- Home
- News
- Visit
- About
- Worship
- Programs
- Serve
- Give
We have been to Biloxi and back. The album is not yet complete as there are just lots of photos right now. We will be editing and adding captions over the next few weeks.
The city seems a lot more "normal" this year, if you can measure a city by its traffic. Although the gulf coast is still mostly vacant and not yet rebuilt, there is a lot more that has been done. However, there is still much to do. We will show you some of what we are seeing and doing.
These albums are contributed by the team that is in Biloxi, MS, in October, 2007, as part of a UMVIM trip. UMVIM is United Methodists Volunteers in Mission.
1
Being so close to New Orleans, many of us wanted to go there to see how the city had fared in the hurricane and how they were dealing with reconstruction. While we were there, we also visited the French Quarter. These photos show the destruction and rebuilding as well as the good times rolling.
Note - there are also New Orleans photos in the "fun" album as I started it before I saw how many photos I had received from New Orleans. I will move those photos to this album.
2
On Wednesday of our second week, we had some guests for breakfast. One family were the Fosters, who we helped this year. We wanted to give them a chance to meet the whole team and to tell us their story.
The other family were ones that we helped last year, and came to visit us. It was great for those who helped them last year to see them, especially to see the twins who had grown so much since last year.
3
Beverly and her family are deaf and live in a FEMA trailer. The park they lived in was being closed, so they had to move. Unfortunately, the apartment they will live in permanently is not yet completed, so they had to move to yet another FEMA trailer for a while. FEMA will not help them move, but they will lock the door on the old place right on schedule. So we moved them to a new location. It wasn't construction work, but the family greatly appreciated the help. They also appreciated us giving them our lunch sandwiches and snacks as they had nothing to eat.
4
This album contains photos of client's homes where we worked last year, and other Biloxi sights, so you can see how they compared with last year. We will be posting before and after photos as we can.
There is a lot of work to do here, and our clients' needs come before our desire to capture and share our photos. But we will persist even after we return to California so you can join us on our mission trip.
6
Although we work hard from 7 am to 5 pm, and then have a team meeting after dinner, we do have a little time for other things. Here are some of the photos from our relaxing time.
7
Ronnie and Coleen Foster have a home that was literally split in two by Katrina. They have managed to get the halves rejoined, but needed our help to finish the interior. We worked on installing flooring, kitchen counters, bathrooms, and more. We got the house into almost move-in condition. There is a little work on electrical fixtures and a small bit of trim, and a bedroom carpet to install, and then they are ready.
The Fosters were so appreciative that Coleen offered to cook lunch, corned beef and cabbage, for all who could come on the last Friday. About 20 of us were there and enjoyed her good cooking and hospitality.
9
Sam Kraft works at the UMVIM warehouse, and lost the insides of his home to the wind and water that accompany a hurricane. Some of us were helped by Sam last year when he loaded our truck several times as we picked up supplies for other houses, and now we are delighted to be able to help him.
10
Bob Long lives in a double wide trailer. As with many of the homes here, if it wasn't the flood, it was the wind. If it wasn't the wind, it was the rain. In any case, the insides of the house need to be rebuilt from the studs in. We are helping with flooring, painting, trimming, and whatever else is needed to make his home a home again.
11
Jennifer Smith and her family need their kitchen and bath rebuilt as they were heavily damaged by Katrina. As you can see, we are starting with the joists and rough plumbing in place, and our task is to raise the walls and roof, and finish the plumbing and electrical work, install drywall, and put in some doors and windows.
12
The Gowins family are building a new home to replace what they lost in Katrina. They are doing a substantial part of the work themselves, but we will help them with some parts where they don't have the expertise (as if we did!) or just because there is a lot to do.
14
This album is for photos of the team while we are not at a homeowner's site.
Even though we are here to help our homeowners, we DO get some time to do other things. And lots of those things are as a team. Every night after dinner, we meet for about an hour to sing and share stories about what happened at our sites today. You see some photos of those stories in the homeowners' photos and here. If you wonder what I might be talking about as a story, ask Brian Garrison to tell you the difference between a tornado and a train whistle!
15
On August 3, 2007, we had a church-wide Southern "hoe-down" and barbeque. Music was provided by John Harvey and The Old Time Religion Bluegrass Band playing your gospel favorites, the Stony Point Praise Band focusing on the "blues" in bluegrass, and Greg & Connie Bergquist (and friends) performing some of their favorite tunes - including selections from Connie's CD, Blessings. All proceeds will go to support the mission trip.
facebook page.