What an adventure! We recently made
it back from one of the most memorable trips that I have taken. The trip was two
weeks long with one being at Point Pleasant area of New Jersey and one week in
Jamaica, New York. We worked under
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) at both sites. Both sites had a
different group we worked with and had different responsibilities.
For the first week we stayed at
Point Pleasant, New Jersey but worked at a house is Long Branch, New Jersey. We
were picked up at the airport by a person who works with PDA, David Rauer, he
took us out to eat and then showed us some of the damage the storm caused.
There are several homes that have been repaired. Most of these were homes that
belonged to people who had insurance or had the financial means to rebuild
quickly. However there were also several houses with damage that hasn’t been
fixed and empty lots where houses once stood.
After touring around we met the
group we would be working with, Lend a Hand. This is a group from Central Pennsylvania
that has a lot of experience in working disasters including the 2008 floods in
Iowa. They had also been instrumental in setting up the Point Pleasant site
after Sandy had hit and had sent a group every month for the past two years to
Point Pleasant.
The next day we went to our primary location,
a house in Long Branch, New Jersey. The residences of this house were a young
couple who were living in a camper on the front lawn. Their house had been
destroyed by the floods Sandy had created. They also didn’t have flood
insurance because the experts had said their house was not in the flood plain. During
the storm Russ, the husband, had been checking on the generator outside when
the house collapsed. If he had waited just a few minutes he would have been a
victim of the storm. April, Russ’ wife, was a first responder who was working
during the storm. After the house collapsed Russ took his two dogs and swam to
safety.
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| The Two Home Owners are in front with the Lend A Hand group and us behind them. |
During
this week we did a lot to get their house to the point where they could get a
temporary occupancy certificate. We finished the flooring, put in counters and
the appliances, just about finished the bathrooms, put insulation on the pipes
(my primary job) and several other small jobs. It was great experience being
there towards the end of the project because one could just see hope, optimism
and joy return to them. They were very appreciative of all the help we gave
them. They invited us to a barbeque they plan to have to for all the volunteers
who had helped at their house this summer.
Another thing I really enjoyed about the sites we were at was the
proximity to the beach. Only being a couple of blocks from the beach we ate
most of our lunches there including the day of October 14th which
was my birthday.
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| My view from lunch that week. |
On Wednesday we went out to a place
called the Shrimp Box. This place had high quality foods and the meals were all
around or over 20 dollars and with drinks the average person’s meal was
probably around thirty dollars. Lend a Hand invited several people to join us
at the site including the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance leaders of Point
Pleasant, and a person whose house they had helped rebuilt on a previous trip.
This lady was so grateful for all the work the group had done for her that she
paid for all of our meals, which was about 20 of us, regardless if you had
worked on her house or not. After the group had finished her house she had been
given a grant and was looking for a way to repay the people who had worked on
her house saw an opportunity and took it. This just shows how appreciative
people are for the work Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and other disaster
organization do in these areas.
After the week was over we were picked up again by
David and taken to Jamaica, New York. We took our time though and visited the
Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Both were great but I learned a lot from
Ellis Island. Many of my ancestors had been through Ellis Island and the rigors
of coming to America so they, their children and eventually me, could have a
better life. We had the next day off so we went into New York City and saw
Central Park, Times Square, Rockefeller Center and several other famous sites.
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| Picture I took of the Statue of Liberty The group we worked with at in New York was Southern Comfort Mission and Missionary Team from Upstate New York. They too had lots of disaster recovery experience including lots of work in New Orleans where they got the name Southern Comfort. |
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| Me putting mud of the drywall. |
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| Southern Comfort group picture with Don our site supervisor. |
On Wednesday of that week we went to an opening of a
house. Actually we got to two house openings. These houses belonged to friends
and neighbors, Gerard and David who had helped each other get through the
rebuilding process. David had had his house completely destroyed and Gerard had
significant damage to his house. David moved into the damaged house with Gerard
after the storm. Gerard didn’t want to do anything to his house because his
wife had designed a lot of it and she had passed on before the storm. However, David
and Gerard’s family encouraged him to get help. It was cool that these two
friends who had relied on each other so much got their houses done at the same
time and got to have one big celebration. This event was filmed and was on T.V.
that night. Here’s a link to the video. http://7online.com/home/2-queens-men-back-in-their-homes-nearly-2-years-after-sandy/360061/.
After
the hard work we did during the day it was great to come back to and have a hot
meal already prepared for us. Every meal excluding lunch, which was eaten at
the work site, was prepared by Dora Sawh and sometimes she had help from
another Dora. The meals were delicious and a much needed boost. Also after work
we made it into New York City a couple of nights. I was able to go in and see
my cousin. Molly was able to attend a Broadway play. We went to the 9/11
Memorial Site on the last night which was a very well done tribute to the
people who had lost their lives that day.
Final thoughts
Disaster
assistance isn’t just about building homes for people. It is giving people
peace of mind, hope and joy. Having a home again can bring all of these
emotions. These people are very appreciative of the work we had done.
Physical
labor isn’t the only type of job one can do after a storm. There is a need for spiritual counselors and
several other jobs after the storm. There is also a need for cooks. After a hard
day it was nice to have a hot meal provided. At New Jersey it was groups from
the area and at New York it was Dora. There are also several jobs that people
can do at a work site. Some of the group we worked with had great carpentry and
handy man skills while others were willing to learn and/or do the cleaning
jobs.
We
should be more appreciative of our things. April told us that she had hated her
old house before the storm. There were several spots that needed repairs and
she complained about them a lot. Then the storm came and took out her house and
she would do anything to go from the camper she lived in back to her old house.
Luckily for them we were building them a nice house that won’t need any repairs
for quite a while.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
offers some good mission trips. There are several sites around the country and
the world. I would recommend this organization to anyone or any group that is
looking for a trip to go on.
If
there are any questions about these trips let me know. I took a lot more
pictures and posted them on Facebook so check them out on my profile or the
YAV-Little Rock Facebook Page.
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