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Like so many of us, I was feeling pretty helpless after seeing the devastation of Hurricane Katrina on the news every Night. Because my children are older, my husband is supportive and my work in Real Estate is very flexible, I was able to take time away and do volunteer work in Biloxi, Mississipi. I worked with Catholic Charities from Oct 10-Oct 21. This photo is of me (wearing the blue hat) and my work crew. It also includes the owner of the property, who worked alongside us, removing moldy drywall and cabinetry.
Removing Moldy Drywall The owner of this home in East Biloxi thought her drywall would dry out and be fine. Seven weeks after Katrina, it was still wet and so, needed to be removed. We worked in crews of 4-6 each day. Each home had to be taken down to the studs; we removed drywall, trim, cabinets and appliances. Eventually the homes will be treated for mold and then rebuilt. Most of the homeowners we helped had no insurance and no money to rebuild. East Biloxi is a very poor area. Many of the residents are shrimp fisherman, whose livelihood was destroyed by Katrina.
Typical East Biloxi Home Most of the homes in the area I worked were modest in size and very well kept. A typical home was about 900 square feet; consisting of 2-3 bedrooms, living room, dining area kitchen and one bath.
The orange paint on the home is evidence the home has been searched for those injured or killed by the hurricane.
After Cleanup This what a home looks like after cleanup. We removed drywall, trim, doors, cabinetry and appliances. The homeowner was still living in this home (!) so we left the kitchen sink and bathroom fixtures.
Hurricane Damaged Home This is the second home I helped clean up. The owners were living out of town, so our work crew did not have their assistance. This home had lots of flood damage from the 25-30 foot tidal surge that hit the area. Ceiling tiles had to be removed, along with insulation. Because this home had paneling on top of drywall, it took 2 days to clean up.
Never have I seen so many colors of mold. We also got used to cockroaches hiding in the insulation!
Debris Pickup The first week I was in Biloxi, I did not see much cleanup work. The second week, there were huge trucks and frontloaders picking up piles of debris. Homeowners just place their debris at curbside and it (eventually) is picked up and hauled away. Our refuse pile was actually picked up 3 times in one day!
Luxury Areas Not Spared This home is located in a high-end neighborhood called Diamondhead. It lies North of I-10, away from the Gulf. Not so much water damage here, but lots of wind damage. Piles of debris await removal.
Dedeaux Retreat Center The Dedeaux (dee-dough) Retreat Center is adjacent to Sacred Heart Church. The local Catholic Charities office rented it out to house relief workers. We were fed two awesome meals each day and provided with dormitory style living quarters.
The retreat center is a converted elementary school. The gym served as our family room. Fortunately the TV received only one channel, so no fighting over shows!
Food Donations This delivery of supplies came from a parish in Orlando, Florida. A fifty three foot truck delivered food, supplies, small appliances and law-enforcement supplies. Food and supplies were distributed (to all who asked) from St Louis Church in East Biloxi.
Miller Time! Thanks to Miller for bottling water and sending it to the hurricane affected areas!
Volunteers from All over! Volunteers from all over signed this wall in our distribution center. Lots of folks from Florida, including several groups from Florida State University.
Billy Ray Dedeaux Billy Ray Dedeaux runs the teen program at Sacred Heart Church and oversaw the volunteers in the Retreat Center. He is an awesome guy and a great teacher. He was NFL Teacher of the Month, nominated by his student Brett Favre!
Devastation Everywhere The devastation caused by Hurrican Katrina is amazing. I was in Biloxi in weeks 7 and 8 after Katrina. Some of the worst damage is in Bay St Louis and Waveland, which are located East of New Orleans and West of Biloxi. This is also where Hurricane Camille landed in the late 1960's.
St Michael's This is St. Michael's Church in East Biloxi. It is across the street from the Gulf. It was heavily damaged by Katrina. Our group spent several hours cleaning the driveway access, that had been blocked by trees, refuse and a dining room sideboard!
Gambling Barges This gambling barge had been located in the Gulf, but was pushed inland by the storm surge and was stopped from hitting St. Michael's by several strong oak trees.
Saved from the Hurricane While cleaning St. Michael's, we were told of the two priests who decided to ride out the storm inside the church. The priests survived the storm by climbing the walls and sitting on the shoulders of these saintly statues. You can see how high the water was by the line of broken stained glass.
School Supplies My friend Jenny met Miss Katie at the food warehouse. When asked if she knew any children who could use donated supplies, she told us she was a Kindergarten teacher! We were able to deliver two carloads of donated supplies to her school. She taught at one of the two destroyed elementary schools in the town of Pearlington. They had returned to school and were sharing space with Hancock County Middle School.
Happy kids! I don't think I have ever seen children so happy to have school supplies! These two helped Jenny and me to carry in heavy boxes of donated workbooks and flash cards. Literally everything from their school had been destroyed in the hurricane.
St. Clare's in Waveland Jenny and I also delivered supplies to St. Clare's school in Waveland. It had been wiped off the map by Katrina. Awesome classroom tents had been donated by a company based in Seattle. They planned to open late October. This is Jenny and the school principal.
Supplies were also delivered to Bay St. Louis schools and Our Lady Academy.
Survivor This charming home in Bay St. Louis survived Katrina, appearing mostly intact.
Unbelieveable amounts of destruction and damage still exist in the Gulf areas. Please contribute to your favorite charity as you are able. Your assistance will be greatly appreciated!
Bellevue 2 Biloxi
It is my pleasure to head back to Biloxi after Christmas 2005. I will be with a group of 5 adults from my office (Phil, Frank, Larry & Aaren), along with my son Andy and two other teens whose fathers are attending (Patrick & Andy). Watch this space for an update!
Hands On USA
It was my pleasure to bring a group of nine (5 adults and 4 teens) to do more work in the Biloxi area from Christmas to New Year's Eve 2005. All the adults work with me at Coldwell Banker Bain. The first day of our trip, we worked with a group called Hands On USA. They have a large volunteer organization in the Biloxi area. The photo on the left is the first of two homes we assisted them with. We called our group Bellevue2BIloxi2005. Members include Phil Kenney & his son Patrick, Frank Pietromonaco & his son Andy, Aaren Polderman, Larry Gockel, my niece Rose Slaton and me & my son Andy Weyer.
Final Clean Up Final clean up includes removing all trim, tack strips and nails. Once this is done, a special mold remediation group comes into the homes and sprays. Here my niece, Rose Slaton, gets in on the action.
Don't Let the Door Open! On my first trip to Biloxi, I learned that you never want to open the door on a refrigerator! Imagine what happens to the food inside when there has been no electricity for 8 weeks! Our group moved this one carefully, but curiosity got to the kids and they opened it despite my warnings. Lucky for all of us, it had been emptied.
Near Keesler Air Force Base This is the second home we cleaned for Hands On USA. It was hard work; with high ceilings and tongue and groove wood walls inside that had to be removed. It is very near the back bay of Biloxi, so it had extensive water damage.
A Sad Sight Four months after Katrina and this yard had not been cleaned up yet. It was really sad to see personal items such as toys, work id badges and Christmas music cd's laying around.
Bay St. Louis This charming Bay St. Louis home is the first home we worked on for Catholic Charities. Note the FEMA trailer to the right of the photo. A family of 3 was living in this teeny trailer while their home is being repaired. The owner hoped he could move back in, in 1-2 months. He stayed with his grandfather down the street during the storm, in a 100 year old home that sits well above the street. He told us of a 10 foot wall of water that came down the street at the speed of a car, about 20-25 mph.
Bay St. Louis Andy removes drywall that had been improperly installed by another volunteer group. This homeowner called Catholic Charities for help when his first clean-up crew did as much harm as good. I'm sure they had good intentions, just not good results.
Andy Finds a Friend! Andy found four geckos while gutting the Sunkist Country Club home. They ran out of the insulation when it was removed from the walls. I think this one wants to move to Bellevue.
Sunkist Country Club This is an "after" photo for the 5th home we worked on. Although only one foot of water entered the home by flooding, losing half the roof allowed huge amounts of water into the home. It was necessary to remove all drywall, insulation and cabinetry from this home. The owner was great; working alongside us and buying pizza for lunch!
Thank You 3M! 3M was kind enough to donate a case of high quality, mold-filtering masks to our group. Betsy and her son, Andy model the filters on a job site. Those fashionable pink filters kept us safe from common and serious effects of mold exposure.
Chemistry Books Delivered A friend of Betsy's is a teacher who was able to match surplus Chemistry textbooks with a school in Louisiana who added 200 students after Hurricane Katrina. Many families relocated to areas nearby, but less damaged by the hurricane. Hopefully, many families will be able to return to their homes when the school year is over. The St. Thomas Aquinas teacher on the left is happy to accept delivery from my son Andy and his cousin Rose.
Coldwell Banker Alfonso Carlene Alfonso, owner and Karen Glass, Broker accept twenty $100 Home Depot gift cards to assist their agents and staff in rebuilding. Sixty percent of their agents and staff lost their homes, as did Carlene and Karen. These ladies were appreciative for the funds donated by agents and staff in my Coldwell Banker office. Go Coldwell Banker Alfonso!
Christmas Spirit Lives! The Christmas spirit was alive and well along the Gulf Coast. This Christmas tree is protected from the winter weather in Pass Christian. I was told that 83% of the homes in this high-end area were destroyed.
Removing Drywall Nails Once damaged drywall is removed from the homes, all nails must be removed. Tedious but necessary work, completed here by Andy Weyer.
Hands On USA Hands On USA is an awesome volunteer organization that was originally formed after the tsunami. If you look close, you can see that the sign originally said Hands On Thailand. My branch of Coldwell Banker Bain decided not to have a Christmas Party in 2005 and instead donated $5300 dollars to this organization.
Cafe du Monde Our last day in Biloxi was a day for deliveries and a little sight seeing. Andy and his cousin Rose had never been to New Orleans, so we made a quick trip to see the French Quarter. Where else to start (and end) our trip but with Beignets and Cafe au Lait at Cafe du Monde! The kids had fun, but it was a bit sad to see how small the crowds were. About 60% of the shops and restaurants in the French Quarter were open. This area is above sea level and received less flooding than most of New Orleans.
Don't forget the Gulf Coast! Here I pose with Billy Ray and Marlene, friends from the retreat center where we stayed. Billy Ray is the heart and soul of the center and Marlene is a repeat volunteer I met on my original trip to Biloxi in October 2005.
I was glad to see progress in the area since that first trip. The progress is, however, very slow.
Please keep the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast area in your thoughts. They still need lots of help, including private volunteers and funds, to rebuild. Habitat for Humanity is scheduled to begin rebuilding homes in the area this spring. That might be a good place to send donations you may wish to make.
Habitat 2006 Waveland In May of 2006, it was my pleasure to join Habitat for Humanity in building the first Gulf Coast Katrina replacement home. I worked for a week with an amazing group of lawyers, techies, contractors and administrative support workers. Our Habitat Supervisor, Mark, did an amazing job of getting a ton of productive work out of a ragtag group of mostly non-building types. A three-generation family, who had been living in a FEMA trailer moved into this home in Summer 2006.
Long Beach/Biloxi Habitat 2007 On Easter Day, 2007, I flew back to Biloxi with my son Andy. After he and I worked on house-gutting in 2005, Andy had wanted to return to do more productive work. We stayed at Yankee Stadium in Biloxi, which had been converted to a wonderful facility for Habitat Volunteers and other Katrina Recovery workers. Once again, Habitat proved to be an amazing model for productivity. We did finish work and clean-up on two homes in the town of Long Beach; preparing them for homeowner move-in. Habitat has a huge presence in the Gulf Coast area and is working hard to replace homes destroyed by Katrina. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact me and I will be happy to tell you more about the process and experience.
Phone: (425) 822-5100 | Fax: 425-827-3400 | Cellular: 425-444-3305 Windermere Real Estate/East, Inc. 3933 Lk Washington Blvd NE, Suite 100 Kirkland, WA 98033
