Relief help in Mississippi

[Shrek-man]

Hi all,
I lurk a lot, and post little. I'm hoping this is the right place to put this. I work for a small family run construction company (my father, my brother, my uncle, myself, and one more guy). We are located in the middle of Ohio. Last July, we took our company down to Mississippi to help out for a week with rebuilding efforts. We were only 5 strong, working through a group that is set up down there to help anyone that needs help with their problems. We felt the trip was a success.

So, here's what I'm getting at. We are heading back down to Mississippi for the week of February 4-10. We are taking our company again, and trying to get as many skilled tradespeople as possible to go down with us. We are hoping to get 100+ people to go, trying to help out as much as we possibly can during that week. I was curious if there would be any interest from anybody on here. If anyone is interested, just get in contact with me and we can try to coordinate for the trip. Thanks

Dwayne

[m beezo]

Shrek,
Nice to see the post at this time. I am considering going down in Jan with Rebuilding Together to do a week's work. I am of course trying to figure out how to do this since it is a bit of a late notice. I have worked with them for 10 years as a house captian here in St Louis and they want me to come down with them and help run a job. Their organization has some on going projects there and the St Louis group is sending a team to work for a week. Seems to me that we have not heard too much about the situation here lately so it is nice to see it and be reminded of it.

Good luck with getting some more to come aboard. When it happened several of us had posted about getting involved. I think most of us did not because as we checked into it we were haveing some trouble findiing out who to hook up with, where we were needed the most, what was needed, some groups that had some pretty specific requirements, etc. Many of us had good intentions of helping but for some of us it did not work out. If you check back I think there are probably some stories of those who did get there. Just not sure who and when. By now I would think that most of the organizing and assesing the area is done and I would think you can find someone to tie into so you don't just show up and hope to be able to do something.

Part of my reluctance is two fold. One is how to fund the missing a week's work and the knowing that I had a job scheduled for that week. Not a big job and one that once I explain why I cannot be there I hope will not cause me to lose the job. Second is just the fact that if I go I really want to know that my being there has made a difference. I have heard from a friend or two that went early on in the project and they did not feel it was a worthwhile trip. The team they had put together had at least one professional contractor from plumbing, electrical, roofing, carpenter as well as several well versed tradesmen. They spent a week of picking up trash. It was a job that needed to be done but the roofer was especially aggravated because there was a pile of shingles there that was being put on by folks that did not know what to do and it was taking them forever. After a day or so of watching and hauling trash he told his contact to put him on a roof or he was going home. He got to roof but the other guys felt a little slighted by doing what they had done instead of what they really knew how to do. I think they knew the trash removal was a necessary part of the job and did feel they helped accomplish something-just not the best use of their skills.

If you get down there let us know how it goes. If I go I plan on trying to get some pictures to post so it refreshes everybody's mind about the area.

[Shrek-man]

m beezo,
I have pictures from our project last July. The group we went down through is a church based group, but they will help anybody that needs it. They provided the funds for all materials we needed, and provided a flatbed truck to get the materials. Our company doesn't use many subcontractors, we do most things ourselves, so we didn't have to schedule a bunch of different trades to work together. We worked for a woman that lost 2 businesses, and her condo. She was in the process of trying to get her restaurant back open. We put a small addition on her building, which gave her a restroom, and added to the kitchen so she would be code compliant. By the time we left, they maybe had a weeks worth of work to get her back open completely. We felt good to be able to help her out.

The organization we are going through has a long list of people needing help with a lot of different projects, but they are not getting anyway near as many volunteers as they were to start out. It seems that most people seem to think that things are all better down there now.

The area we are going down to help is Pass Christian, Mississippi. They are located directly on the shore of the Gulf. The water came through at 38 feet deep at their shore. The last I heard, close to 3/4 of the residents have not moved back yet because of all the destruction in that area.

Dwayne

[m beezo]

Shrek,
Glad to hear you had a good experience there. I have done work here in St Louis for Rebuilding for 10 years. It has always been a rewarding day of work and what I liked about it, at the end of the day you can actually see that you have made a difference. Of course that is the way the work for that day is planned.

I figure if we go there and help out a few folks anything we do will be appreciated. I just wonder if the area will ever get itself back together. I would think that some of those who have not come back may not be coming back. By now I would think they have relocated, have jobs, kids in schools, maybe bought homes elsewhere. Yet if you really like it there you might go back. Only thing I can think of it that folks do move back all the time to places that have been burned out, flooded out, snowed out etc. Here in St Louis I do not know what it would be that would make you move but I am sure there is some sort of a problem that might make you want to move away. Maybe the New Madrid fault?