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Hurricane Rita Recovery Beaumont, Texas March 2006
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Hurricane Rita Recovery Beaumont, Texas March 2006
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There is no shortage of volunteers who are desirous of contributing time, money and expertise to assist the victims of these two storms. One major problem is the lack of places for people to stay in the Greater New Orleans area. Habitat for Humanity, an organization with which I have worked before in Connecticut, has developed a novel solution to this problem. Using volunteer labor from scores of chapters nationwide, Habitat is building custom panels, which are then shipped to the Gulf Coast and assembled onto foundations by smaller crews. I had remembered hearing about this ‘House in a Box’ concept several years ago, but I think this is the first time they have put it into practice on such a large scale. I had contacted Habitat about going to New Orleans back in December 2005. The reply was that they were inundated with volunteers, had no place for them to stay, and until there was more organization and direction in New Orleans, they did not want people going there. But they would keep in touch. A few months later, they advised me that the Beaumont, Texas chapter was preparing foundations for about 30 of these homes, which were being shipped south. I signed on to spend a week in Beaumont. I took a red-eye flight from San Francisco to Houston on Sunday, March 19, arriving at 5:45 AM. I had hoped to sleep on the plane, but the guy in the middle seat next to me, became so intoxicated that the stewardess threatened to have him arrested for disorderly conduct when we landed. I rented a car and drove 100 miles southeast to Beaumont, which is still 200 miles west of New Orleans. Although it is about ten miles inland from the Gulf, Beaumont has a deepwater port served by the Neches River, which meets the Gulf at Port Arthur. The area escaped significant damage by Hurricane Katrina, but it was ground zero for Rita. Many businesses closed after the storm and some are still closed, but now ‘help wanted’ signs are everywhere as the region returns to some form of normalcy.
Habitat had told us we would be sleeping on the floor of local churches so I
was not expecting much, but the local chapter had made arrangements for us
to stay at the Catholic Diocese’s retreat facility in Beaumont. I arrived
at
The Holy Family Center around 9:00 AM and was pleasantly surprised at
the quality of accommodations. We had been assigned to the Casey
Guesthouse, which can house up to 40 guests, two to a room.
The opportunity to work in Beaumont had originally been for up to 25 volunteers. Based on an exchange of emails with Lois Prudhomme, the Volunteer Coordinator in Beaumont, I determined the group would be only about a third of that. As it turned out, only five of us showed up. I am sharing a room with Roger Warner, a retired schoolteacher from Cleveland. Across the hall, Ken Timmerman, also retired from New Mexico has a room to himself. And to complete our little group we have Lisa and Christa Boettcher, two lovely sisters (real sisters, not nuns) from up near Green Bay who fortunately will not retire for three or four more decades. At 7:00 PM Lois arrived to brief us on what to expect this week. We will be working at a site on Royal Street near the Port of Beaumont where Habitat is building three homes, side by side. There will be three professional site managers supervising the volunteers who will work from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM with a one-hour lunch break at noontime each day. Habitat will provide lunch, which Lois will deliver to the site each day. We can use the facilities here to cook breakfast and dinner, or go out as we please. In addition to the five of us, there is a group of about 36 college students from Kansas who are staying in Port Arthur who will be working with us. Habitat also uses work crews from a local prison who are accompanied by armed guards, but they will be working at a different site this week so we probably won’t see them. Lois thanked us for coming and assured us that she will do everything necessary to keep us happy and working hard. The Beaumont Chapter of Habitat has ambitious plans this year to assist hurricane victims. In prior years they have completed about four homes each year, but this summer they are planning a blitz-building project to construct 29 homes all at once. A new street with sewer and utilities has been built and the foundations for the homes are being prepared to accept the ‘Homes in a Box’, which are under construction in various parts of the country. We
woke up early Monday morning and drove 10 minutes out to the site. The
neighborhood is similar to other Habitat projects where I have worked –
mostly run down. But building these three new homes here will have a great
impact on the area and should instill a new sense of pride on area
homeowners. The three houses have already been assembled on the
foundations.
As promised, Lois delivered seven hot lunches at noontime. Another group feeds the 36 college students, but Lois brings lunch for the construction managers. The food was a little different (spaghetti with baked beans) but I was hungry and ate it all. We continued work until 3:30 PM when we took a half hour to clean up so we could be finished by 4:00 PM. Roger, Tim and I went out to dinner where we enjoyed a more traditional meal. The girls, who had brought a refrigerator-full of food with them, ate at the dorm.
Tuesday we were first to the worksite again and put in another full-day
playing with the cool power tools.
Wednesday was Christa’s 24th birthday and we planned to make her
a special dinner. We had completed the roofing and siding on one house
Thursday morning I didn’t ache so much but had a severe headache, so I
decided to take the morning off to sleep a few more hours. But by 11 AM I
was feeling fine and got out to the site just in time for lunch – ham,
cheese & potato chip sandwiches on bright white bread. I spent the
afternoon boxing-in soffits while other people hung siding and caulked.
Friday was the last day for the big group of students. Lisa and Christa left at noontime also for their 25-hour drive back to Wisconsin. After four days of spaghetti, rice and Wonder bread I was beginning to think that all luncheon fare was white and starchy, but today, probably because it was Friday, Lois brought deep fried fish. It was pretty good, but still white below the batter. We finished almost all of the siding and roofing and spent most of the afternoon on miscellaneous projects. I heard that one of the neighbors behind these new houses is donating a lot to Habitat so there will be a fourth house built here eventually. Although small, the houses we are building are clearly the nicest homes in the neighborhood. Two of the homes were built in New York and the third was built in the East Bay near San Francisco. Some of the studs are signed by the volunteers who built them - a nice touch. We knocked-off early again today as the big group was anxious to start their 14-hour trip back to Kansas. Ken, Roger and I will work tomorrow and may start painting as that material was delivered to the site today. Ken had made arrangements to meet a friend for dinner, so Roger and I went out together. Unfortunately, he got a telephone call just as we were sitting down to eat at the restaurant, which he decided to take outside in the parking lot. He told me to go ahead and order, which was a good thing as his call lasted an hour and he ended missing dinner completely.
Saturday Ken and I had breakfast at Waffle House. Our waiter was wearing
about $100 worth of tip money on his vest. I stopped at Home Depot to get a
nail sink because I thought we might not have access to our treasure trove
of tools on the weekend. But the tools showed up and I spent the day
working on an endless punch-list of projects. We had a whole new group of
volunteers today also. A dozen young people from a faith-based group
It was very hot and I could feel my skin tightening due to my sunburn. I was given a Coast Guard hat, which I will cherish as a reminder of the time I spent here. Lois brought pizza for lunch today and set it down on my saw table. The baker had used cornmeal instead of flour to keep the dough from sticking in the oven so the bottom of each slice looked like it was covered with sawdust. It was the most normal midday meal of the week. Roger took off at noon as he was driving to San Antonio and wanted to be there by suppertime. I left at 3:00 PM so that I could go to the library to check email and determine the time of my flight back to San Francisco tomorrow. These houses still need interiors, but at the current rate, I would imagine there would be people living here before Easter. My flight on Sunday was not until 6:00 PM. I had thought of driving over to New Orleans to see some of the destruction that Katrina had brought to that area, but decided that 200 miles over and 300 miles back to Houston was more than I wanted to drive in a day. I packed, checked out of the Holy Family Center, and set off to see some of the surrounding communities. While driving I listened to an interview with someone who had helped to place blue tarps on the roofs of 46,000 homes in three Southeast Texas counties which had been partially or wholly blown off. The tarps would cover 2 ½ square miles. Signs of destruction are still visible everywhere. I passed one field that was at least 5 acres that had been covered with thirty feet of tree stumps. A motel along I-10 had no roof. There were lots of signs indicating that FEMA was doing this, that or the other thing. I drove out of Texas and into Louisiana on I-10 East. At about 9:00 AM I came across a place called The Isle of Capri Resort where I thought I would have brunch before heading back to Houston. The resort is a large building built at a wharf on Lake Charles where two paddle wheelers are permanently moored. The boats house floating casinos, which, on Sunday morning were packed with sinners. Including airfare, car rental and miscellaneous expenses, I had spent just over $1,000 this last week to work for Habitat in Beaumont. I’d like to think that I contributed at least that much in labor, but that is debatable. I enjoy the feeling of contributing to a worthy cause and from that standpoint I had a successful week. Although I do not consider myself religious I do feel that those of us who make positive contributions will lead a happier, more fulfilling life than those who do not so contribute. By 10:00 AM, I had won enough to cover the cost of my trip. By 11:00 AM, I had enough to come back again. Not wanting to press my luck I left the casino and went to the restaurant. I ordered spaghetti with baked beans, rice with meatballs and some white bread. It was the best meal of the week and I smiled all the way back home. |
Each room had an en suite bathroom and there was a central kitchen and
dining area. The property is located on 11 wooded acres a few miles north
of the central portion of town. It is remarkable how many churches and
church facilities of varying faiths there are in this area. It is no wonder
why the area is known as the Bible belt. Being Sunday morning, the only
person I could find was a caretaker who was cleaning the rooms in
preparation of our arrival. There was no information immediately available
as to which rooms we should occupy, but he was most helpful and finally just
suggested I take any room and sort it out later. I was anxious to get some
rest so I took him up on his offer and took a nap for a couple hours.
After splitting into
two groups we started unloading tools and materials for our first day.
Beaumont Habitat is very well equipped with quality power and hand tools in
sufficient quantity to keep 40 people busy. The trailer where the tools are
kept is like a one-aisle Home Depot containing no less than four air
compressors, twelve air guns, a half dozen circular saws, a chop saw,
specialty saws and drills. During the week I saw they were building a
second trailer, which will be outfitted in similar fashion.
Apparently the group
who volunteered to work last week didn’t get much accomplished so we looked
pretty good, comparatively speaking. Today for lunch Lois provided fixings
and we made ham & cheese sandwiches using bread that was so white, it looked
like it had been dipped in Elmer’s glue. I learned that if you ignore the
taste, potato chips in a sandwich could be an effective substitute for
lettuce, at least from an audio standpoint. Whereas on Monday I had been a
little disappointed that we had stopped work at 3:30 PM, today I was tired
and looking forward to a good nights sleep. The five of us went out for
Chinese food Tuesday night.
and most of the roof was completed on the other. Today’s
lunch was white rice with meatballs, another combination with which I was
not familiar. It started raining around 2:30 PM so we packed up early. The
rain couldn’t have come too soon as far as I was concerned because I was
exhausted and my body ached all over. I really needed a massage, but had
been so chastised when I suggested to Lois that we have sushi for lunch, I
decided a massage would be over the top. When I got back to the dorm, I
went to bed immediately and missed the birthday dinner.
It is amazing how well caulking can cover mistakes. I think
we used a couple cases of the stuff on each house. I stopped by the library
on the way back to our dorm today to check email. Lisa & Christa cooked us
dinner and then I spent the night reading.
spent the day painting two of the homes, one yellow, and one
green. A group of Coast Guard personnel who volunteer on a regular basis,
worked to sheetrock the HVAC closets so that equipment could be installed
prior to the inspection on Monday. Roger and Ken found a young woman to
help them finish the siding
while I worked with a local
couple on installing the columns on the front porches. We also had a couple
people who were fulfilling community service obligations imposed by local
courts.