Chicago Jaycees

Last Day at the Site

2010-07-02T15:13:00.001-05:00

April 10

Seems this is the last day for most of us. Katherine already left the day before. Satisha is leaving in the afternoon and I’m leaving in the evening. Allison and Jessica aren’t leaving yet. Didn’t get to do a whole lot today. Worked with Jeremy on finding the water source for both building we were working on. The group gather together to take pictures. Today was also the last day for the South Carolina and Kentucky folks.

We went out for lunch and got some grits. Had a huge lunch and it made me want to sleep. Went back to the hotel to pack my stuff. The hotel billed me for things I didn’t even use they called them incidentals!. Its Code word for now we’re so going to bend you over. Shuttle came on time and thankfully it went through the French quarters one more time before going to the airport. It was a nice 3 days of volunteering. If you get the opportunity you should give it a shot

Femi

Day 3 site work and hotel bed Magic

2010-07-02T14:11:00.000-05:00

April 10

Out to the site again, the truck brought in more dirt today. So more leveling and shoveling. This time they brought in a lot of dirt. Jessica helped out with leveling, Satisha, Katherine and Allison were assigned to painting. Got to chat more with the folks from South Carolina and Louisville. I think I brought in some dirty in the rental van from all my hard work of working with dirt.

Lunch was great, felt like a construction worker with the lunch pack and work cloths (no fashion statement today). More work after lunch. Still felt rewarding, met the women that own the houses we were working on. They also had to put in hours for their crib.

Back to the hotel, nap time. Then out roaming around like tourist. Checking out scenery and the ladies of French quarters drinking Mango Mango. Dinner was great, some combination of sea food and rice. That works for me all the time. Weather was great, we all went back to Satisha and Jessica hotel room. They have a weird thing going in their room. For whatever reason if pressure is applied on the bed either by sitting on the bed or shaking it, the lights in the room goes off. Now this is a neat trick. Though not every girl would be impressed if a guy brought you to the room and the lights keep going out. This makes the windows on my ceiling look like small potatoes. For some reason I got tired really quickly today.

Femi

Day 2 : Off to the site

2010-07-02T13:41:00.001-05:00

April 9th

Woke up early, didn’t really sleep much. Walked across the street to wait for Allison and Katherine. Wore my running shoes again this year or what’s left of them. It was the same pair that I wore last year that got stained with mud. Satisha and Jessica met us over there at the site. Jeremy from Habitat was still here, great!! The chain smoking other dude from Habitat had moved on, that guy could work you. The folks from SC and Louisville Kentucky church and a couple from Virginia were also on site, what are the odds that the same folks we worked with the previous year from SC & Louisville Kentucky would be there at the same time . We got to take a couple of pictures and I flexed some of my guns for the camera. The spray –on 6 Pack hasn’t arrived yet in the mail (movie 300 flash back).

Ok, work starts I got assigned, or rather I assigned myself to shoveling, leveling and carrying the wheelbarrow with dirt. This was more fun than doing painting and getting all that paint on my T shirt (you know some of us here have to make a fashion statement). Worked on 2 buildings pouring dirt and leveling off the backward surface. We went through the dirt so fast it finished before lunch. After lunch, as there wasn’t any more dirt to do leveling, I helped out doing stuff, but I will not paint. All that work felt rewarding.

Done with work, back at the French quarters. Took a nap then we all went out for dinner, Jessica, Allison, Katherine, Satisha and her friend Summer. Felt like a stud with all the chicks. We walked around the French quarters, we also checked out Café du mode to get some Beignets (it’s not pronounced as spelt). Took more pictures.

Femi

Day 1. Arrived New Orleans, roach in suite

2010-07-02T12:15:00.005-05:00

April 8

Shuttle ride from Airport was ok, slept most of the drive until the shuttle driver called out my hotel. Got checked in, the room was ok wasn’t impressive but would do. This wasn’t a vacation anyway. Came out of the rest room lo and behold a roach on wall. It wasn’t those small ones, it was a big one. This isn’t going to work. Went to the front desk to b&tch. Got a new room, but this one with no wall windows. Apparently the hotel folks converted an attic to a room. I got to see the sky though from just laying on the bed and looking up into the ceiling, as there was a big window on the roof. . Now this can be weird if you’re there with your significant other or your non-significant other (this is New Orleans). It gives a feeling you’re been watched

Went out to check out the night scene. Ate at bubba Gump shrimp. Nothing much was happening this night. Where are the night clubs and djs spinning? found none.

Femi

Day 1 of Habitat for Humanity

2010-04-28T15:29:00.001-05:00

Allison and I got up bright and early, 6am, to get down to breakfast by 6:30. We had a good system going with two wake up calls and Allison getting up first while I took a few extra minutes to snooze. Luckily, breakfast was a pleasant surprise with bagels, hash browns, and sausage - NOT your typical continental and a great way to start a long day of work. We then went up to our room to get our cooler ready with our lunch for the day and then off to Ferry Place, our work site!

We arrived at the work site on time at about 7:45am, after heavy traffic due to construction along the route. It was my first time in New Orleans since 2002 and it was eerie to see a couple of houses with the markings made during Hurricane Katrina which showed when houses were searched, how many people were found dead (if any), who searched, and if any hazards were found.

The work site was the same as last year's, and Allison pointed out all the houses that the Jaycees worked on, mentioning how far the neighborhood has come. As a matter of face, a few more months and it should be complete.

We listened to a safety speech about paying attention to your surroundings and how to use certain tools and materials and then as the list of duties was being read off, people raised their hands to volunteer. I didn’t particularly want to paint as I wanted to try something new; so when “who’d like to work on the fence” was asked, I gladly raised my hand. We got our gloves and doo rags on and Allison and I worked together with three gentlemen, Chris, Jim, and Patrick. Kyle, a seasoned volunteer who volunteers twice a week instructed us on how to start and we got to work.

First we dug holes for the fence posts using post hole diggers –easy at first but we were digging on hard ground, with sand and rocks so it got harder the deeper we went. As we finished some holes, we were told that distances between holes were off and so we had to work to fix them. It was funny how everytime someone measured something the measurements were slightly off. After we figured out the holes and measurements, Allison and I got to mix cement in a wheel barrel and then we all filled holes while making sure the poles in the holes were level. There was lots of leveling, measuring, releveling, remeasuring and repositioning going on, but at the end of the day we got it done and left the cement to set overnight.

It was a very warm day out so we made sure to stay hydrated. A couple of volunteers came by with their truck to bring sandwiches and drinks to the work site volunteers around 10ish at which point instead of taking the food and setting it aside, some folks decided to take an early lunch. I resisted until noon when everyone was able to take a much deserved one hour lunch. Two sandwiches and chips later, we were nice and full from lunch and ready to continue working.

With the cement drying, we found other jobs to work on. Chris and I broke down an old set of stairs which has been used as temporary steps for the houses while they were being built. With the house almost complete and the stairs done with their useful life, we separated all the planks using power tools, hammers, and just muscle.

I also got to use a belt sander to sand the side of a plank going up on the front porch. I really wanted to use power tools, so any chance I got, I asked and they actually let me! We ended the day at around 4pm and went back to the hotel room to change and relax before dinner. Allison and I went to Yo Mamma’s -- a great hamburger joint in the French Quarter, which by the way also has interesting "art work" in the ladies bathroom. The burgers were huge and we stuffed our faces. Then we walked around and got Mango Mango drinks which we took back to the hotel. We were wiped and ready for bed to rest up before day 2 of Habitat.

Katherine Torres-Hertz

Arriving in New Orleans

2010-04-05T19:51:00.001-05:00

I arrived late last night and met up with Katherine when she landed this morning. We had a few issues with the rental car, the spot they assigned us to had a small compact car in it. That might have worked for a the 2 of us but it would have been a little tight when the rest of the group arrived. We had to go back in to the office to get the situation straighted out. Katherine made the mistake of making eye contact with a strange women in line behind us who spent the next 10 minutes telling us all about her problems with renting a car and her credit rating. She kept telling us her sob story even after we were up at the counter and were trying to get the car situation worked out. She must have struck out with Hertz too because when they pulled our Sienna around we saw her getting back in to her cab to head off to another rental car company. She seemed crazy to me so I certainly wouldn't have rented to her if I was the Herzt rep.

We headed off to Walmart of pick up our lunch supplies for the week. Either we didn't follow the directions right or Google Maps lied because we had a little trouble getting to Walmart. We got to see some of the wetlands and put a lot of miles on the car but we weren't working on a schedule so it was ok. Eventually we made it to Walmart and were able to make all of our purchases, then it was off to the hotel to check in and get settled.

Our hotel, Country Inn and Suites, is really nice especially compared to the places the group has stayed the last couple years. The only thing I'm worried about is how far away it is from Mango Mango. We'll have to figure something out with that. After getting settled in the hotel Katherine and I headed out for a late lunch. We ended up at Gumbo Shop and as usual it was great! It was so nice to be able to enjoy sitting in the courtyard with the sun shinning on us! We walked around the quarter a little then headed back to the hotel to rest a little. We intended to go back out later but it had been a long day so we ended up staying in, it was going to be an early day the next day! I can't wait to see all the changes on Ferry Place from a year ago!

Back to Reality

2009-04-05T23:03:00.002-05:00

Wow...the week just flew by. I can't believe that it is already Sunday and almost time to catch our flights home.

I personally started the morning asking the Lord for forgiveness for all the daiquiris I drank by going to mass at St. Louis Cathedral...LOL! Then met up with Jessica and Allison for brunch at the Court of Two Sisters...one of the best NOLA Brunch spots! YUM! We ran into Jan and Scott at brunch and caught up for a bit. Bruce and Lisa hit up another locale then headed off to do some last minute shopping. We took a walk around Jackson Square and checked out the local artists and saw some triathelets crossing the finish line. Then continued to walk our brunch off.

Late afternoon came too quickly and it was time to pick up the car, our luggage, and head to pick up Lisa and Bruce at their hotel...and off to the airport.

Our flights back to Omaha and Chicago were ontime, which is always nice. We were hoping to land before the nasty weather hit Chicago, unfortunately we landed in the "blizzard." Going from 80* to 30* in the same day is very painful! Not fun at all!

The experience of volunteering with Habitat for Humanity New Orleans was fabulous, even despite their disorganization. We all had the opportunity to learn new things and step outside of our normal day to day duties.

The fabulous volunteer group consisted of Jan & Scott Cohn, Rachel Lewis, Allison Mead, Bruce Moritz, Femi Okikiade, Brent Proulx, Lisa Tonjes, Shatisha Wilks, Sue Warmuskerken, and Jessica Zeiger.

We'd all like to thank our donors for their generosity and kindness! Without your support, this fabulous opportunity wouldn't be possible!

Till next year...

The Chicago & Omaha Jaycees

The end is near...

2009-04-05T02:00:00.003-05:00

Our final Habitat work day. While exhausted, its still been such a fabulous experience that we hate for it to end. Today was beautiful, sunny, and warm.

We had a much smaller crew today because many of the South Carolina and Louisville people headed out this morning and 10 others went to Habitat Restore, only to find out they weren't needed.

More truss work was being done, and lots of caulking, patching, priming, and painting. There was still a ton to get done, but there was no way to finish it all. Guess we had to leave the next set of volunteers some work to do! :)

Femi, Bruce, Rachel, Jessica, Lisa, Sue, Allison

After our work shift the crew wanted to check out the Garden District because some had never been there. First we made a little pit stop at Fat Tuesday's for a gallon of daiquiri's before celebrating our final night in New Orleans.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was time to get ready for a night out on the town. We headed to Angeli's (the dude who owns the place is obsessed with Angelina Jolie). We headed to the Spotted Cat for some Jazz. Unfortunately it was Dixie Land Jazz night. We didn't stay too long. Then we went on a Pirate hunt...lol...didn't really need to hunt...the Pirates were everywhere!

Jessica, Sue, Random Pirate, Lisa Random Pirate chick, Allison, Rachel

We had tons of laughs and there's lots of ridiculous pictures. All in all it was a fabulous day!

I think its time to call it a night!

Sue

"I Hate Tourists"

2009-04-03T23:03:00.004-05:00

We had the most amazing weather today. Clear, bright, sunny, and about 76*. We've suffered through such a long winter, its hard not to be excited about the weather! We also hit this awesome fruit cart on our way to the site this morning. Now if only we can locate the shaved ice lady...

Jan joined the crew today. We were all back on our tasks from the previous day, which was fine by me. It was fairly relaxing to prime and paint the outside of the house. There was more truss installing with the cutie pie assistant site leader. The contractors were also wrapping up the sheet rock job, which is great to see how far along two of the houses have come since we started on Tuesday.

Our main site leader is a bad communicator. He thinks all the volunteers read minds. He freaked out at 4 PM because people were wrapping up for the day and I guess he needed us to help till 4:30 and was upset that no one asked him if we could leave. Seriously? Maybe you should tell us we need to stay till 4:30 instead of 3:30...we don't have ESP and most of us would have been more than willing to stay late if you told us. He's a chain smoker, so he must have been going through cigarette withdrawl.

Jan and Scott are going to Habitat Restore on Saturday, which is a program where they resell items to gain funds to do more Habitat homes. Ace Hardware recently had a show here and they donated all the tools from the show to Habitat so they wouldn't have to ship them back to their headquarters. Very cool!

After our work day today, we headed to the houses that Shatisha, Allison, and I worked on last year. They look AWESOME! It was so exciting to see them completed. Then we headed to Musicians Village and the Lower 9th Ward for a little tour. We managed to stumble upon Brad Pitts project Make It Right. Those houses are too cool! When we were driving through Musicians Village we had the windows open and some little boy told his friends he "hates tourists"...lol. I felt better that at least we were in our own vehicle then on one of those silly tourist buses!

One of our houses from the 2008 trip

Musicians Village

Lower Ninth Ward Levee

This week has flown by...I can't believe that tomorrow is our last volunteer day.

Till tomorrow...
Sue

"They Won't Get Dirty..."

2009-04-02T21:55:00.009-05:00

Famous last words when you're wearing brand new bright white running shoes in mud. Um Femi, we're doing construction!!! Who wears brand new shoes??? It's been raining quite a bit so things have been very wet and muddy this week.

Femi and his new shoes

Femi and Bruce joined the group today and we lost Brent. Needless to say with my writing above, Femi has been getting a ton of crap from us. Luckily he's taking it well!

Bruce, Jessica, and I worked on the trim for 1304. Scott painted siding all morning. Rachel of course was on the roof again...even after the storm started moving in and the site leaders told her to get off of it! Silly girl! Shatisha, Allison, and Lisa were working on trusses again. Femi started with soffit work, then he headed to help with the trusses.

Unfortunately a storm came through and we had to wrap up early today. Disappointing but it gave us a chance to hit Central Grocery before the "soup nazi"employees refuse to give you a muffuletta. We also hit the buy one get one free happy hour at Mango Mango. :)

Sue, Scott, and Allison taking shelter from the storm

For dinner we decided to head to the Garden District on the St. Charles Street Car. After waiting forever and a day for it to arrive, it finally came. Most of us headed to the back, but Allison and Femi were closer to the front. The popo pulled someone over in front of the trolley so the trolley driver stopped and turned off the power. Femi looks at Allison and asks "Do you think the streetcar ran out of gas?" hahaha! Another quote for the day! Anyway, we tried to go to Voodoo BBQ. Unfortunately, they were doing renovations so we totally missed out on awesome bbq :( We ended up at Cheesecake Bistro, which was good, but not as good as Voodoo BBQ.

Shatisha, Jessica, Rachel, Sue, Allison, Bruce, and Femi waiting for the St. Charles Street Car

After dinner we headed back to the Quarter, listened to an entertaining street band, then walked Bourbon Street, and most of the group picked up Mango Mango again. Bruce and Jessica went for the 32 ouncers! Then Bruce managed to scare a Pirate and send him running...LOL! (its Pyrate week here in NOLA...seriously!). He'll have to tell the story in person because it's much funnier!!!

Currently Bruce, Lisa, Jessica, Allison, and I are sitting in the hotel bar with the "friendly" ghost. Guess its time to call it a night...

Till Friday...
Sue

Blue Snot, Siding, and Trusses, Oh MY!

2009-04-01T22:00:00.005-05:00

Wednesday brought MUCH cooler temps and more random jobs. We've come to a conclusion that there is too many people on the work site which is why we're doing so many random jobs right now.

First our site leader decided to tell us that the insulation we installed the day prior was contaminated and that we had to remove it all...WHAT??? April Fools...NICE!

A couple of us started the morning finishing the insulation in 1308 (hence the blue snot). A couple others were finishing the siding on the house, and the rest were up in 1312 working on the trusses. Rachel has been loving the roof, Scott wanted off the roof and we had two new additions...Jessica and Shatisha.

Scott and Rachel on the Roof

Brent, Jessica, and Sue helping relocate the Pump Jack

It was a pretty busy day, but we were able to get a lot done so that the drywall guys could come in and do their jobs.

We had a good fish filled dinner at Deanie's, I highly recommend if you travel to NOLA.

I'm exhausted, time to prepare for tomorrow!

Till Thursday...
Sue

Day One - Ferry Place

2009-03-31T17:06:00.004-05:00

Back row: Brent, Sue, Lisa; Front row: Scott, Rachel, Allison

Our work site this year is by the river on the border of Orleans and Jefferson Parrish. We're working on Ferry Street, right next to some fairly busy train tracks. The street is mostly new construction, except for a few houses that need lots of repair.

We found out this morning that we don't need to be there till 8 AM each day and we'll work till about 3:30 or so. Our day started with the basics, safety, and who's working on which house, which was all based off of whether you're afraid of heights or not. Scott and Rachel were supposed to be siding the second floor of one house, well, I guess they did, but then they had to take it all apart because their house is crooked...OOPS! I also saw Brent up on the roof of another house...I think also doing siding, but I'm not entirely sure. Allison, Lisa and I were on another house doing a bunch of different tasks. Lisa and I rocked the circular saw for a bit to try it out, we did MUCH better than some of the other volunteers! Then I headed up to the roof to work on sheeting. Allison and Lisa were installing trusses on the second floor. We also did insulation on two houses...that was not the best task to have all the cottony stuff attacking you...most of us sneezed quite a bit!

There was a lot of moving around today and we did get rained on for a brief bit, and it is humid, humid, humid today...I forgot what humidity felt like!!! All in all it was a decent day.

I have pictures! Unfortunately I'm not only having internet issues, but I'm also having camera downloading issues. I'll try again later to add some photos.

Till later...

Sue

Landed!

2009-03-30T22:38:00.002-05:00

We arrived without a hitch! Allison and I were the first to arrive so we headed over to our work site so that we wouldn't be trying to figure it out early Tuesday morning. The houses are two stories this year, and very colorful. We checked in around 2 PM to our humble abode for the week. Not nearly as eclectic as last year and the internet connection is worse, but I'll try to make do. So let me apologize in advance if there's a delay in our updates because it was a struggle to get on.

Rachel, Lisa, Scott, and Brent arrived a few hours after us so we all met up for dinner last night at Pierre something or other. We took a walk around the quarter to work off dinner so that we could head to Cafe Du Monde for some tasty treats. Lisa, Allison, and I ended the night with a trip to Mango Mango...pretty darn good daiquiris!

We start our hard work Tuesday at 7:45 AM...looking forward to seeing what we'll be working on! Till then...

Sue

One week out

2009-03-23T17:28:00.002-05:00

I totally have ants in my pants. Maybe its the long winter, or just because the experience was so wonderful last year that I've been dying to go back.

I'm looking forward to enjoying this trip with Allison, Jan, Scott, Jessica, Femi, and Shatisha, and also our friends Rachel, Lisa, Brent, and Bruce, from the Omaha Jaycees.

Hopefully our hotel's wireless works so I can post to the blog...we've read some bad reviews from trip advisor...but I'm going to hope for the best!

Follow our volunteer experience here!

Take care,
Sue

That's how we do it in Chicago!

2008-03-18T06:32:00.010-05:00

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!

2008-03-15T17:47:00.001-05:00

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

2008-03-15T06:46:00.001-05:00

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

2008-03-14T17:41:00.000-05:00

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

2008-03-14T06:23:00.000-05:00

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

2008-03-12T22:47:00.010-05:00

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

2008-03-11T17:54:00.001-05:00

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"

2008-03-10T08:00:00.001-05:00

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...

2008-03-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

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...

2008-03-02T22:28:00.002-06:00

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