5 inches of water. This had happened to him before so it wasn't too much of a shock. As he walked into the kitchen he decided, hey, my tv is plugged in up high, there isn't much I can do, why don't I just kick back and relax (this is all at 3 a.m. by the way). So, he warmed up 4 cups of coffee, put a chair at the high end of the house, and turned his tv so he could see it from where he was at. The water only got up about 5 inches, but walking into the house you could tell that the damage it caused was devastating. All of his flooring had to be ripped up and the wood had buckled. His house was infested with bugs, yet it didn't seem to bother him a bit. I couldn't imagine living in conditions such as his.

The work we did was extremely rewarding after knowing his story and seeing the work that needed to be done. Every little bit helps, it truly does. As we sit in the hot sun sweating, we all remind ourselves of what this man and so many others have had to go through and it keeps us going.

Mary Ellen Carmody "Meeces"


In order to beautify Pete's house, a great amount of scraping and painting was called for. My crew spent Monday and a good majority of Tuesday scraping the whole exterior of the house. We also had to caulk what seemed like every board on the house. After we were finished prepping the house, we were able to start painting. We had no fear climbing up the tallest ladders or fighting off the wasps (ok..maybe a little). Pete's house is now gray with white and maroon trim! We successfully finished Pete's house on Wednesday and my crew was elated!

The most uplifting part of the experience was the support we received. Pete's house is on a main street and is very busy. If people didn't stop to tell us how much they appreciate what we were doing, then they honked, waved, or yelled words of encouragement. This let us know how much of an impact we were truly making on this man's life.

Megan Loudon "Soupy"