That's how we do it in Chicago!

Here's some more pictures of our hard work... Allison and Mori resting while we nail in another slab of sheeting.

Sue on top of the house and Rod on a ladder, to install the sheeting.

Mori nailing in sheeting

Andrea adding clips to the sheeting to help hold it in place.

Group shot with the girls from Elms College, Mike from Tacoma and Diane from New York. Too bad its not a little closer up so you can see how Mike and Rod are interlocking their hammers!!!

Louis Roby is the owner of the house we were working on on Saturday. If you have great eyes, you can read a bit of his story.

We finished our last night in New Orleans by having enjoyable dinners, then we all met up for drinks and a final walk down Bourbon Street.

This was probably one of the best trips I've ever taken. While we had our fun time, we also worked hard to help low income families get back on their feet. While we never were able to meet any of the home owners, it still felt wonderful knowing that there is a family that will be enjoying their brand new house later this year.

I'm extremely proud of the Chicago Jaycees team who worked their butts off and attempted to try things they've never done before. The Chicago Jaycees team consisted of Allison Mead, Andrea Michelfelder, Mori "Jersey" Johnson, Shatisha Wilks, David "McShady" Young, Rod "Bob the Builder" Hopkins, and me, Sue Warmuskerken (or Watermelon!).

Thank you to everyone who supported our work. You will be receiving your gift from us in April.

If you would still like to make a tax deductible contribution to either the Habitat fund or any other Jaycees Foundation projects, please go to PayPal and click "send money" and type in Chicago.Jaycees@yahoo.com.

Thanks again,

Sue Warmuskerken

Our last day...boo hoo!

Day five...exhaustion is setting in...we're back at our original house. So much to do, and we lost our wonderful new friends at 11:30 AM today! :(


I don't know think I ever really mentioned them, but we were with this group of girls from Elms College in Chicopee, MA. There was fourteen of them including three chaporones. Shockingly only two of them were lazy, other than that, they were all hard workers. Especially Jose who is a faculty member at the college and one of the lucky chaporones. We also worked with three hardcore women from Champaign-Urbana, a woman from New York who seemed to be looking for a husband, and Mike the retiree from Tacoma who yelled out crazy things and was our unofficial site leader for the week!


Anyway, we started off on our original house where we finished raising the tresses (I'm positive I've been spelling this wrong the whole time, but haven't made the effor to look at the Home Depot website to see how they're really spelled!). Once we finished with that, various projects were going on. I worked w/Andrea to put up the OSB that Bob the Builder (Rod) cut for the open holes in around the house. A group also helped go around the outside of the house to make sure no stray nails were sticking out so that the Tyvek could be put around the rest of the house. They were also working on woodwork for the front of the house.

Once we lost our Elms people, the remainder of us were reassigned to another house on the block since the house had been moved up on the priority list. We were installing sheeting on the roof. Not an easy nor fun job, but still interesting. We got up what we could before the end of the day, took a group picture and said our goodbye's.


Here's some pictures from Saturday...

Wrap up commentary coming soon...

Sue

New day, new house

For reasons that were never really explained to us, we spent Friday at a different work site and house. The day started out a little cold and wet but it dried out and warmed up quickly. This house is virtually identical to the one we've been working on. Like "our house" the interior walls had been put up although the tresses for the roof had not been delivered to the work site yet so the big projects for the day involved covering the house in Tyvek and installing the windows. It seems like there isn't really a steadfast rule about what order you have to do some of these projects. At some houses the roof is taken care of before the window installation and in others the windows go in first.

Our new house for the day...

Mori, Shatisha, and Andrea spent most of the day on the Tyvek project. It meant a lot of time spent measuring, cutting, and stapling up the Tyvek near the top of the house. The rest of us were doing various projects involved with installing the windows. Once we got the windows all in place, leveled, and nailed up the next step was taping. As we learned it's important to do the taping in a specific order to ensure the windows will be water tight in case rain gets in behind the siding. Sue and I became the leaders on this and ended up training most of the other volunteers on the process. In fact we trained so many people, we almost trained ourselves out of a job! By the end of the day just about all the windows were in and taped. Our project leader at this house was Turk and before we all left for the day he asked us to go around and make sure all the windows were locked. We laughed about it since of course, there is still no front door hung on the house but for me locking the windows was a symbol of the progress being made.

Our new house tyveked and with windows

We were all exhausted from a very physical day spent out in the sun. After we had all showered up and rested a little we headed out to a little Mexican place in the Quarter, 'El Gato Negro', to grab dinner. We got to the restaurant just as the parade that went through the Quarter that evening was getting ready to start so we missed out on getting any more beads but it did mean we were able to get a table without having to wait! We all had a good meal except for Shatisha who wasn't feeling well. She headed back to the hotel while the rest of us walked around the Quarter a little, made a call to our friend McShady, and then headed back for an early night. It's amazing how the sun zaps your energy especially when you are used to sitting at a desk all day like we are!

We are all looking forward to getting back to "our house" for our last day of work on Saturday.

Allison

Day Three Take Two

Back to day three.

We lost David as he had to travel back to Chicago. We're all very sad. But we did add Shatisha and Andrea. We had to add in additional beams to help keep the house up. I can't remember what its called exactly, I'm on construction terms overload.

We also began raising the tresses up to the top of the house. What a hard thing to do, but very interesting. Most normal construction sites have some sort of machine that would help raise them, but this is Habitat and they don't have that kind of money to blow. So three of us had to walk up ladders, while pushing the tress up the side of the house while three people stood below helping push with 2" x 4"s. Probably not the safest, but it worked. A group inside the house then had to drag the tress from the back to the front of the house. They were having some issues and one of the girls that was supposed to help didn't want to do it and was being a big whiner. We only got five raised before we ended for the day. We'll finish the job up on Saturday.

Here's some additional pictures.

Habitat for Humanity - Day Three

I'm in a bit of a rush so I'll only toss in some pictures.


Off to the work site...

Habitat for Humanity - Day Two

Hi y'all!

We've all survived day two of our project. We got the remaining walls up in our house. I had an opportunity to work on one of the other houses on our block as well today and I had the chance to use a circular saw which I've never touched before. Fun, but a bit intimidating at first.

Currently on First Street, where we're working there are three houses going up. See below a picture of the other two houses.
Today I was asked to help fix a few mistakes of the other volunteers by climbing into the rafters, which is currently only some 2" x 4"s. I'm not afraid of heights, but it was a bit nerve recking to be up there relying on beams built by college kids!

A picture from where I was standing...yikes!

Rod's been working on the closet for the air conditioner unit. Dave's been supervising and putting a ton of nails into the wood. Mori and Allison helped build some walls. I especially like this hard a work shot...Notice how Mori is eating an apple while Allison is hammering a nail into the board! ha!

Here's Dave leveling...

Rod working on his closet...
After our work day we drove over to the Musician's Village and the lower Ninth Ward to check out the area. Below is couple pictures from the Musician's Village.

We didn't drive around for too long in the lower Ninth, but it was interesting to see. Katrina hit on August 29, 2005, today is March 12, 2008...while there's great projects going up, such as the Musician's Village, there's still so much work to be done. For the most part, the lower Ninth has barely been touched. Houses still have the spray paint on the front with the date the house was inspected (some of which I saw weren't even inspected until late September), number of people in the house, if anyone was found dead in the house, and if there were any pets and whether they were found alive.

It is extremely hard to grasp the full picture of how much of the city was under water and how these people made it through the devastation. Driving through the city really helps paint the bigger picture, but we can only imagine what they all went through. More than two years later, all we could really do is sit in awe and shock at all that happened and how much more work needs to be done.

Till Thursday...
Sue

Habitat for Humanity - Day One

Our official "fun" days are over...now on to the reason we really came to New Orleans. We began our volunteer work with the New Orleans area Habitat for Humanity (http://www.habitat-nola.org) today.

We have to be at our work site at 7:30 AM each day and we'll be working till about 3:30 PM. The project we're working on had its groundbreaking on March 1st so we're in the early stages yet.

The project is located in the Central City neighborhood of New Orleans. It is a predominately African American neighborhood, that is notable for brass bands and Mardi Gras Indian traditions. A large part of the neighborhood is above flooding level so it did not suffer the same damage as other areas of New Orleans. The area has had many vacant lots and vacated buildings and because it is on higher, dryer ground, there is a lot of post Katrina renovation plans.

Here is a picture of the house that we're currently working on. These two pictures were taken when we were first starting out.


We began building the walls for the house and did a ton of nailing. We laughed a ton and no one was injured! Yay!

Here's a few more pictures from throughout the day:

Allison & Rod lifting the wall

Mori holding up the wall

Dave hammering in some nails

Picture of our great work from the end of the day:
Good times were had and we can't wait for day two!

Till next time...
Sue

Meeting up with "McShady"

Sunday was sleep in day. We decided to do brunch at the Court of Two Sisters at 1 PM. David, who was already down here for some family stuff, met up with us...an hour late! I think he was up a bit late enjoying Bourbon Street the night before...don't let him try to tell you otherwise.

After brunch we walked back to the Olivier House so that David could see what he was moving into (he was staying at the Ritz over the weekend!). He was VERY excited to be moving in with us on Monday!

Then we walked to Canal Street and caught the St. Charles Street Street Car to go for a little self tour of St. Charles Street. Loyola and Tulane Universities are located on this street as well as the zoo. Prior to Katrina, this street car could take over an hour to get around. Now when you get to a certain point, you have to exit because they don't have the whole line working yet. It just so happens that at the end of the line there was a daiquiri shop. As we walk in we see a guy coming out with a whole gallon of daiquiris...insane! Then we found out that the Sunday Special was only $17 so we bought a gallon for the five of us to split...you can't take us anywhere! (to those who donated, don't worry, you're not paying for our daiquiris!!! These were our personal fun days on our own dime...I just figured I'd share some fun stuff from our trip as well!)


After our Daiquiri/Street Car trip, we parted ways with David and headed to Harrah's where I doubled my $5 to $10.45! So I cashed out and walked away. Mori, Allison and Rod were watching the end of the Rutgers game, they unfortunately lost by only a couple points.

We eventually headed to dinner then called it a night. I went to sit by the fire place at our hotel to read. As I was sitting there I hear about a broken toilet in one of the rooms...something about soap being dropped into it...then the lady at the check-in desk saying "oh no...I don't want those poor girls to have to move again..." So I text Mori to see if it was them with the broken toilet and sure enough, it was! Someone, not either of them, had dropped soap in the toilet...how the heck does that happen???...and it cracked the already cracked toilet even further. The plumber/maintenance guy said there was no way he could fix it without pulling the whole toilet out so the girls were going to have to move again!!!

After the toilet incident, Allison came to join me, then Mori, then the Gay Concierge (he calls himself this). He proceeded to tell us all these crazy stories about crack heads and strippers. You can find more details on this in Mori's journal when we return. I headed to bed shortly after all the crazy stories while Mori and Allison headed to Krystal and Mango Mango for a late night treats.

Nothing too exciting...but we're having a good time...can't wait for our volunteer days with Habitat to start!

You get what you pay for...

Saturday began well. The car picked us up on time. We had plenty of time to dilly at the airport prior to our flight. We were only a few minutes delayed due to deicing. The flight was uneventful. We arrived in New Orleans to slightly warmer temps...though not all that much!

We took a cab to our hotel...the Olivier House, in the French Quarter. We already had the mindset that this trip was going to be an adventure...we thought we were prepared for anything. From the outside of the hotel, all looked good. We walked in, checked in, only to find out that they had my reservation, but not Allison & Mori's. Mind you, it is Saturday and the hotel is completely booked! The girl at the front desk found a room with one bed for them to sleep in for Saturday night and they had to bring a nasty spare mattress to throw on the floor. The girls were stuck in a loft with a pullout with no mattress and a TV with no buttons. Rod and I headed to our room to find stuck in the early 1980's with nasty pink flowered wall paper and teal green carpeting. Every room is decorated and sized differently, so you don't know what you'll get till you walk into the room.


Enough about our digs...least we've had a good laugh about it!

Allison, Mori, Rod and I headed out for walk to check out the Quarter. We treated ourselves to a Cafe Au Lait and some Beignets. Checked out some local artists in Jackson Square. This place is a never ending party! At 6 PM was the St. Joseph's Parade through the Quarter. We stopped to partake in the action. We managed to get a variety of beads, but we had to watch out for the drunk crazies who were trying to steal them from everyone. And NO we did not FLASH anyone!!! We were all well behaved! :)


After the parade, we grabbed dinner at Crescent City Brewery. Walked around some more, then headed in for the evening. We did not party all night with the rest of the crazies on Bourbon Street...dodging their puke was enough for me to not want to hang with them!

Till next time...

One week out...

So much to do, so little time to get everything done, but boy am I ready for a vacation. Okay, so its a working vacation, but its for a great cause! A couple of us will be there early to take in the city of New Orleans...might as well help their economy a bit with a few daiquiris, some gumbo, and a beignet or two.

The weather down there has been all over the place so packing will be slightly challenging...as long as it doesn't snow and I get some sun, I'll be happy!

We're still accepting donations to help with the costs, please consider helping us out by going to www.paypal.com and click on 'send money,' type in chicago.jaycees@yahoo.com, its as easy as that! We're also accepting checks made out to Chicago Jaycees Foundation, they can be sent to the Chicago Jaycees, 47 W. Polk St Ste 100-241, Chicago, IL 60605.

Till next time...
Sue