Another day of home visits in San Leon and another day of coming along side of those who aren't sure what step to take next or even if they can take a step.
In the photos you will see Mercy's mobile home where the siding blew completely off of one side and has left her with leaky ceilings in the laundry room, bathroom and a son's closet. The insulation under the trailer is gone, so much so you can see the light of the outside through the bottom of her bath tub. Mercy is the mother of 4 children and is in remission from her latest cancer diagnosis.
Archie and Nina's home is the one completely gutted on the inside. The home used to be an army barracks and is one of the most square we have seen. The couple gutted it themselves and have done a great job. He has a plan as to how they want it rebuilt and have kept most of their FEMA funds to purchase materials with. Our volunteer labor will be the match they need in order to have a home again.
The cabinets belong to Teress. Her home has not been gutted yet, most of her belongings are still inside. Her husband divorced her in December and she hasn't been able to emotionally handle anything. We will get a team in and help her go through her things, store what is salvagable and toss what isn't. Then we can gut the walls and floors and check the structure of the home.
The pinkish color home belongs to Cathy. She is a counselor with the local mental health association and working off of a FEMA grant. This has them working with Ike survivors who need some crisis counseling. We work hand in hand with those folks as they can't do construction and we can't do counseling. We refer clients to each other and it works well. Their home of 18 years is literally right on the water and what had been living space underneath is now rubble. We will also come along side of them with labor and hopefully be able to stretch the funds they have left. They have done all the work in the upper levels all by themselves. She is the counselor and he an artist so construction is quite far from their areas of expertise but they jumped in and learned and did it.
Tomorrow morning I will be speaking at the mental health center, to all the crisis counselors, helping them understand what we do and how we can all benefit from working together. It's all about relationships!
Diane, Jim and Connie continued the sheetrock finishing in Pastor Ken's church in Galveston and it's nearly done. Good job team!
Tomorrow will be a day long staff meeting. We are preparing to head into the rebuilding phase full steam ahead and need to do as much preparation as possible --- although --- disaster relief is an ever changing book and just when you think you've got it -- you need to change it! We'll give it our best shot anyway!
Until then . . . be blessed. Susan and Monty
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