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Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project
Habitat East Bay staff, AmeriCorps members and supporters traveled to Biloxi, MS to attend the 25th Annual Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project. During the week over 2,000 volunteers from around the world helped to rebuild the Gulf Coast through new construction and rehab projects in Biloxi, Gulfport and Pascagoula.
The event helped solidify Habitat for Humanity’s commitment to the Katrina recovery effort that is still on-going across the region. Two years after the largest natural disaster in American history, there has been significant progress made in the area, but it is clear that the locals are still in need of a helping hand.
Below are personal accounts of Habitat East Bay supporters that attended the event, and leant a hand to those hurt by Katrina.
View photos and read more from the Carter Work Project website.Building Homes, Building Relationships
Wow – what a week! We had sun, heat, humidity, lightning, torrential rain, tornado sirens and lots of fun. Did I mention potatoes? LOTS of potatoes… and work, LOTS of work! However, the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project is not just about work, or building homes, or about families, or faith, or hope, or dreams, and make no mistake it is about those things, but it is also about building relationships; and the circular interconnection of all these things. So, as we worked together we built relationships, amongst ourselves and as a team, with Christine our homeowner and with others we met along the way; completing the circle, building dreams, with faith, with hope, with friendship, with love, and yes, with laughter and tears. It was all I had imagined it would be - and more.
Dorothy McDonald
Gene Anderson's Carter Work Project Blog
Gene Anderson has written a blog about his experience at the Carter Work Project.
Click here to see pictures and read his account of the build.
Working Hard, Despite the Rain
Why is this one of my favorite pictures form our 5 day building blitz in the Gulf Coast you may ask?
It just happens to be Thursday, May 15th, early afternoon. The rain came down and the construction had to stop. I was never so relieved to cease working in my life.
You see, we raised a home from foundation to finished sheetrock in four days time. Many of us were unskilled workers. I was not accustomed to manual labor, hammering 14 nails into metal plates at 16" on center, lifting sheet rock, roof joistes, plywood, and installing insulation, in the humidity of south Mississippi. By my nighttime shower I needed help opening the shampoo bottle.
That day many were drenched to the skin trying to protect our building supplies. We sat down and watched the rain pour down. We were all safely tucked inside the home we erected, sitting, chatting with the new homeowner, resting for a time.
Friday would bring President Jimmy Carter, his wife Rosalynn, dignitaries, the Bible, the Key and a time to rejoice about a job well done. This Thursday was a moment to bond with the laborers of our work for a short rest.
Jennifer Petersen
Rebuilding Lives
This was my 4th trip to the Gulf Coast since April of 2006 and each one has been different, but yet so meaningful. It makes me feel so good to see so many volunteers from all over the world get together to help people rebuild their lives. It was such a pleasure to work beside Christine as we built her home. I liked her comment that she knows it is her home and even though she will not get in at the end of the Build, she will be in it soon.
Words cannot describe the joy I got from talking to President & Mrs. Carter at lunch on Monday. When I told him that I was sorry that I could not share this moment with my mother because she thought so highly of him he said, "I have written a book about my mother." It was at that moment that I wished my mother was still alive to share this amazing meeting with President Carter. This simple lunch conversation was the highlight of the week for me.
Richard Lewis
Of Hurricanes and Hushpuppies
When I first heard that the AmeriCorps trip this year was to The Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter Work Project on the Gulf Coast, I was filled with excitement and anticipation for two main reasons. First, I’m from the South and was really looking forward to getting back to the hot, humid weather, the warm hospitality, and of course the great food! But more importantly, I was interested to see this devastated part of the country for the first time since Hurricane Katrina, and excited to be given the opportunity to lend a hand to this community in need.
I felt rather nostalgic on the bus ride from New Orleans to Biloxi, MS while taking in the familiar flora, waterways, marshes, and beaches that define the Southeast coastal landscape. As we neared Biloxi, I was struck by the huge number of properties along the coast which had been leveled during the storm and are still empty. Juxtaposed to some of these lots in Biloxi were the casinos, the first properties to be rebuilt, and which had clearly rebounded and were thriving. It was a strange dichotomy – it almost felt like a developing country with some outside investors exploiting the local community and culture. I couldn’t complain too much about these dens of iniquity however as one became our home for the week and graced us with coastal views, pool and gym access, and amazing buffet dinners! After relaxing in Biloxi Saturday night and Sunday morning, we were whisked off to the opening ceremony and welcomed and thanked along with the hundreds of other volunteers from around the country and the world. A series of short but moving, multi-media accounts of the devastation incurred by the Gulf region was presented, and Jimmy Carter closed the evening with inspiring words about the important mission of Habitat for Humanity in the Gulf Coast as well as throughout the world. It was a wonderful feeling to be surrounded by so many caring people giving up a week of their lives to help those less fortunate than themselves.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the week as it was my first JRCWP and first national AmeriCorps build event. We were hot off the heels of the East Bay Build-a-Thon in April and I think expecting a similar high intensity work atmosphere. As it turned out, most of the several hundred Americorps volunteers were assigned to work in a low-income community in the neighboring town of Gulfport rehabbing 30 homes that had sustained extensive damage during the hurricane. The work environment was more relaxed than expected since we were essentially working with several other fairly experienced AmeriCorps members in each house and no volunteers other than the homeowners. Most of these homes had been given a “quick fix” sometime after the storm so the homeowners could move back in, but without the proper attention to detail, severe mold problems had resurfaced and were now being addressed by the local HFH affiliate. By the time we arrived, all the houses had been gutted, re-mediated, re-insulated, and re-drywalled. It was our job to blast through as much of the subsequent finishing work (painting, hanging doors, installing windows and flooring, etc.) as we could to allow the homeowners to move back in ASAP. In the meantime, most of the homeowners were living close by with family or some even in their front yards in camper trailers.
Despite the long hours during the work week, the days progressed quickly and were a lot of fun. Without the added pressure of managing volunteer crews, we were able to loosen up and really get to know the other AmeriCorps folks as well as the homeowners. As we hammered, painted, measured, and sawed, the block leaders for each group of homes raced around in golf carts shouting orders, re-stocking supplies, and trouble shooting problems while keeping tabs on each house leader via walkie-talkie, identifying them with amusing call names like “David Hasselhoff,” “Viper,” and “Purple Hooter.” Given the size of the event and the huge number of volunteers, I thought everything was incredibly well planned and organized. A few AmeriCorps members worked on the other building projects constructing 30 new homes in two neighborhoods in and near Biloxi, and pounding nails at the “Framing Frenzy,” where frames were built and loaded on trucks to be shipped off to become the walls of 48 additional new homes.
Half-way through the second work day, I was well into the swing of things and enjoying the hot weather while painting and chatting with our homeowner, Irene, when I was blind-sided with her account of the hurricane. The day the storm hit, she was working at the local hospital while her disabled husband, Johnny, was home alone. She recounted how after the hospital windows were blown out, she and her co-workers scrambled to get patients to safety in the interior hallways. As the storm surge encroached inland reaching their own neighborhood, the water began to rise inside their home. Given few options, Johnny climbed a ladder into the tiny space of their attic to wait out the storm. After hours of no communication with Johnny, Irene was given permission to go check on her husband but had to wade the last mile through waist-deep, murky water to reach her home and Johnny who was thankfully ok, albeit shaken. When the waters finally subsided, their home was clearly in shambles, and their family was one of the many who did not receive a FEMA trailer. They were forced to live in their wrecked home for six months before any work was completed on it. We’ve all heard these kinds of stories in the news, but hearing it in person really struck a chord in me and underlined the importance of our service that week. The homeowners were only required to work with us one day that week, but Irene and Johnny came out every day to show their appreciation and were continuously thanking us for helping them get back on their feet.
Mother Nature blessed us with some glorious summer thunder-showers (I really miss them out west!) later in the week which caused some excitement including a temporary evacuation from the site on Thursday due to tornado warnings. As sheeting rain continued into Friday, our Gulfport site was unfortunately shut down, so we didn’t quite complete our construction goals or get to say formal good-byes and good-lucks with the homeowners and our other new friends. Most of us did however run into each other at some point throughout the day. As we departed for New Orleans and the West Coast on Saturday morning, weary from the long days and recapping the week in my mind, I felt a sense of humility with the knowledge that so much more help is needed in this area. But I was also happy for the opportunity we’d had to make a big difference in the lives of these amazing folks, and I even felt like I had been given something in return. Those golden moments like hearing Irene’s story and her appreciation for our help are at least for me, some of the biggest rewards not just for this trip specifically, but for our entire AmeriCorps service year. They stand as a testament to the incomparable value of this service not only for those we lend a hand, but for us as well.
Jeremy Coerper
Habitat East Bay Construction Team
