Recap of the first day

On a very rainy day, we were pleased to learn that all our work was indoors. After morning devotions, we made our way to our assigned house - a 3 story home only two blocks from where all the casinos are, but in a residential area.

Louise lives upstairs with her son, and has two apartments on the ground floor. One happened to be vacant when Sandy came, but the tenants of the other left when the evacuation warnings came. Their apartment was a total loss - including all their furniture, clothes and computer.

Louise and her son stayed through the storm. It was a week until the waters receded enough for them to leave their house. Since the water came from the bay, it was very yucky, smelly water.

The street is densely packed row houses, narrow one-way street, no lawns. We were very lucky to find places to park our cars

At the start of the day, the first floor was completely gutted; just raw studs and derelict plumbing equipment. No lights, no water, no power. Alex capped off the remaining pipes, so we could disconnect the remaining fixtures.

Mid-morning, the power company came and connected our meter, so we actually had power and lights!!

Mostly we worked on walls: cleaning up some of the remaining debris, insulation, both foam and fiberglass, then a lot of sheet rock.

Here's Stewart looking for some food :-)

Joining our team was Georgia, from NJ (Cheryl and Mike worked with her in Louisville. Also joining us was Linda Fuller (Millard's wife) and her new husband Paul.

Posted as a group effort