Epilogue

It was an incredible trip.  Colleen said that it was the most restful vacations that she's ever taken.  (No running from one tourist trap to another, for example.) 

The trip was a hoot!  We saw and did things that we never expected. 

We meet some amazing people and made (I hope) some new life-long friends.  Many signed my impromptu "autograph book" that I made out of a scrap piece of flooring.

We've always known that we are fortunate, but it's sobering to see the curves that life has thrown some folks.  As Sister Frances said, everyone is entitled to decent housing, medical care and a good education. 

Would we go back?  Most assuredly.  Don't know when.  But who knows?  Maybe you'll accompany us on Nuns' Build IV?

Random Musings

Nuns are amazing people  And fun, too!

It’s not unusual to hear gunshots in St. Bernard either early in the morning or towards dusk.  (Hunting is popular out here.)

We were introduced to the satsuma, a type of orange that grows in the area.  They are sort of like a tangelo and are delicious.

Folks all over New Orleans are majorly crazy about their New Orleans Saints.  The team’s fleur-de-lis logo is slapped on everything imaginable.

We foolishly thought that we'd lose weight on this trip.  On the contrary.....

Horses don't like flash pictures.

I would gladly do endorsements for Goo-Gone.

New Orleans is apparently home to one of the largest concentrations of Sicilians in the US.

Many of the people of St. Bernard drive pickup trucks, big pickup trucks.

They also like dogs, any size and shape, although it appears big black dogs are the most popular.  Here’s one that decided to visit us one day.

It strange sensation to be driving along the river and noticing that the ship on the water is appreciably higher than the street that you're on.  That is, the street is 10-20 feet below the water level. 

We no longer have to factor in a trip to the Dollar General when nature calls.

80% of the buildings in New Orleans had a water line after the waters of Katrina receded.

The French Quarter may be the place to be, but New Orleans still has many scary neighborhoods.

It's highly probable that we will never eat another Lucky Dog.

Pralines are like pizza in Chicago. Everyone has their own recipe for making pralines and some taste better than others.

Returning home

Saturday, November 20^th (Afternoon)

As we left the museum, we encounted a bit of street theater.  A float of chanting Hare Krishna devotees.

We drove to the airport, returned the rental car, checked in and settled into the departure lounge to await our flight.  We ran into some of the St. Eulalia’s group that we first met on the trip in.  We swapped stories and were somewhat envious when we heard stories of installing insulation, mudding drywall, framing doors or just general demolition.

For our final meal in New Orleans, we each decided to have a Lucky Dog, as there was a concession in the airport.  These hot dog vendor carts are a local institution and can be found throughout the French Quarter. 

They've also been immortalized in A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.  It's one of the funniest books I've ever read.

Without a doubt, the our Lucky Dogs were the worst meal we had in New Orleans.  In fact, they were probably the worst hot dogs we ever had in our lives.  Give us a good old Chicago Vienna Beef hot dog anyday!

The flight home was pretty smooth and uneventful, except for the last 15 minutes.  A little girl must have had problems with the air pressure and was wailing in pain.  We felt really sorry for her.  As we taxied to our gate, the Southwest flight attendant announced “We enjoyed serving most of you and hope that you enjoyed your flight.”

It was great to be back home, even though we has swapped sunny weather in the upper 60’s for overcast weather in the 40’s.

Katrina & beyond

Saturday, November 20^th (Late morning)

It was back to the French Quarter as we wanted to visit the Katrina & beyond exhibition at the Cabildo on Jackson Square.  Here’s a promotional video on the exhibit:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GceU02_RtEE&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

We spent over an hour wandering the displays.  The first thing that greets you is Muddy Waters piano, which is displayed just as it was found after Katrina. 

There are displays on the days before Katrina hit, eyewitness accounts of what occurred  during the storm, stories of survival in the weeks after the storm, histories about past storms, scientific displays on levies and floods, ending with video comments from survivors.

Very powerful and moving.  I know that I’m repeating myself, but it’s impossible to comprehend what occurred here five years ago.

"And now a word from our sponsors..."

Colleen & I are not very good about asking for donations.  However, if you feel like making a contribution, we suggest that you visit the St. Bernard Project webpage at

https://npo.networkforgood.org/Donate/Donate.aspx?npoSubscriptionId=1000309&code=sbpweb

Under Program Designation, select Rebuilding

Under Dedication, please type in Nuns’ Build III - Jarosz

As the Sisters would say, “Bless You”.

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the US.  Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall. At least 1,836 people lost their lives in the actual hurricane and in the subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since 1926; total property damage was estimated at $81 billion.

Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005 on the Gulf Coast near New Orleans.  Levee failures and an enormous storm surge resulted in the flooding of much of the city.

Here is an informative video from the Times Picayune showing the progression of the flooding.  We were staying/working near the "30" by Chalmette in the lower right of the screen.

http://www.nola.com/katrina/graphics/flashflood.swf

It's been over five years since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, yet there are hundreds of families still living in temporary FEMA trailers.

The following facts about New Orleans are from the webite of the United Way of New Orleans. (http://rebuildnola.unitedway.org):

1. Today, New Orleans has only 89 percent of its pre-Katrina population.
2. Only 70 percent of the jobs based in New Orleans pre-Katrina exist in the present day.
3. The New Orleans area has returned to only 79 percent of its pre-Katrina commercial activity.
4. The cost of rental property in New Orleans has increased by 49 percent, while over 65,000 residential units remain vacant.
5. About 35,000 children attend 85 schools in New Orleans in 2010. Before Katrina, about 63,000 students attended 128 schools.
6. Before Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans area had 17 hospitals with emergency rooms. Today it has 11.
7. As of May 2009, public transportation usage is at only 43 percent of pre-Katrina levels.
8. General cargo handled at the Port of New Orleans was down 19 percent in 2008.
9. Tax credits and other programs have helped rebuild nearly 70,000 housing units, yet 2,000 families remain in temporary housing.
10. 6,000 people are camping in more than 65,000 abandoned buildings in New Orleans.

Here is an excellent five minute video about Katrina made by a reporter from a local TV station in New Orleans.

http://bayoumedia.com/video/WWL_Katrina_16mgs.wmv 

For more information on Katrina, I recommend that you visit this fascinating site:

http://www.livescience.com/environment/hurricane-katrina-new-orleans-aftermath-infographic-100824.html 

The Most Important Meal of the Day

Saturday, November 20^th (Early Morning)

Morning ablutions, last-minute cramming of items in our suitcases, tossing the linens and towels in the washer/dryer and a final cleanup of la casa flotante. 

We had decided the night before to meet Sister Frances for breakfast before we left.  (Sister Jan elected to stay home.) 

We met at another local St. Bernard establishment, Penny’s Café.  It’s one of the town's hangouts, judging the comings and goings of the locals.  We obviously stuck out – Sister said that there aren’t many pale-skinned bald men in the parish.  None of us selected the crawfish omelette. 

After a lovely conversation rehashing over the week, it was time to go.  But not before insisting that Sister visit Chicago so that we could return the hospitality. 

A Final Night on the Town

Friday, November 19^th (Evening)

We showered, changed and briefly sat down for some wine (Diet Coke for me)  and relaxation.  Since Colleen and I planned on going into the city for dinner, we offered to drop Sister Mary Ellen off at the home of another CSJ, a friend of hers who lives in New Orleans.  (She was going to spend the night, prior to departing for St. Paul on Saturday.) 

We stopped by the main house so that Sister could say her goodbyes to Sisters Frances and Jan.  And then we left for New Orleans.  After a few wrong turns (thank goodness for GPS) we safely dropped off Sister Mary Ellen and said our goodbyes. 

The GPS was reprogrammed and the car was soon on its way to the Garden
District and our destination, Commander’s Palace, one of the most famous restaurants in the city.  http://www.commanderspalace.com/

Lady Luck was with us:  we found free parking down the block (a big deal for anyone from Chicago), we scored a table without reservations and we weren’t turned away for my not wearing a jacket.

We had last visited the Palace in 1989 when Colleen was in town for a Blood Bank convention.  The Palace was not spared Katrina’s wrath – one of the many servers told us that the restaurant was closed for 13 months for repairs and renovation.

We were led to table in a second floor dining room.  When our drinks came we toasted the end of a great trip and gave thanks for our life waiting for us back at home.

For our meal, we selected:

Corn and crab soup for Colleen & Turtle Soup for Paul

Spotted trout with lobster pieces and a citrus sauce for Colleen

Roast pheasant with a dried cherry and pumpkin sauce for Paul

And we split an order of Creole Bread Pudding Souffle with Whiskey Cream Sauce

Colleen thought her meal was the best of the trip.  (Although she thought that all our meals were exceptional.)  I really enjoyed my meal also, but truth be told, the Big Easy Dinner at the K of C Hall was my favorite.

Then it was back to the cottage to pack for our return trip.

TGIF

Friday, November 19^th  (Morning)

Back to 1613 Heights for our final day.  Nieko was our Site Supervisor.  Today we were joined by Sister Mary Ellen and Sister Frances. (Who took a day off from her job at SBP.)  Today’s assignment?  Finishing up as much as possible inside so that the next team could concentrate on the exterior.

We continued with applying masking tape, painting, and cleaning.  Neiko continued cutting plywood for new soffits which were promptly painted.  We also scraped paint off the columns in the front of the house.

Heidi, our Project Manager stopped by for a final visit.  Lo and behold, she also brought back my bag of tools that had been MIA since Wednesday.

In mid-morning we took our last trip to the General for a comfort stop and some last-minute shopping.  For example,

On a lark, I bought $1 instant lottery tickets for our crew.  Not unexpectedly,
Sister Mary Ellen won $4.  And Neiko won a free ticket.  (I hope he parlays his free ticket into a fortune.)

Back to work for an hour or so and then we broke for lunch.  We decided to visit Ketch of the Day, a local place in “downtown” St. Bernard that caught Colleen’s eye.  A great choice – the décor was nothing special, but the food was great.  More po boys, shrimp creole and this time, some fried catfish.  Yummy.

As we were finishing up our meal, we noticed the following sign on the wall:

God has watched over us in St. Bernard Parish and he continues to watch over us.  St. Bernard Parish is where God brought you and me together.  He has watched over us and guided us.  He sent Katrina to us for whatever reason.  He is creating a new path that each of us must follow.  That path might separate us, but never break our bond.  We will always have our memories.

It was back to 1613 for the final stretch.  We closed off each of the four bedrooms one by one as we finished them off.  The kitchen (with the cabinets 1/3 installed) was straightened up.  Both bathrooms were cleaned up.  Finally we collected all the tools and extra supplies and stacked them in the living room.  And that was it.

I must confess that I was checking my watch counting off the minutes until we finished, but not for the reason you would expect.  I was actually sad that our time at 1613 was coming to a close and was wishing that we were staying longer.

So we packed up, said our goodbyes to Nieko and returned to our home base

St. Bernard Parish

A parish in Louisiana is the equivalent to a county on most other states.  St. Bernard Parish is located southeast of New Orleans.  The seat is Chalmette, the largest city in the parish. Chalmette is also where the SPG offices are located.  As of 2000, its population was 67,229. It had been ranked the fastest-growing county (parish) in the United States from 2007 to 2008 by the U.S. Census Bureau, but now it is only half as populated as it was in 2005. In 2009, because of evacuation and outmigration due to destruction by Hurricane Katrina, its population was estimated to be 33,439.  It has the lowest life expectancy of any county in the United States, 69.1 years.

St. Bernard's economy is a mix of agricultural, fishing and industrial.  The cranes we saw on our first night are from St. Bernard’s Port on the Mississippi.  We also passed by many refineries during that first night and in the following days. 
The eye of Katrina passed over the eastern portion of the parish, pushing a 25-foot storm surge into the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet ("MRGO"). Almost the entire parish was flooded, with most areas left with between 5 and 12 feet of standing water. Virtually every structure in the parish was damaged.

Prior to Katrina, the main street of St. Bernard (the city) was lined with retail and commercial development.  Nowadays, there is some new construction (McDonald’s, Walgreen’s, etc.), but the street is pockmarked with abandoned storefronts.  It’s also not unusual to see blown out signs standing sentinel over empty foundations. 

Chalmette General Hospital was devastated by Katrina and has not reopened.  (Hence, Sister Jan’s trip to Tulane University Hospital in New Orleans.)  Apparently just before we arrived, a referendum passed to pave the way for the building of a new hospital in late 2011 or early 2012.

Whenever we exited the ramp on I-10 to get to I-510, we passed the abandoned Six Flags New Orleans.  The storm surge submerged the entire park grounds in water to a depth of four to six feet that was not drained for over a month.

The skeleton-like roller coasters rising out of the darkness are very eerie.  New Orleans now owns the property and apparently there are no future development plans at this time.

Murphy Oil had a major oil spill resulting from the rupture of one of it's crude oil storage tanks, which resulted in one of the largest urban oil spills in US history.

We would drive by these tanks every day if we were traveling to either downtown St. Bernard or New Orleans.

You can still see remnants of Katrina's damage today.

Unfathomable……

Big Easy Dinner

Thursday, November 18^th (Evening)

Tonight was the final planned event of the week:  a Big Easy dinner at the local Knights of Columbus Hall for Americorps workers and the Nuns' Build volunteers. 

The dinner is prepared by local families to show their appreciation for the efforts of the volunteers. 

We were treated to a delicious dinner of:

• Sweet tea
• Devilled Eggs
• Salad
• Jambalaya
• Macaroni & Cheese
• Carrot Coins (More like a cold salad – a Paula Dean recipe)
• Garlic bread
• Pralines
• King Cake

King Cake is a New Orleans tradition.  It’s sort of a frosted yeast bread, baked in a ring.  Inside each cake is baked a small plastic doll.  Custom is that whomever gets the doll, has to host the next party.  Sister Mary Ellen got the doll.  St. Paul here we come!

It goes without saying that the food was delicious.  After the meal, there were speeches of thanks.

That's Liz McCartney, one of the founders of SBP, wearing the blue scarf.  She can also be seen serving food in the food line picture.   Several folks received awards of hammers, recognizing their efforts on behalf of SBP and Nuns’ Build. 

The final event was a showing a video made by Paul Perez.  (He's standing to the Liz' right.)  His home was damaged by Katrina and he made the video for his family showing how Katrina completed upended his family’s lives and how the efforts of the many “angels” who descended on the area after the storm, helped them get back on their feet and return to some sense of normalcy. 

One of the background songs during the video was the Catholic hymn Come Follow Me.  Spontaneously, the Sisters (& others) present began to sing along to the song.  It was quite moving.

It is truly hard to comprehend the havoc that was wrecked upon this place five + years ago.  I think that almost everyplace we’ve been, excepting downtown New Orleans, was under anywhere from three to twenty feet of water at that time.

Besides the Nuns’ Build volunteers, there were about 40 volunteers from the Church of the Brethren.  CotB is a Christian denomination that originated in Germany in 1708.  They hold the New Testament as their only creed.  As part of their mission, they send teams all over the US and the world to help rebuild disaster sites. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_brethren

1609 Heights Drive

The neighborhood we are working basically consists of one street that is about four blocks long.  About 1/4 of the lots are just slabs of former houses, another 1/4 are abandoned houses and the remaining 1/2 are apparently occupied in various stages of repair/disrepair.

This house sits two doors south of the house we’re working on, adjoining the empty lot next to our house. 

At about 9:00AM we noticed a flurry of activity and heard the rumbling of heavy equipment and trucks.  It turned out that the house was scheduled for demolition.  Talking to one of the workers, we found out that the home was abandoned and the city ordered that it be torn down.

No matter what shape a house is in, it's depressing to see one torn down.  (I always think of the families that lived there.)  You can see 1613 in the far left side of the picture.

This was the view from the kitchen door.

Less than three hours later...

The next step is to have the slab painted brick red to seal in any asbestos fibers (from the flooring, I’m assuming).  Apparently the lot will be offered to the neighbors for purchase, but realistically, none have the money to buy it.  So eventually, even the slab will be removed and the lot will revert to green space.

The circle of life in St. Bernard, LA.

Day Four

Thursday, November 18^th (Morning)

After a quick breakfast, we were asked by Sister Frances to stop by the main house to help her get Sister Jan into the car for a trip to the clinic to have her ankle examined.  (She still couldn’t put weight on her foot.)  When we got there, there was an ambulance in the driveway.  Turns out the doctor suggested that she go to Tulane University to have it x-rayed.  So Sisters Frances and Mary Ellen both accompanied her to the hospital and we proceeded to 1613 Heights.

We were greeted by our new Site Supervisor, Neiko, who hails from Santa Rosa, CA.  He’s also an Americorps worker, but in the NCCC division.  Unlike Devon, who is assigned to one place for ten month, a NCCC worker only stays in one place for about three months, before moving to another location.  For example, Nieko mentioned that he had already done stints in West Virginia and Virginia.  Another difference, NCCC’s work in teams of ten, living, cooking and traveling together. 

We are very impressed with all the Americorps workers we’ve worked with;  their dedication and values are inspiring.

Another small crew,  just the two of us and Neiko.  Joe and Zach returned for a few hours of cabinet hanging, but were then called away to another site.  We continued with our taping of trim, caulking, scraping and painting.

At about lunchtime Sisters Frances and Mary Ellen returned to 1613 to give us he update on Sister Jan.  Fortunately it was just a bad sprain.  As this was the first day that we were on our own for lunch, the five of us decided to patronize a local establishment.  We pass the Gold Star Diner on the way to work each day and decided to try it. 

As we walked in we were immediately greeted by the stares of the six of so diners.  All refinery and construction worker types – Testosterone City.  I don’t know who was more shocked, us or the diners.  The waitress, a young girl, also seem confused to see us.

Regardless, we plopped down and ordered:  Colleen loved her Red Beans and Rice.  Sister Frances and I ordered the special:  Stuffed Pepper.  Instead of meat and rice, it was filled with shrimp and bread stuffing.  (We were not overly impressed.)  Nieko was happy with his breakfast and Sister Mary Ellen loved her baked potato.

After lunch, Sister Mary Ellen joined our merry band for the rest of the day.  I had a break from my routine as Nieko and I moved outside and started on replacing the soffits of the house.  Most importantly, I was promoted to limited power tool use.  (Only under adult supervision, of course.)

A Moveable Feast

Wednesday, November 17th (Evening)

Nothing planned for the evening, thank God. (No pun intended.) 

So Colleen and I decided to invite Sisters Frances, Jan & Mary Ellen for a cheese and wine party.  We had some wine we bought at Breaux Mart and supplanted it with provisions from Dollar General.  (I’m telling you, it’s a most amazing place.)  We also had some extra pralines from yesterday’s lunch.  Our original intention was to host the party at the cottage, but as luck would have it, Sister Jan twisted her ankle leaving their house.  So we just traipsed over to their place and had the party there, with Sister Jan ensconced in the Lazy Boy with her leg propped up. 

Another great time, listening to Sister Frances’ color commentary about the New Orleans’ Hornets’ basket ball game, following by some political discussions and ending up with me channeling Larry King and grilling the sisters about the nitty gritty of religious life. 

La Casa Flotante

We are in love with the cottage we are staying in.

Why not come for a tour?

As you can see it was an A-1 rehab, while retaining and restoring all of the orginal woodwork.  (Thank goodness it was originally built out of cypress.)

We decided that we would could easily downsize to such a house.  (After we got rid of around 60% of our stuff.)

Hump Day

Wednesday, November 17th  (Morning)

So the five of us basically did our own thing.   I changed tasks, now promoted to taping of the woodwork in preparation for Colleen coming in and putting another coat of paint on the trim.

Lunch was a special event as all volunteers traveled to the home of Mr. Roosevelt Houston in the Lower 9^th Ward.  He lives on the part that is not being developed by the Make It Right Foundation.

Mr. Houston’s has lived his whole life in New Orleans. The house he owns was built in 1984 by his grandfather, whom he later purchased the home from.  During the storm, Mr. Houston stayed in New Orleans and weathered the storm with his sister who lives next door.  His house was rehabbed by SPG and he graciously offered it as location for a Welcome Home Party for the Nuns' Build volunteers. 

After the obligatory speeches,

Here we are with the CSJ's who were involved with Nuns' Build:  Sisters Frances, Lenora, Mary Ellen, Jackie and Jan.

Then it was back to 1613 Heights.  I was chagrined to find out that the bag of the tools that I brought from home were taken away by a SBP team that visited the house to remove any unneeded tools and supplies.  Devon called the Project Manager to see if they could be retrieved, but when we called it a day 4:30PM, they were still MIA.

and a quick tour of the home, we were served a lunch of jambalaya, salad and cake provided by Café Reconcile.  http://reconcileneworleans.org/  Café Reconcile is a non-profit organization and restaurant located in the Central City area of New Orleans. It was founded in 1996 and provides culinary and life skills training for at risk youth, allowing them to enter the hospitality and entertainment industry of New Orleans.

No further sign of roommate #4.   Today we were joined by two more Americorps volunteers:  Joe from Texas and Zach from New York.  They were there specifically to hang the kitchen cabinets.

"So three nuns walk into a bar..."

Tuesday, November 16th (Evening)

Actually it was more like fifty nuns, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

After washing up, we met up with Sisters Frances and Mary Ellen and finally met Sister Frances’ roommate, Sister Jan.  She's another CSJ who just moved in October to St. Bernard from Cleveland.  Sister Jan, like Sister Frances, works at SBP.  We all packed into our rented Toyota Corolla and headed off to the French Quarter.  This would be Sister Jan’s first visit to the French Quarter.  Never did we imagine how memorable it would be!

We started off with a quick dinner at Café Poblana, located on Jackson Square.  The Po Boys were delicious.

As we were eating, we noticed a commotion right in front of the door, right next to St. Louis Cathedral.  We were about to be treated to an impromptu outdoor concert by the kids from Roots of Music. http://www.therootsofmusic.com/  It’s a music education program, focusing on marching bands, since many middle schools no longer offer such programs.  This marching band performs throughout New Orleans;  in fact, we were told that the kids played at President Obama’s inauguration.  Again, amazing timing on our part. 

Then off to our primary destination: Tropical Isle, a bar on Bourbon Street. There was a free cocktail reception for the Nuns’ Build participants on the second floor party room with its own private balcony overlooking the street.  By the time we arrived, there were about fifty nuns reconnecting with fellow sisters and knocking back beers, daiquiris and Hand Grenades (“New Orleans Most Powerful Drink”)  I swear to God, I'm not making this up.

Here are Sister Jan, Sister Frances and Colleen nursing their drinks. 

It turns out that Pam Fortner, one of the owners of the bar, is a long-time supporter of SPG.  In fact, she has personally sponsored three SPG houses.  She just happened to see a story on the local news about SPG and decided to get involved.  She now hosts a cocktail party for every Nuns’ Build.  While making the rounds, she stopped by our table and regaled us with stories about how she ended up in New Orleans (from Nashville) and got started in the bar business. 

It turns out she has a special connection with Chicago.  A very friendly and down-to-earth lady.

I had texted Stephanie about our debauchery in the Quarter and she responded that I should order a Nasty Schoolgirl.  Turns out the bartendress didn’t know how to make one.  Then Steph suggested a Buttery Nipple. That she knew how to make. It was actually very good.  (1 oz Butterscotch Schnapps and 1/2 oz Bailey’s Irish cream)

Finishing our drinks we left the Tropical Isle and set course for the Café du Monde.  After a “nightcap” of Café au Lait and Beignets, we decided to call it a night and return home.

1617 Heights Drive

Directly south of the house we are working on is the foundation (only) of a previous house.  Next to that (1609) is a vacant house.  And then greenspace/the bayou.

Directly north of 1613 is a vacant house (1617) that has been gutted. 

Houses in the area usually have some variation of this marking.

The upper quadrant signifies the date the house was searched.  (In this case, over two weeks after Katrina hit.)  The left quadrant is the agency that searched the house.  The lower quadrant indicates the number of bodies found in the house.  And the right quadrant, any hazards that were noted.

Peering inside, it appears that someone may have plans to bring it back to life.

Sister Paula was the only sign of life we saw during the time we were there.

Meals on Wheels - SBP Style

Tuesday, November 16th (Noon)

Lunch was provided by volunteers from Most Holy Trinity Parish.  It's located on the north side of New Orleans, about an hour away. 

Apparently, many St. Bernard residents were displaced throughout the New Orleans area and this is their way of helping in the rebuilding efforts.  We had sandwiches, chips, fruit and

homemade pralines.  (Since we didn't have a plate, we improvised for a serving platter.  Martha Stewart meets HG-TV.)
.

Later in the afternoon, Mary Keefe of SBP stopped by with kerchiefs for all of us.  They were made by one of the SBP volunteers.

We finished our day at 4:30PM.