More Blogs to Come

Friday was our final work day and our groups worked hard to finish up the projects they were working on. On Friday evening we headed to New Orleans to be tourists for a few hours and enjoy the local culture before heading home to Pennsylvania, Toronto, Dublin or London.

Our group left MS earlier today (Saturday) with a true sense of achievement. We left MS in a little better condition than when we arrived and that's a great feeling!!!

Please check back in on the blog over the coming days as some of our bloggers didn't have the circumstances to blog while we were down there and there are still stories and pictures to share with you.

Thank you for your contined interest and support of our projects.

Impregnable Hammer Thunder Punch - Part I

Arriving in New Orleans upon stepping out of the plane onto the dock everyone immediately is impregnated by the humidity. A signal in my brain focuses every step upon finding water. Though, one does not need to drink from a water fountain in order to experience the zesty fragrance of lilacs that overwhelms the senses. And though this fragrance can only be experienced in New Orleans International Airport, it will forever be in my heart. I heart New Orleans International.
The humidity is certainly a beast, however this is not as bothersome as The SUN. Capital letters, if you please. The SUN deserves all caps. All told (photosynthesis, etc.) The SUN is phenomenal. That said, I do not care for the sun. Too much. Yet here we are! Look at us go.

Anyhow, the group took three flights, and I was on the final flight, arriving during the evening, 9p local time. After picking up the Nike bag I checked, Galen, Jonathan and I proceeded to follow the signs to Hertz in order to pick up the two rental vans. Once we reached the other side of the airport, the final sign instructed us to walk back in the other direction. Super. Finally we found the Hertz bus that would take us to the Hertz office, where obviously we would rent the vehicles. Galen and I had signed up to be drivers. There was a beautifully organized packet created for the drivers. Galen and I did not have this packet. I overheard "Dynamic duo" several times (or, perhaps, that is just what I wanted to hear). Thankfully, the SEI Rejuvenation board, and everyone involved in coordinating our efforts in Mississippi made this and everything else impossible to falter. We maintained composure, and Galen deftly took care of everything. No worries. Except I almost wished for sunlight, as after an hour long drive on I-10 our caravan of Honda Entourage vans arrived at our destination in Klin, Mississippi, I was blindly leading the way down a winding road hoping we would find Camp Coastal in the dark sometime before midnight. As luck would have it, we did, though no thanks to me. My navigator Julie pointed it out as I drove past and waved, and Galen driving the minivan behind me, was parking as I was putting the car in reverse. We all eventually gathered and found our bunks. We awake in approximately 6 hours.

When we awoke the next day, we all greeted one another and got down to the business of choosing amongst the dozen types of cereals offered. We packed a lunch consisting of cookies, chips, crackers, and a choice between a PB and J, or ham sandwich that would most certianly be tasty after several hours in a plastic bag under the seat of the van... Remember when you were 4 and you would leave your crayons in the car before church, and by the time church ended your crayons had melted into the dash. Well, the same principle is loosely applied here, and as such most people chose a PB and J rather than the ham sandwich, and wisely so. We then split into groups, and off we were. As I am sure someone has explained: There are 50 people in our SEI group, and 25 of those people are with Habitat For Humanity work sites, and the other 25 are with Camp Coastal work sites. Out of those 25 who are with Camp Coastal, we are further split into project groups. I am working on a Camp Coastal work site. This first site, we were in a group of ten or so of us. We first stopped off and picked up supplies at a converted elementary school. Galen was instrumental in determining what we would need, as he would be all week with his knowledge and patience. We arrived at the site and were greeted by the owner of the home we would help build, named Ike. Ike is currently living in a FEMA trailer, as many still do. On this first site, the frame was already up, so we primarily stabilize the structure. Initially some hard working types cleaned up the refuse lying around the home, and made a wood pile of the discarded 2 x 4’s. Some even took up shovels and leveled mounds of dirt and grass (originally created so that the foundation could be built). It was manual labor and it was definitely hard work. We worked in the breezeless rafters and below the raised home, and in a day and a half of work, our job at this site was complete. We could not do any further work until it was inspected and even then, an electrical engineer and plumber would need to submit their skills before we could move further. So we were reassigned to another job site on Tuesday afternoon. Though not before "hot lunch." We learned that our brown bag lunches would no longer be necessary as there was a Baptist Church that served a hot lunch to the contractors and volunteers in the area. It truly is a blessed act on their part. The food is so beyond what we expected; it is honestly, exceedingly better than what I would eat for lunch on any given day while home.

The kindness and thoughtfulness of that church is amazing; the spirit of rejuvenation absolutely is alive in everyone we meet. This in itself is a wonderful reason for hope. There remains a definite need for volunteers to be here, and I am sure our photographs will illustrate this point. The devastation is still immense. FEMA trailers, empty and abandoned lots still are far more prevalent than not. It’s incredibly sobering. I simply would not be able t0 fathom, even a year or so later, a disaster of this proportion if it had never witnessed it for myself. It changes the landscape. Boughs are broken. Homes -people’s lives- are scattered in pieces along the coast where perhaps one used to only see the coastal beauty. Local business is flattened. Each home we build, even if we only work towards providing shelter for one family, that is another step in bringing those displaced by the storm back to Mississippi, everything else will fall back in place, lives will be normal again, and the true rejuvenation will begin. So I hope.

Special Project

I have finally had time to blog again. It has really been a busy two days.

Adrienne and I worked on a special project for the Carpenter Family. If any of the readers of this blog followed last years blog, they will remember the the first SEI group worked on building the Carpenter's home.

Well the Carpenters home was almost ready to move into - and the family was so excited to get out of a trailer and start their new lives. When they went to get their donated furnishings out of storage, they found out they had been stolen. Can you imagine the heartbreak this family must have felt. Their dreams were brought so low after their home was completely wiped out by Katrina - and just when they thought they are about to turn a corner, they get hit again.

So the folks at SEI thought it would be a great idea to help furnish the Carpenters' house while we were down here.

So on Wednesday, Adrienne, Mimi and I went to talk with the Carpenters. When we told them we were going to help them - they were ecstatic. Holly, Brian and their 3 boys: Jessie, Joshua and Jacob couldn't believe that were going to offer them such a gift.

As we walked thru their home, we all realized how fortunate we were. They had one couch in the family room. The whole family was sleeping on mattresses on the floor. They had no real furniture except a few hand me down dressers to store their belongings. It was a sobering experience.

So with lots of information and a small budget, off we went shopping for the Carpenters. We spent the whole day in Gulf Port with specific criteria: Get as much as we could to turn this house into a home and do this all by end of day Thursday. That meant we had to find a furniture place that delivered....quickly.

After an exhausting day of running around, we felt we had been very successful. We found a furniture company that had very reasonable prices and was willing to deliver for free the next morning. As well, we still had money remaining to apply warm finishing touches like pictures, flowers, rugs, blinds, curtains, etc.

On Thursday, Adrienne and I went over to the Carpenters home - so excited to transform their house. The Carpenters spent the day away from the home - so we could surprise them. We had a lot of work to do. They furniture truck was coming at 10 AM and we had to clear out their house. So we went to work - and used already sore muscles to get everything outside.

At 10AM, we called in the troops and Robb, Antonis, Anne and Mimi came by to help with the new furniture and lend a hand. Anne and Mimi spent time outside planting the potters and flowers to go out on their front porch. They looked so warm and welcoming...it was a great start. Robb and Antonis were put to good use while waiting for the truck. They started on all the windows and got the miniblinds up in no time.

Finally the furntiture arrived......and most of it in pieces. Boy we had a lot of work to do in a short amount of time. Robb, Mimi and Anne needed to go back to the build site...but we recruited Anotnis to stay with us for the duration. He was a trooper...two bossy woman and tons of work to do.

So we got to it, building bunk beds, assembling furniture, putting up curtains, moving furniture, making beds, decorating. Antonis was very creative - as we ran into a few technical difficulties - and his quick thinking made it all come together.

We had hoped to be complete by around 3:30...but at 4:00 it was clear we still ahd about an hour and 1/2 to go. We called the Carpenters - and they were just so excited to see the results - they had no problem waiting for a few more hours.

Their home looked incredible. With just a small budget, we were able completely furnish their home. The living room now had a couch, loveseat and and oversized lounge chair with ottoman. Two end tables and a coffe table rounded out the room - and pictures and decorations finished it off. In the kitchen, a kitchen table with six chairs now allowed the family to share a meal together. The bathroom had all new towels, bathcarpets, shower curtain and decorations.

Jessies room had a "real bed" with a headboard where he could keep books and other personal things. He has his own desk and a dresser and end table. New bedding made the room complete.

Jacob and Josh's room now had bunk beds. I'm sure it will be a battle of sharing the top bunk! Jacob loves Sponge Bob ...so of course we had to find Sponge Bob bedding, a table and chairs where they could color and a cute night light/lamp. Josh really loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...but after searching in 4 different stores for this bedding...it was no where to be found. So we settled on a sports theme and played up football.

The parents bedroom had a cheery poster bed with a beautiful matching dresser and mirror and end table. It had some minor scratches and marks - so we were lucky to get such a bargain. We put on a light bedding with dark green sheets and lots of pillows!

The timing was perfect. At about 5pm, the SEI camera crew stopped by. They set up their cameras - and were ready for the Carpenters when they opened the door and saw the transformation. As well, a group of SEI volunteers stopped by to give support. It was quite a festive time.

At about 5:30 we were ready and the Carpenters were on their way.

When they walked in the door - we knew right away that all our hard worked paid off. Holly and Brian were brought to tears - and we received the biggest hugs! The kids were thrilled. Jacob and Josh piled on the top of the bunk bed - and Jessie was so happy with his new room.

SEI interviewed the Carpenters - and we hope that someday soon you can hear their story. We hope you will be as moved as we were !

Answers to Questions....

We were asked some questions in a recent blog comment and I wanted to answer these questions for everyone's benefit.

Who is on each of the teams? As previously mentioned our team was split into two groups - one supporting Camp Coastal projects and one supporting Habitat for Humanity projects. The group was split such that each group had a similar number of pre-skilled people as well as similar numbers of men and women. The balance has been worthwhile.

What's the non-gourmet food like when its not McD's? Do you cook? Is it provided? Camp Coastal provides us with all meals. The morning is a self-serve breakfast of cereal or bagels. Very basic cold breakfast foods. In the morning we have an opportunity to pack a bag lunch which we assemble ourselves. It generally consists of a sandwich, cookies, crackers, canned fruit salad and other basic lunch box items. We've eaten dinner at Camp Coastal a few times. These meals seem to be more carb focused with selections like pasta and macaroni most prevelant. Many have opted for meals out in the afternoon and evening - provided it doesn't interfere with our work days.

Are you foraging in the woods? Not yet.......... We're actually afraid to run into the armadillos so we generally avoid the woods!! ;)

How many SEI'ers does it take to install a window? Tyvek a wall, put up roof trusses? I can speak firsthand about the window installation. I was on an excellent crew and we installed the windows in the house on Tuesday. There were 5 of us in total - Ria, Jen, Rebecca, Antonis and me. We had it down to a science!! Tyvek is not easy. It's basically gift wrapping a house. A number of our group was involved in Tyvekking the house. Roof trusses!!!! Wow - what a team endeavor this is. We tackled this on Monday morning. There were around 8 of us on the ground handing the trusses to the next group of 4 on the scaffolding handing the individual trusses (which were very heavy) to another team of 4 on the roof. An amazing team effort!!!

What's the most fun job? The worst? I definitely think the best and worst jobs are subjective and based on personal opinion. For example, I cannot do anything on the roof - yet Adrienne and Lydia were up there often (and have my full respect and admiration for doing that!!!!). Many of us really enjoy tasks that we can quickly master and create impact on the building project. For example there were two siding crews working for much of the last two days. It's hard work and diverse work. We needed to custom measure and cut pieces of siding to fit around doors and windows and then nail these pieces into place. Obviously the more we got done the higher we went so much of our time was spent on scaffolding. But the impacf on the project and the apperance of the house is huge.

How does the Coastal Team decide what to do given the huge number of choices that must face them? The Coastal team meets with a coordinator every morning to discuss available job sites and issues that they might face. They get an amazing diversity of projects!!

Are you letting anyone from the UK or Dublin offices drive? Anne (from our Dublin office) has been driving the entire trip and, in spite of much ribbing, has done a great job!!!!

Keep the questions coming!!! As previously mentioned we plan to have additional blog posts from other contributors in the near future. Continue to check out the blog in the coming days and into the weekend as we'll be working all day on Friday and returning home over the weekends.

Thx - Robb

Rain on Wednesday....

As Erika mentioned in the previous entry Wednesday was dominated by rain - unfortunately. We worked for a few hours in the morning and then the heavens opened up and it rained HARD for about 20 minutes. When it stopped the road was flooded. We left for lunch and returned to work a little longer before it rained very hard again and caused our work day to end permanently. Thankfully on the Habitat site we were ahead of schedule and, of course, we will work extra hard on Thursday to make up for our lost time.

As some may recall we had a rain issue during our initial trip to the Gulf Region last November. That rain delay was occurred on Wednesday. Weird coincidence!!

One of the things that consistently impresses me is the gratitude extended by locals. Earlier this evening about half of us went to a restaurant in Bay St. Louis for dinner. The owner came out to check in on us and to find out what brought us to town. Consistent with some many others she thanked us extensively. She seemed very impressed that we had representation from London, Dublin and Toronto. This area of the country needs much help to get back to the point it was at 2 years ago!

Quick note to the Dublin Office: You would be so impressed by the diversity of jobs that Anne has been involved with. She has done everything from painting to siding. She now swings a hammer with ease and authority! It's awesome to have her as a member of our team - along with all of the SEI volunteers!! We also learned this week that driving in America is extra challenging for some foreign visitors because the gas and brake pedals are reversed in American cars. Anne has been handling it like a pro!!!!

Last night's after hours social activity for much of the group was bowling. Tonight many went to dinner and tomorrow many of us will be attending the bridge rededication. A crucial bridge was wiped out by Katrina and is being reopened and rededicated tomorrow. This is a BIG deal. As one local told us earlier in the week her parents live 10 minutes away via bridge but 35 minutes away without the bridge. The loss of this bridge has unnaturally changed traffic patterns, influenced career decisions and generally changed the pattern of the area. It's awesome to be here during the rededication.

I'm excited to report that an SEI volunteer did spot one of the armadillos that lives at Camp Coastal. I'm yet to hear the details, but it is an interesting development.

Pictures!

Picture 1: Welcome to Camp Coastal!

Picture 2: Habitat for Humanity Site - Day One

Picture 3: Habitat for Humanity Site - Day Two (AM)

Picture 4: Habitat for Humanity Site - Day Two (PM)

Rain Delay

Greetings! I bet you all are dying to hear more about our trip to the Gulf. As Robb and Ria have posted we have been getting lots of work done down here. However, at the moment we are on a slight rain delay for the morning. So, here I sit (yes, in McDonald's) excited to share with you all the progress that has been made.

Today we were greeted by a muddied work site; but hey, a little dirt never hurt anyone! So off we were, continuing with siding, working on the roof and completing a variety of tasks that need to be finished. We encountered a couple minutes of rain but decided it was a false alarm and continued with business as usual. Until ten minutes later when the sky decided to open up. You've never seen a group of people unplug power tools and climb into a house so quickly. As you can imagine, not much progress was made on the house during the rain showers, although insulation was put up on the inside.

However, everyone made the best of the situation by sharing great stories about our adventures the night before (more on that later), funny anecdotes about life in college, playing a game of "I Spy," and sharing some creative uses for an ice machine. And, in sitting on the floor in that house waiting for the rain to stop - which it eventually did but not before flooding the street and swallowing a car - I really had a chance to bask in everything that this project is all about. As we all are going about individual tasks on the house, you sometimes forget to sit back and look at the big picture. And what a big picture it is! All of the various volunteer groups pulling together to help a family continue to put their lives back together. And there is a great sense of accomplishment that should be felt by all involved. Whether you are nipping siding, hammering wood or painting a shed you should be proud of the work that is being done here. This is truly an amazing and humbling experience. Wonderful things are happening all around and it's great to be a part of that.

Well, I am about to sign off (mainly because Robb is leaning over my shoulder trying to read what I am writing) but when I am back, I'll be sure to tell you all about the debauchery and foolishness that took place at the bowling alley! Let's just say Tuesday was a late night and claimed a number of victims :)

Now you get back to work and I'll get back to McDonald's!

Additional Info......

Additional things to share -

The family that will be purchasing the Habitat home that we are building are true survivors. They were home when the storm hit and filled their home with 7 feet of water. The mother, father, teenage son and elderly grandmother had to swim to safety in the mucky, sea water that swept through their home. They lost everything except for a small number of pictures that were on the wall high enough not to be swept away. As Ria mentioned in the last blog we have the chance to work with them shoulder-to-shoulder and it's a great opportunity for all of us.

We also have the opportunity to work with a number of Americorps' members. In order to qualify for the Americorps' program, individuals must be between 18 and 24. These dynamic young people give 10 months in service to America to work on various projects. The organization is federally-funded and structured such that the country breaks into 3 parts - eastern, western and central. Lately, much of their focus (across the entire organization) has been on the Gulf Region - however in different times they tend to focus on projects in their particular region. They receive housing, food and a modest stipend for their service. We have about 15-20 Americorps' members on our work site.

Our Camp Coastal work teams have been helping a wide variety of families. Many of these people have been living in tough conditions for the last 20 months. We'll share some of these stories in future blogs.

Funny aside - I went for a 4 mile run after work today. When running on the side of the road back home I occasionally see an unfortunate roadkill victim. Down here all of the 'victims' seem to be frogs. In a short half-mile stretch I came across 6 paper thin frogs. YUCK!!

Funny story!! Three of our volunteers went to Wal-Mart to get some things. Two of them finished first and sat (with their purchases) on the floor inside the store opposite the cash registers. They hadn't been able to shower after a hard day of work yet and were exhausted. A nice guy walks up to them and says - "I know what's it's like. Things will get better." Then he empathically gives them a $5 bill. Before they could protest or correct his undestanding (that they, in fact, were not homeless) he had left. The whole group has been enjoying this story.

Funny story #2!! During our orientation to Camp Coastal on Sunday night we were told many things about the camp. A few of the funniest:

> There are two dogs at the camp - small pups named Milo and Hosea. Adorable!!!
> There are two cats - Pumpkin and Miss May (one of our former volunteers would love this!)
> They also claim that two armadillos reside here. None of our volunteers have seen these creatures yet, but we are all interested.
> In the middle of the orientation we had to sing a children's song to reiterate an important camp rule. When we return, make it a point to ask a volunteer in person about this song and its purpose. Very interesting!! :)

Final note for this blog - One of the things that really amazes me personally about this entire experience is the incredible team work being displayed on a daily basis. We are working together shoulder-to-shoulder doing work that most of us have never done and doing it successfully. During the course of working we're getting to know each other better and acquiring new friends. In many cases we're working with fellow employees that we would have never had a chance to really get to know because of the diversity of positions within SEI and the growing size of our employee population. SEI deserves a lot of credit for making opportunities like this available.

As always - we welcome questions. Thx for checking out the blog! Keep coming back!!

- Robb

Second day at the site

As Robb mentioned, we are having trouble getting wireless access. So here Adrienne and I sit in McDonalds accesssing their WiFi. On vacation I assume most people avoid the fast food chains looking for some traditional local cuisine. But about now, McDonalds is gourmet.

Apparently from the last volunteers, the camp we are staying at is even more humble than the first. I am generally pretty easy going when it comes to "rustic" situations, but this is even pushing the limits. In general our cabins are OK. They are basically big garden sheds with 12 bunk beds made from 2x4 wood. There is a 2 inch plastic mattress between yourself and the plywood. Also - in the cabin is one shower and one bathroom. With 12 woman in a cabin - that is posing an interesting challenge. We were told that they had "common" showers...but that turned out to be only two additional showers. So we definitely are learning to take quick ones. On a GREAT note, the showers have hot water and the pressure is good. If I could only get rid of the sulfer smell from the water, life would be great.

The first day at the site was incredible. It was amazing how it went from a raw shell to a fully enclosed home in 8 hours. Today was even better. I learned how to put in windows and put up siding. It is really tiring work - but very rewarding.

Habitat families must put in 200 hours of labor in order to get their home. So we are working side by side with the family, helping build their dream. They are first time home owners and are currently living in a FIMA trailer. They are so excited to call something their own.

Last night one of SEI's clients, Hancock Bank, rewarded us with an incredible southern cook out. They were such gracious hosts - I felt like I was with family. Batterdipped catfish started the affair and it ended with incredibley delicious bread pudding. I think most people went back for second helpings. Their were about 10 folks from the bank and they brought their family and friends. It was such a heartfelt experience. They told us of all of their situations and the crazy weeks, months and years of chaos that Katrina has brought to their lives. They could not stop thanking us for coming down and helping them. They were most impressed that we remembered them and wanted to help them- even though the catastrophe happened almost two years ago.

It's 5:30pm on Tuesday - and Adrienne and I sit in McDonalds with our computers. We are tired - full of caulk, dirt and paint - but happy as can be. Tonight lots of us are going out bowling. We've made some friends on the job site - so we've invited them as well. Some folks are from Americorp - while others come down as individuals, lending a hand.

I am hoping that tomorrow I can put up some pictures of our progress - it really is incredible to see.

Signing off until tomorrow - Ria

Our First Day!!

Hello everyone!! First let me apologize for the limited number of exciting blog entries. Our camp site was scheduled to have a wireless connection and it does not currently have one. (This is a problem we are working to fix.) So any blog entries need to be posted from public wireless access sites and there are not a lot of them in this immediate area.

We all arrived. A special kudos to our international volunteers who had missed out on a lot of sleep during the course of their travels to the MS area. Each of them worked very hard yesterday and it was awesome to meet them!!!

Anyway……. Yesterday was our first day at work. As previously mentioned our group was split into two main groups – one working with Habitat for Humanity and one working with Camp Coastal (our host camp).

I was on the Habitat crew. It was nice to see all of the same Habitat staff that we worked with last year. They remembered the few of us who were returning – which was also great. Our group is working in Waveland, MS – which is the town next to Bay St. Louis. Habitat is doing much good work in this particular neighborhood. There are two houses we were working on right now – immediately next door to each other. Our group of 25 is working with some members of the Americorps team and other house has volunteers from Habitat / Seattle, Habitat / Wisconsin and some other Americorps members. When we arrived on the job site yesterday morning our house had framed walls and the other house was only a foundation. After the end of a long (hot) day one could see lots of progress. On both houses, the roof trusses were up and the first layer of wood was going on. The walls were covered by wood and Tyvex and the inside framing was taking shape. A number of us also had the opportunity of working with the family that will be purchasing the house – which is exciting.

The Camp Coastal crew was split into a few teams working on different projects. In general Camp Coastal offers less oversight and thus the volunteers have the opportunity to be more creative regarding what they do and how they do it. One of the other authors associated with that team can get into more detail on their projects soon.

A number of people learned new skills yesterday and did things that they had never done before and, certainly, do not traditionally do during their standard SEI day. It is exciting to see the differences that we are making already. One of the major skills needed to be successful in this setting is team work. SEI has great team work and it's very evident down here!!

We went straight from the work site to a BBQ hosted by an SEI bank client. They are headquartered in that area and graciously hosted us last year and were pleased to do so again. It was awesome to see friends and business associates again. In a brief conversation with three bank employees I learned that one had completely lost her home in the storm, another had 2 feet of water and another was barely touched. The storm had dramatically different effects on many different families. Due to the timing of the gathering we had to attend directly from the work site – dirty, grimy and smelly. :)

I think we have collectively made about 10 trips to Wal-Mart. There are tons of little things that we need to get to make life a little bit more comfortable.

It’s 6:30 am here. About 15 of us are eating breakfast and milling around. One of the Camp Coastal work crews plans to leave in a few minutes so they can avoid some of the late day heat. We’ll blog again soon. Hopefully we’ll get the internet connection issue solved so you can hear from a variety of our blog authors throughout the course of the week and see some of our pictures.

As always – we welcome questions.

- Robb

We're here.....

It is almost 8 pm. Most of our volunteer group has arrived safely at Camp Coastal where we will be staying. The key word in the last sentence is camp. It is very rustic here. The cabins are modest in size with no windows and connected by a series of pallets acting as a walkway. Thankfully they do have small air conditioners which help a little. Unlike the last place we stayed our dining will take place in a large tent (think M.A.S.H. - for those that remember that show). It has rained off and on all day. Short bursts of violent rain with thunder and lightning. It's very humid and working tomorrow will be interesting.

We've already taken a little tour of Bay St. Louis to see some of the improvements since our last trip. The house that many of us worked on is complete and looks awesome from the outside. Additionally, on Thursday they will be reopening a key bridge that was destroyed in the storm almost two years ago. It is an exciting week to be here!!

We're excited to hear about our first work assignments tomorrow morning and how we will make a difference in this area. One half of our group will be working with the Habitat for Humanity crew and the other half with the Camp Coastal crew.

A small no-doubt poisonous spider is crawling up my leg so I will sign off. We welcome questions. Look for future blog entries from me and the other volunteers.

Robb