Day 118 – Youth Week - Serving Three Families in One Week (Saturday)

This week was Youth Week at Orange Grove. Twenty adults and teens from United Church of Canistota , South Dakota and six from Northside Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga worked really hard. They were as productive as any teams I have had., starting and finishing four jobs. One was an open one we have been working on for several weeks, the others were jobs we had not started until the youth volunteer arrivals.

Northside Team

The home of a single young woman with a grade school-aged son sustained a lot of water damage when the roof failed during Katrina and still was not repaired. We replaced flooring and painted the interior earlier. This week our goal was to complete the wall of the large rear laundry room almost the width of the home, install gutters and a new floor.

Last week the crew from First Presbyterian in Cleveland, TN accomplished the major rebuild of the laundry room walls. This week we had to install siding, window trim and a sheet vinyl floor. We sent one crew of six from South Dakota to this job.

The second job was new. A young single woman who has just gained custody of her two pre-grade school sons live in two rooms of a house that has languished since Karina with only little attention from recovery people. The water-soaked carpets had been stripped and drywall on the ceilings but the walls had not been stripped of drywall to remove moldy insulation, treat the wall and install new drywall. Unfortunately these two rooms are the bedrooms for these young boys. They are sleeping in the den, a converted garage. We assigned the second team from South Dakota to this home.

The third home is one we have been trying to get to since late winter (See Day 116). Within this small house live an 84-year old grandfather, an adult son, and Ms. Holiday, the owner of the home, the daughter with her elementary –aged daughter and her significant other. In addition they have opened their home to a fellow who was in a bad car accident a few months ago and has use of only one arm.

They have no kitchen and wash their dishes in a five-gallon paint tub in the shower. The main bathroom has plastic sheeting on the walls for privacy. Mrs. Holiday paid a contractor ten thousand dollars to build partition walls, install drywall and add an addition to the home with gutters (a very important part of the house down here where the ground is flat and the houses are built on slabs.)

The contractor left them with no drywall installed, a poorly poured concrete floor for the new kitchen, out of plumb partition walls, and a gaping hole in the wall where doors were to be installed in the carport. Ms. Holiday is the sole breadwinner for this extended family, save any public assistance they may receive. She has been buying as her funds allow, and receiving donated building materials.

We assigned one team from South Dakota to do the gutters, paint the exterior rear walls and install the door. We assigned the Northside crew to complete the drywall in the dining room, hall and bathroom, and strip the tile from the dining room. The drywall was a tedious, hard job due to out of square walls and frequent missing supporting rafters or studs in corners to hold drywall screws. (Earlier the Northside crew also spent one day stripping the kitchen floor in another client’s home.)

Because the week had afternoon activities scheduled three of the days we only really had about 3 and one-half days of real work time. I am so proud of all these youth. They all pitched in. While there may have been some complaining late in the week, I heard none.

This was a big activity day for the youth. They were scheduled to go to the Gulfport Water Park for the afternoon. The other crews made good progress and completed their work by noon and left for the Water Park on time.

The job went very slowly all week at Ms. Holiday’s due to the complications of the errant contractor. When Friday noon rolled around, finishing this job was looking bleak and I could see the anxious looks thinking about the water park. They all opted to delay or possibly miss the Water Park in order to remain at Ms. Holiday’s until we completed the work. The South Dakota troopers finished about 1PM. Even with me (or in spite of me), the Northside work did not finish until about 4PM. As the last piece of dry wall was screwed in, the youth were already mudding the joints behind us. I helped pack up all our tools sand remained to tidy up an talk to the family while Sandy and Rick drove all back to the village for swim suits. They still got in over two hours at the Water Park.


Ms. Holiday's Team

My hat is off to Sandy and Rick Leavell, and to Pastor John of the United Church. They were all great leaders and the youth great workers. All were positively influenced by the state of these homes, the gratitude of the homeowners and their good work.

This morning I ate breakfast with both teams. The South Dakota group left about 7AM for their two days’ drive home. I waved the Northside group goodbye as they pulled out of the parking lot for Chattanooga a little before 9AM.
These youth and leaders made it possible for one family to have their home fully completed, the mother and young boy stood at their door smiling and waving as hard as they could as the South Dakota group left.

The young grandmother with her two grandsons now only have to await finished painting of the walls, and to schedule the installation of the new carpet and the two boys will have bedrooms. I may go out myself next week or the week after with our Case Manager and finish those walls.

Ms. Holiday could not stop praising the Lord and thanking us. The fellow with the bad arm kept bring out watermelons for us and telling us he’d finish the sanding and painting the walls (He will do that, we had a hard time keeping him at bay while we put in the drywall.) The hole in the wall has a door and now thy can expect lower utility bills.

This was a week of serious work -four families in less than one week. I am so grateful for the wonderful adult leadership and the mature, whole-hearted effort of the youth. It was great to have some of my home church’s people here, and I hope there will be many more in the future. You have no idea what you are missing.

Peace and Grace,
Henry