Something Good

We've been here for nearly two weeks now. Week 1 was training, and this week was my first week as a site supervisor. I am exhausted and covered in dry wall dust and I can't wait to take a shower. That's the gist of it, so here goes:

We had a great orientation and training last week. Meeting the St. Bernard Staff (many of whom are NCCC alumni) was helpful in getting to know the project. After some questions and activities we received our positions, respectively, as site supervisors, specialists, warehouse assistants, and starters (also known as mold remediators).

It turns out, at least for this project, our team will be separated for our separate jobs. I will be a site supervisor for the next month and a half. I'm extremely excited but also fairly anxious about teaching others how to install insulation, dry-wall, mudding, flooring, etc.

This week was my first week as a supervisor. There were two of us supervising 15 volunteers from a university in Maryland. After just a week of training, you can imagine how stressful it must have been, and it was. But the week has come to an end and I think it is safe to say that my teammate and I, along with our volunteers have accomplished so much this week.

The week started out quickly, as the volunteers arrived via bus to our site as we were still preparing for their arrival. We started our orientation with them, introduced ourselves as their site supervisors for the week, and went over expectations and goals. Fortunately (depending on your perspective), for these folks, Eileen and I are fluent in energizers and ice breaker games, so we jumped into the week on an adrenalized note. We taught them insulation first, and they were off. By the end of Day 2, most of the house insulation was complete, and we moved onto dry-wall. This is where things got a bit tricky, and frustrations in having to re-do some of the ceiling led to a stressful day for all. Luckily, we moved right on the next day and got back into the groove of things.

I think the two of us were lucky to have such a great group for our first week of supervising. There is nothing better than working with motivated students who are able to maintain such a positive attitude. We found ourselves having to make our volunteers break for lunch because they wanted to keep working. :)

Throughout the week, the homeowner stopped by to see how his house was. One of the best, if not the best, moments of the week happened today, when he stopped by with King Cake and shared some thanks. Having had his home destroyed by the flooding was of course devastating to his family, and he shared gratitude for being able to help his family now. It really made this whole week an incredible one for our volunteers and us, and seeing smiles and tears really proved to me that something happened this week, something good that will continue to happen week after week, volunteer after volunteer, while I'm here.