Demo House

When I first went to the demo house, I wasn't that excited. However, as the day went on, I really enjoyed it. I used a sledge hammer to help demolish a brick wall. It was a lot of work but as the day went on it was extremely rewarding to see that the entire house was down, and all we had left to do was pick up the trash. It turned out to be a really good experience.

Micah House

Today, four Nerinx girls and myself volunteered at the Micah House, a shelter that gives aid to the homeless. They do things such as let people come in and take showers, wash their clothes, use the telephone, internet, and have snacks while engaging in conversation with each other. Today I met a woman by the name of Evelyn who shared her life story with a few of us. It was incredibly heartbreaking to hear about the struggles she and her husband had to face after losing their home. It was such an inspirational day seeing all of the help offered by workers at Micah House, and I really found myself loving the experience. Realizing how these people have to live is truly eye opening; and the thought of them going from everything to nothing is terrible. Like one man said, you never think that you will be the one sitting in the Micah House or any other organization for the homeless until you're actually there. Being around these people all day was an uplifting experience that I wouldn't trade for the world.

-Molly Mansfield

Patty (Work Day #1)

Hello!
This is Orca (Sarah Kollef). Today was the first day at our work site, and we worked with Back Bay Mission at a house painting and doing yard work. When we got to the site in the morning, we met the homeowner, Patty. She lived in the house with her son and six cats. They were confined to two small rooms while their house was being worked on for fourteen months. Today was really exciting because her house should be finished by the end of the week. We saw a lot of signs for the Spirit of Seal. When we asked Patty about this she explained that on the 29th of every month everyone on her block gathers for a block party (her block is named Seal). The reason they do this is because Hurricane Katrina hit them on the 29th six years ago and they celebrate the fact that they are still here six years later. Knowing Patty's story made it a lot easier to work all day and has given me inspiration to carry on the rest of the week.
I can't wait to continue working tomorrow!
-Orca

Work Day - Numero Uno

Greetings from Biloxi!
Reporting is P-Fitty, T-Noz, and Chongo (Emily Pfitzinger, Teresa Nguyen, and Anna Chott). This morning we woke up and headed out into the already hot Gulf sun. After breakfast we broke into our groups, some heading to work with Back Bay Mission and others Hope CDA. The three of us worked with groups with Back Bay Mission, Teresa and Emily demolishing a house and Anna painting. We each enjoyed multiple water bottles as Mr. Magee came to our groups sporting his nickname "Hi-Drate", a simple reminder of the importance of water. Tomorrow many of us will be pulled from our sites to work with the city laying mulch in various parks around town. This morning, we attended a meeting to kickstart our work with Back Bay, and Craig, the coordinator for volunteers at Back Bay, told us about how the pending floods will affect Biloxi. The level of resilience is definitely impressive as he said that the locals are still hopeful that the floods won't impact their homes as drastically as Katrina and the oil spill. We can't wait to see what's in store for us the rest of the week and are excited to see progress in the homes we're working on.
Sending our love from the Gulf,
P-Fitty, T-Noz, and Chongo

First Day of Work-May 30th

Today, we the water crew (Emily Najjar, Hayley Bokern) and Mr. Magee and Mr. Toben's shadows (Rachel Hansen, Meghan O'Leary), started our first day of work. We spent the entire day driving around Biloxi, going from site to site. The first site was a historical house where thirty of our people joined the Back Bay people to renovate. The second site was a house that needed to be completely demolished. There were eight girls on the roof at a time, and they were only allowed to stay up there for a total of twenty minutes because of the heat on this hot Biloxi Monday. They had to completely gut out the house. One of the best pictures from the day: Cecilia Marten straddling the roof waiting for an extension cord. We then went to a site in Gulfport where insulation was being put in. These girls are lucky because they get first priority for showers tonight because of their work with the insulation. We got to go to Walmart (which is air-conditioned ;) ), and buy twenty cases of water for everyone. We definitely got some stares with our four carts full of cases of water. Then we came back to Back Bay and made 198 sandwiches for the whole crew.

Mr. Magee is calling us now! Back to delivering water to sites!

Xoxo Biloxi Babes,
Rachel, Hayley, Emily, Meghan (and Tobes)

Art Steinaway

If we are ever to be truly at our best, we need so many good people to be a part of our lives. How do we find these good people... we smile and say hello and listen and talk.

It was always my vision that any young person who wanted to participate in service to others should be encouraged to do so. In the early days of this trip, we outgrew the two temporary trailers at the Back Bay Mission. Someone suggested, I call a certain number and I soon found more lodging for students at Sea Shore United Methodist Assembly. The first year it was kind of fun, as the student lodgers at Back Bay had kind of a fun rivalry with the students lodging at SeaShore. I still remember Lauren Lampe leading some kind of call and response cheer. "Sea What? .... Sea Shore!"

If not for the kind people at Sea Shore, this trip would have been 25 girls a year. And many students would have lost this opportunity for service. Anne and Art always were friendly and got such a kick out of the spirit and friendliness of the Nerinx students. I remember Art shaking his head at the Missouri people who drove over the grass as we exited as there was a perfectly good road we could have used. I have stopped by and seen Anne each March as we prepare for the invasion of the masses, and I was struck each time by her friendliness, and how a person I had met just a few times knew me so well and could share her warmth and her kindness with me. Anne is my friend, and today as I somehow could not get a key to work, she patiently showed up and helped. As we drove back to the students in a golf cart, Anne told me that Art had been diagnosed just recently with a fast growing cancer and almost had quickly had died. As we slowly moved back to the dorms, I realized this what Fr. Boyle was talking about ... this was the kinship he talked about.

So if you are a Biloxi girl who has ever stayed at Sea Shore and remember how special it was, just send a note to Anne at sumasuma@bellsouth.net and thank Anne and her husband Art for the dedication and love that made your experience happen.

Thanks Anne, for being one of a handful of people that have always made this trip special. and thanks for being my friend.


John Magee

Biloxi Bound!

Today, we woke up in Jackson and went to church at St. Richards for 10:30 mass. The community of St. Richards welcomed us with open arms and wished us luck on our journey to "light the world." After mass we hit the road! Biloxi bound! We stopped and got some T Bell on the way. After a couple hours of napping, we could tell we had reached Biloxi by the sweat stains. We took all our stuff to our rooms and RAN to the beach, where we swam and played in the sand. Then we came up to the rooms and munched. We waited for dinner at 7 at Back Bay, where we had delicious hamburgers and played on the big swing. Mr. Magee told us what to expect tomorrow and we're ready! We have an early wake up at 6:45 for breakfast and then we're heading to Back Bay to start our work! Its going to be hot, so "DRATE" said its okay to pee the bed as long as we "hydrate". Looks like tomorrow is going to be an exciting day :)


XOXO biloxi girls,

Taylor, Madison, & Emma