I'll write a little now, and hopefully some more later.

It has been really busy down here. Our days are pretty well loaded unless you happen to be lucky enough to be finished a little early at the home project for the day. Like today. We finished at Inge's house at just about 4 PM. We came back to the SUMA camp, unloaded our vans and took showers.

Taking showers can be interesting. THis week, we are staying in the same number of rooms as last week, but we have almost twice as many people. In my case, we have 4 men in my room and 4 men in the adjoining room, and we share a bathroom with a single shower. SO at the end of the day, the shower is a precious commodity. Some days, I have gotten right in, and other days, I have had to wait quite a while to get to the shower. Today, there were 3 peopel in line in front of me. But I have been busy receiving photos from this week's crew. We asked all who are here to give their photos to me, and I am in the process of uploading a lot of them to the web site. Look for a bunch more albums to appear over the next few days.

On Monday, we went to the Boykins' home where we replaced 5 windows. The Boykins had had two large oak trees in their yard which were knocked down by Katrina right into the front of their home. Thus they needed some windows replaced. At first, we had one team. Then another team arrived as they were delayed starting their assigned project. Then another team arrived, same problem. So we had 3 teams, about 17 people. How to put all to work?? Fortunately, the windows were on three sides of the house, so we had teams working on each of the sides. By the end of the day, we were back to one team of six people, and we had replaced all five windows. By noon on Tuesday, we had replaced the trim around the windows as well. So we were off to Inge Dahl's home.

Inge's daughter's home had been hit by the floating front of the church from across the street, which pretty much destroyed the kitchen. And the roof had taken a beating as well. The exterior had been rebuilt by another team, and we were to put up drywall and to put a new roof on the house, which had been badly damaged, and had one of the blue tarps over it that you see everywhere. So we got to work. The drywall was being done by the original crew on the site, and we joined them to work on the roof.

By the end of today, we had completed the roof, which felt great. Inge was very appreciative. She had coffee and donuts and cookies for us today, and asked each of us to write down our addresses so she could send us a Christmas card. Like many of the people we have worked for, Inge was very glad that we could do the work, as she had run out of other options to get it done. Each person has shown their appreciation in different ways, but you can tell they are really glad we are here helping. I heard that one gentleman broke down crying while trying to describe the damage to his home. People offer what they can to us, while we work to help them get out of the FEMA trailers and back into their homes.

Yet there is still a lot of damage around, and a lot of homes and other buildings were destroyed. We can't help them. So we continue to help those who we can help.

Our typical day is: coffee at 6 am, breakfast at 6:30 am, camp wide devotions at 7 am, group meeting at 7:45 am, loading equipment and supplies, and then off to the sites at 8 am, work until about 4 PM, back to the camp for showers and unloading of equipment and supplies that were not needed. Dinner is at 6:30 PM. Ww meet at 7:30 PM for the day's sharing of what happened, singing and group devotions, and we are done by about 8:30 PM. Most go to bed at about 9:30 PM, so you can see that there is not much time left for much else. It's a little hectic, so we grab time for things like this letter when we can.

The damage here continues to astound me. It is hard to comprehend what the people here have been through. The team is doing the best we can to help, but when we go home after 2 weeks, there will still be a lot to do. Some estimate that it could be 10 years or more before things here are back to "normal" if they ever will be.

Please continue to have us and the people of the Mississippi coast in your thoughts and prayers.

Bill D.

I have to say that all the teams are super stars once again this week. We are blowing through the work as it is given to us and are actually making a dent in Joanne the leaders of this debacles work pile. She is having to spped up her processes to keep us in work. Always a great problem in construction to have.

We have one team Known only as Bill's Posse who cranked out window replacement on a vinyl sided home. The vinyl made it twice as much work as normal for this install but they cowboyed up and got er dun.

Team Wishendorf has almost completed laying an entire new floating wood floor. they are looking for more work this week.

Norms team has finished sheetrocking a home where a church across the street came through the end of the house. The roof has been started and bill's Posse has come over to help on the roof so it will be done tomorrow.

The Gary Buenas team has taken over completion of a large project carry over from last week. pastor Greg and I layed out the new ramp while Diane and company finished the flooring, trim and paint.

Charles Rhodes and crew have been to a couple of sites this weeks. With a second contractor down this week he has total control of the site and I am out of the loop.

I would like to take a moment and recognize three of themain leaders in this adventure.

Diane Jackson for putting together this great group of people. Handling the paperwork and getting us here. For her energy at devotions and leadership on the projects.

Norm Hardin who leads quietly and behind the scenes for almost all church needs. from the Stony Point project to the Pump House rebuild. he has been a pillar of strength and reason when I jump all over the processes and slowness of the cogs of rebuilding. I would only ask that instead of taking Norm for granted maybe we remember to ask him first before volunteering him in the future. He never complains and would not so I am reminding everyone to what I see.

Charles Rhodes for his calm, quiet leadership. Nothing flusters or rattles him except me. His concerns for our well being while we deal with what our own emotions are while being here.

Manana

Brian Garrison

Dear Sonoma County,

The gulf coast is feeling forgotten. The sensationalism is gone and with it the cameras. The only cameras are from the people visitng who expected to so much rebuilt by now. it is not a failure of FEMA or anfy other government body. It is the immensity of the task. 90 miles wide and reachinh as far in as 30 miles in some places. An entire architectural heritage destroyed. Familys torn apart as easily as the peoples homes.

The heavy lifting of the task of rebuilding has come from volunteer efforts. Salvation army, Habitat for Humanity, Samaritans Purse, Methodist, mendonite and other religious groups. After 14 months the easiest, least damaged homes have been rebuilt. That leaves the other 95% of some 250,000 homes. Much of the prime property is being quickly purchased by developers as locals cannot afford to rebuild either by inadequate or lack of insurance. Many homes have been in the family for generations and have to be walked away from.

Ground has been contam,inated and many super fund sites have been created by what was floating in the waters and settling in the gorund. Children do not play in their yards, adults mostly seem to go through the motions of living with out much emotion. They are survivors who have not started l;iving again. Most are appreciative that volunteers are here, but katrina stole their possessions and we invade their privacy. They are thankful and put out all at the same time.

So to do our part for the rebuild I would ask that you purchase Lowe's or Home depot gift cards and send them over or drop them off to the first united methodist church at 1551 montgomery drive in Santa rosa.
I ask this as the biggest frustration we face is the need to wait on materials., We purchased as many supplies as possible but we were on 5-10 projects per week. Full remodels and it was around $50,000 in materials we installed in our two weeks. Doing this will at least give the churches the ability to supply the volunteers who come into to work on projects creating a more productive time while there.

There are 500-700 volunteers in the region on any given week. It sounds like a lot until you realize that (1) subdivision able to produce (2) complete homes each week employs 100 people when all trades are taken into account. Another big problem is with supply and demand being what it is the labor rates contractors are charging are equal to California. That is triple what they were.

Anything we can do to help as a community would be great in lifting the spirits of the region as well as the ability to rebuild much quicker.

Brian Garrison

This week was such a different experience. We had orientation on Sunday night freeing up our monday to get out much earlier. All our teams are on new sites but one. Even with having a slight delay waiting for some homeowners to let us know we could go in we got a lot done.

We have a few more bodies than last week so we have 5 teams and most are 6 people. Our jobs this week are as varied as our team members once again. We have a few high schoolers this week which is great to see. They are all eager and willing to do any task we give them.

I would like to get into the hurrican and efforts a little bit more as we uncover more information. The storm cut a path 90 miles wide. The distance between San Francisco and Healdsburg more or less. The first 2-4 blocks were decimated by the 20-35' storm surge. the waters rolled in bringing huge chunks of the front buildings. The trees, cars, and buildings made it unsafe to leave your home. One house we are working on the trees and a church across the street did al ot of damage. The chuch had come off in chunks and went through the end of the house. these are what we have gathered from listening to the locals tell their tales.

To date one estimate we heard is that only 5% of the homes affected by the storm are now liveable. I think that number is high. Worse part is that the 5% rebuilt is the easiest repairs and lightest damage. 10 years is a soft estimate. I think it will never be the same. It took some 150 to 200 years to become what it was. The locals feel forgotten and rightly so. Once the sensationism is over and the cameras are gone we all move on. The last two days i have explored entire neighborhoods that are still untouched. I went through 50 houses that are exactly as they were 14 months ago. Tress, dirt, and debris still inside. I walked through an apartment building today that the walls through the entire building are sheetrock free from the storm but all the tenants belongings are still inside. The drinks that were out on the counter still there untouched. During cleanups of untouched units the first thing they do now is duct tape and screw the refrigerators closed so they do not accidentally open spraying fumes that the crews say takes weeks to wear off.

We need to do more as a church and a city and a state to remind some that life as this area has stood still for 14 months. I do not see any children anywhere outside playing. I brought my soccer balls and pop up nets to play with the kids but they are never out. Not after school and not on the weekends. i rarely see any locals do anything except work or in the poor sections hang out. I do not see famlies out except sitting in chairs inside what used to be their homes. I have never been approached in any of the houses I explore by people unless I seek them out. if i did this in santa rosa it would not go over so well.

In santa rosa there is not to many neighborhoods where you would not see some activities. Kids in the yards or street playing. If you do not see them you see the toys and basketball hoops here I see none of that. We all wish we could do more. We feel guilty that we have sodas, water and food, as much as we want. The people here do not have that advantage.

Only 5% is what we need to think about.

brian garrison

Today was was a great day. We are saddened to see half our team leave but are greeting the other half of the team who all are in tonight. We had a lazy day at camp and ended with a shared meal with Samaritans Purse. We had a feast on the fish Gary, David and i had caught yesterday. It is nice to meet ans spend time with those who have been here for a while.

We had orientation tonight instead of on monday so we are now ready to go right back to it tomorrow. We have teens here this week so it is noce to not be the youngest. Our tema is excited and healthy and raring to go. We again will be doing roofing, sheetrock repairs, sheetrock hanging, ramp building, siding repair, electrical plumbing and more.

All in all a great ends and a new one begins

brian garrison