Wednesday

As you’ll hear from our Team Bloggers for the day – Mandy Leatherman



and Joe Soffayer - notice his multi-tasking abilities -



we had a busy, productive, fun, fulfilling day.

Today I went with Janna, Mary, Mark, Channing, and Debbie to the Habitat Houses on 4th Street that the Habitat professional, Eric, is leading building. There are two houses here in their final stages. There are actually four houses in a row on this street, a brown one-story Habitat house up on five-foot tall cement pilings, a boarded up house with weeds growing in and around it, then a red Habitat house of the same style as the first, then another boarded up house with weeds growing around it. Although I thought that both of the old, broken-down looking houses were set to be bulldozed, it turns out that a man was living in one of them and he actually came over to help cut fascia that Mark and Channing put up on the red house out of his own good will!

Eric had many tasks for us and we split up to accomplish them. Mark and Channing finished the fascia on the red house by the end of the day. This involved being up on ladders and on the rooftop. Fascia is the white plate of wood that covers up the wood holding up the roof. They did a great job! Debbie worked with Eric and the Americorp volunteer, Ryan, to complete half of the railings on the porch of the brown house. Mary, Janna, and I swept out, spackled, and did touch up paint on the nearly finished interior of the brown house.





After about an hour, we were joined by Gwen, who will be moving into a nearly finished Habitat House hopefully by the end of the year. She was working on putting in hours of sweat equity that are necessary to qualify for a Habitat House. She is the mother of one son and the grandmother to three grandchildren. Her two granddaughters have been living in Houston since Katrina with an aunt. Now that Gwen will have this new three-bedroom house, she will have the two granddaughters move back to New Orleans to live with her and her grandson in the house. Our work on the brown house was cut short by the flooring professionals who came mid morning to finish the floors. So, then Mary, Janna, and I went over three blocks to work on putting finishing touches on the interior of Gwen’s house. Gwen was really excited to go to work on her own house and this was really fun for us too, to be a part of this.

We walked over to her house carrying our paint








and it was really interesting to walk through the neighborhood. She pointed out an old high school that is abandoned now because it was so damaged by Katrina. She also pointed out water marks on some of the old houses. This neighborhood was completely flooded during Katrina, some water marks being about 5 feet up on the houses! This was shocking and painful to see, but at the same time this neighborhood was exciting to me because it seems to be completely in transition. Half of the houses are still in the exact same condition as they were during Katrina. One house two doors down from Gwen’s new Habitat house has a roof that is caving in and a side that is falling over onto the house next to it! However, half of the houses are being rebuilt, many by Habitat. We saw three new foundations at the end of the street, and at least three churches in this neighborhood that had been rebuilt. Now, Gwen’s house is also a one-story house, but they took no chances with her house and built it up on about 8-foot pilings so that no amount of flooding should be a problem for her! We worked on spackling, sanding, removing painter’s tape (that had thick layers of dried on paint, no small task!), and cleaning up to prepare to do a lot of painting. After our lunch brought by a Loaves and Fishes ministry of Trinity Episcopal Church we started painting, and finished the window sills, one coat on a few doors, and much touch up on walls, etc. We still have so much more to do, but luckily will be back tomorrow to continue.

Mandy Leatherman






"This is the day the Lord hath made " ........... and believe me, today was just another beauty! 5:30 came fast again today, coupled with lots of us popping Advil and Motrin to ease the "muscle wake-up call" of yesterday! The gain far overweighed the pain! That's ok - it's all good ! Today, we were split up over three additional worksites other than just Ferry Place. The second day on the work site is always special because now we've "settled in", so to speak. We arrived at Ferry Place all knowing our mission. We had done most of the prep work yesterday, so today the crew was happy to get right to work and make a major dent in getting our home trimmed and sided. Once the staging was in place, everyone just "hunkered down" and focused on doing their job. Like a well-oiled machine, the team made remarkable progress on the front, back, and sides of the home. Working with us again today was George, a gentleman who is working with Habitat to qualify for a new home himself.




George originally lived in the 9th Ward and lost everything. He still has his property there and he is so anxious to go back and rebuild. He was great to watch. Besides the silent glimmer of enthusiasm in his eye, you could feel his sense of hope, caring, and dream of someday rebuilding his own home. His patience, strength, and resilience was remarkable. It far outweighed his silent pain of personal loss of friends and home. George was again my reminder of how much help New Orleans still so desperately needs.....a ten year plan now pushing 15! How incredible! As I worked today, I was again humbled by the likes of George and my talented church family, new and old. The sense of closeness, camaraderie, and mission kept me grounded and driven. We weren't just building a house, but someone's new home.......a special place for family and friends to gather, for children to be raised in, a place to enjoy holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries........that special place..... where the heart is. I look forward to 5:30 tomorrow morning!

God bless
Joe Soffayer









David taking color coordination to the extreme.




Seth's extension cord boa.



A good day's work!




Whatever it takes to get that photo!



Keep Praying!!!