I am finally back from Disaster Relief! What a week 🙂 CAP had over 100 houses/trailers to fix up and in that one week, we ended up fixing about 35 of them – AMAZING!! I saw all sorts of damage caused by the storm while I was there. Some of it was minor – only a few trees down; some of it was definitely a disaster – whole houses destroyed, roofs caved in, walls down. The jobs that CAP didn’t get to will be picked up by a Long-Term Disaster Relief Organization. Here is a quick recap and a few pics of my 3 days at Disaster Relief.
Day #2: Today, I got to assess a trailer that had its entire roof blown off. Myself and another CAP volunteer went to this man’s home only to find it almost completely destroyed by the storm. He told us that his entire family was sitting in the living room, when they heard a huge bang and looked up and saw their metal roof sitting on the hill behind them. Very Scary!! After assessing the damage, it was determined that the job was too big for our Disaster Relief team. Luckily, our WorkFest Crew will be able to fix this man’s home and within a few weeks, the family will be able to move back home. After our assessment, we went to another home, were a tree had crashed into a bedroom. The roof and the wall had been destroyed in the home. Our task was to rebuild the wall and the portion of the roof that was destroyed. I helped put up some siding and drywall – it wasn’t too bad!
Day #3: I spent the better portion of the day clearing trees! My crew and I had to move branches, small logs, etc. from the back of a home to the front of the home, so the clean-up crew could haul the stuff away. It was a tough day, but a productive one. We were able to clear all of the debri from the home!! Here is the crew in the truck with the tree pieces.
Our crew and the trees
A close-up of the trees we moved
Day 4: Of all the days, this day was the most rewarding for me. It was on Thursday that I helped put on an entire new roof on an elderly gentleman’s home. At first, we were just going to patch a few holes that the trees had left in the roof. But when we got to the home, the damage was so extensive that our crew leader decided to replace the whole roof. It was an extremely exhausting day, but seeing the look on the man’s face when we showed him the new roof, made any pain that I felt in my arms or legs completely disappear. He was smiling from ear to ear and was so grateful for all that we had done. Once again, this man reminded me why I decided to take a step away from my career for a year and volunteer with CAP!
Here’s a picture of part of the roof:
Roof Repair
Well, there it is..a very brief recap of my week at Disaster Relief! And what a week it was 🙂
Peace!
Rise and Run 