Helping out, years after hurricane -- (Katrina) - Teen Volunteers help out!

[Breeze54]

Helping out, years after hurricane

By Michael Morton/Daily News staff
GateHouse News Service

Mon Jun 18, 2007, 11:19 PM EDT

http://www.milforddailynews.com/homepage/x1469279471


Monica Chickering of Franklin, MA. fills drywall
joints at a home in Pearlington, Miss.



Pearlington, Miss. -

At the end of a sweltering but productive work shift yesterday, 15-year-old Franklin resident
Chelsea Lindblad took a wistful look around a two-bedroom home ravaged by Hurricane Katrina
and wondered what lay in store after her group concludes its week of volunteer labor.

"You just wish you could see their faces when the house is finally finished," she said.
But minutes later, owner Rosa Jackson, a travel agent for U.S. Navy scientists, returned from
her job and provided a preview. "It looks good," she said, beaming. "Every time someone comes
to do something, I’m a little bit farther along than yesterday."

Like many homeowners in this small town near the Gulf Coast, Jackson has invited volunteer
construction crews into her home in the hope that she can move out of the small trailer
provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency sitting in her front yard.

In her case, the call has been heeded by members of the Franklin United Methodist Church and
First United Methodist Church of Framingham and their friends and families. Despite getting
ribbed by some neighbors for using up their vacation time, 10 adults and six students arrived
Sunday for a week’s worth of labor. "It’s just kind of payback," said Tom Colby, a 52-year-old
Ashland network administrator who signed up to give thanks for medications helping control his
case of hepatitis C.

"It feels like it (the disease) is nothing. There’s so much that’s wrong down here."
Although volunteers have varied, this is the group’s third trip to Pearlington, having been
initially assigned to the town by the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Group leader John Chickering, a Franklin, MA. resident and church congregant, said he hoped to
work on Jackson’s home and another belonging to Steven Layton, a purchasing agent for a barge
manufacturer, before deciding whether to take on more work. There is plenty to do, though
Chickering said progress had been made in picking up debris and rebuilding a few homes around
the town, which sits 30 miles east of New Orleans as the crow flies and only a couple of miles
from the coast. Much of the new construction sits on stilts, since floodwaters rose above the
second floor on some homes when Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005.

Still, only half of the original 900 families have returned. A drive around town reveals an old
green sofa chair in a clearing and stairs leading to concrete pads where homes once stood before
being declared uninhabitable and razed. A fallen tree is still embedded in the roof of one house,
while others are mere shells, standing in contrast to the shiny new county election posters
dotting the streets. Since the storm, volunteer laborers such as Chickering and his group have
become a common sight in town, drawing waves from residents on porches as they drive by, thanked
by a recently erected homemade sign nailed to a tree that proclaims "getting better all the time."

While Boy Scouts and AmeriCorps volunteers are among those helping, most are drawn from churches
around the country, with several denominations setting up their own bases of operations.
Chickering’s group first came down after a dinner he had with his pastor, who is from Mississippi.
"People have just brought their talents and helped in various ways," Chickering said of his team.
"You want everyone to contribute as much as they possibly can."

Like many other volunteers, the Massachusetts group stays in the Pearlington Recovery Center, set
up in the gym of the town’s demolished elementary school and run by two local residents. The 270-
bed setup is a mix between summer camp and a disaster relief site, with volunteers eating in a
tan mess hall tent on loan from the U.S. Department of Defense and staying in make-shift cabins,
which for the Massachusetts group means the aluminum trailer used for local elections. At night,
volunteers are known to play guitars and sing songs. Daytime, however, is for work.

After assessing what needed to be fixed in the homes Sunday, Chickering’s group began repairs
yesterday, using special gel-filled bandanas chilled in their coolers to deal with the heat.
His team includes rookie construction workers like his 17-year-old daughter, Monica Chickering,
who learned how to put up drywall for the first time, to old do-it-yourself hands like Colby.
"I can do pretty much anything," he said.

During the team’s first construction day, Chickering and other group leaders updated the homeowners
about the projects, helped get the volunteers focused and issued directions for five tasks at once.
Whatever they don’t get done by week’s end will be turned over to the next group.

"There’s an element of faith that we’re going to pass the baton," Chickering said.

What a fantastic idea!! Having teens spend time helping others as part of their summer vacation!