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Grand Isle, Louisiana had been hit by 150+ mph winds back on August 29, 2021 when Cat 4 Hurricane Ida pummeled the island. Our Mission is to help rebuild the infrastructure, community, homes and lives. This Barrier Island of only 1,100 people is 7 miles long and a half mile wide and 40-50% of the homes were destroyed. We rebuilt homes and celebrated Educators and Students with supplies, books and equipment for their school. We shared over 2,200 volunteer hours on 12 projects around the island over the 3 weeks.
On 2/25, 3/4 and 3/11/23, three teams took week-long trips to Grand Isle: 16 volunteers on the ground Week 1. Mostly from Omaha, NE. 38 volunteers on the ground for Week 2. Mostly Football Players from Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa who we have hosted for 4 years. 8 volunteers on the ground for Week 3. All friends from Ord, NE, now at the University of Nebraska – Omaha, the University of Nebraska – Kearney and High Schoolers from Ord. We worked with the Bayou Community Foundation, Restore Grand Isle and Friends of Grand Isle to manage the work. Homes built 12' - 17' in the air brought a new twist to our work!
We were able to assist at 12 sites in the three weeks we were there.
On 2/25, 3/4 and 3/11/23, three teams took week-long trips to Grand Isle: 16 volunteers on the ground Week 1. Mostly from Omaha, NE. 38 volunteers on the ground for Week 2. Mostly Football Players from Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa who we have hosted for 4 years. 8 volunteers on the ground for Week 3. All friends from Ord, NE, now at the University of Nebraska – Omaha, the University of Nebraska – Kearney and High Schoolers from Ord. We worked with the Bayou Community Foundation, Restore Grand Isle and Friends of Grand Isle to manage the work. Homes built 12' - 17' in the air brought a new twist to our work!
We were able to assist at 12 sites in the three weeks we were there.
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WEEK ONE –
Workers went to 3 homes on Day 1 – The “girls’ group” was assigned to remove ALL the contents out of Ms. Yvonne’s home into a dumpster. No one had been in it for 18 months and it was jam packed with everything you can imagine. At Hecton’s home a team started removing damaged decking and sizing it up to be rebuilt. The third group began deck design and building at Ms. Willie’s home, first digging holes and setting posts. Day 2 - the girls shifted their demo skills to the host church (Community Church) as four hurricane-damaged classrooms had been closed up for 18 months! Once empty walls were all sprayed and new insulation plus walls were installed in one room. The other teams continued with their deck projects. Then we all had a wonderful evening bonfire on the beach! Day 3 - included Community Outreach to the PreK-12 school. Prior to the trip, we had coordinated a Student book drive and Teacher gift drive that many people had donated to. The kids were all smiles as they unwrapped boxes books. The teachers were equally happy as they unwrapped boxes of room supplies. Day 4 - was more work on Hecton’s deck "rebuild" (which might have been easier to just demolish and start new). With the arrival of a 2nd dumpster and a make shift “chute”, the girls were able to go back to Ms. Yvonne’s home and COMPLETELY empty it! The team at Ms. Willie’s finished their deck build and began plans to replace the front steps! In the evening our hosts provided a Cajun fish boil with sausage, shrimp, crawdads, and vegetables! |
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WEEK TWO -
We were extremely blessed to have 25 members of the Morningside University football team plus coaches join us. One large group started with “Demo Day” at Terrill’s home. The roof was blown off and it needed to be down to the subfloor. They systematically cut, beat, and pryed it apart, then patiently waited 2 days for a new dumpster to complete the job. Others worked with Hand of Hope mentors. One team finished up the long deck stairway at Hecton’s. With the additional interior work our friends in the Nomads did, Hecton and his wife could now move back into their home! Another team worked at Ms. Willie’s to remove and replace the broken down front stairway! More demo work and dumpsters overflowing at both the homes of Thomas and Lori. To finish renovating the last two of four classrooms at our host, Community Church, a group began removing molded wall paneling and insulation, spraying it down and replacing it with new materials. Next, it was a sprint to install flooring in all four rooms, which did happen late on the final day. A few of the team were sent off to jail!! The old jail. This renovation is to turn it into a bunk house for Parish (County) workers. In a building closed up for 18 months, the walls and floors had to be sprayed, then mud pushed out the front door. Parish workers will begin infrastructure work, removing debris, digging drainage ditches and cleaning culverts. Our next task was daunting. Jim needed a lot of hands as the storm surge had filled the yard between his home and his brothers with debris from all over the area. The interlocked debris had to be pulled out and stacked into separate piles. Several were asked to help demo a kitchen for Taco and Tonia. The most interesting change of a person’s heart began to take place at that home after being in survival mode for 18 months. They just couldn’t understand what was happening. The cabinets, stove, and everything was removed from the room, then blown away ceiling insulation was replaced. Many of the team had an afternoon tour of the Coast Guard facility on the island to learn about their mission and then toured one of the vessels. We had a terrific day celebrating teachers by distributing more gifts of classroom supplies. This was followed by a pick-up basketball game with mostly Jr High boys at school. Way overwhelmed in numbers, six of the Mustangs slipped away to change into Grand Isle team jerseys and then join the locals. It was a fantastic Community Outreach they will always remember. Once again our hosts set up an amazing dinner, evening bonfire and drum circle at the beach. |
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WEEK THREE -
This team was a last minute add. The 7 guys were all from Ord, NE, some were off to College at University of Nebraska - Omaha and the University of Nebraska – Kearney. They were using the Spring Break to assist others in need. Hearing that the FEMA trailers will be taken from everyone at the end of May, they pushed hard to finish work for Taco and Tonia. In the previous week we had gutted their kitchen and insulated their ceiling. This team put up new ceilings, installed cabinets, new counter tops, modified their plumbing, removed then installed a new air conditioning unit. They even brought in a new 35" refrigerator through a 31" entry door (that was a challenge!). The best thing of working with this couple was seeing his anger and hard heart soften as after 18 months of hearing "no" and denials of assistance to now have people there who genuinely cared about them. He couldn’t believe people would drive for two days just to help them. We were fortunate to get a second group from the host church to come help clean up and straighten up the outside, working side by side with the homeowners. Thursday was super busy as we included, for the third time, a trip to the school to celebrate education through delivering gifts to each of the classroom Teachers. That evening we had a fun crawdad, shrimp, and crab boil down at the Bridge Side Marina. Then, not wanting to leave things unfinished they were back to work again until 9:30pm to finish up a porch and steps off a 5th wheel for Miss Kate. Week 3 was again a great week! |
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