A Day Like Today

It's a day that's been happening a lot. I'm not sure where the energy is coming from, but it's keeping us all going. I figured I'd write a bit about the Project and the day in the life, and all that jazz, since I haven't done that in a while. Today started out as a typical Wednesday - PT at 5:30am, my daily self-made egg sandwich from the cafeteria, and then off to work at 7:45. We've got a fun group from New York/Connecticut this week, and we've gotten a lot done. I've gotten to the point where I may have to slow them all down before we run out of things to do. :)

Today it hit me just how much has been done and what has been accomplished with the house. I walked into my work site 7 weeks ago to a house that was held up only by framing and studs. We've gone through installing insulation, putting up drywall, all stages of mudding and sanding, and this week texturized, primed, and painted, all of which we'll most definitely finish tomorrow. It reached the stage today where rooms have taken form. There are actual walls, no more holes or seams, and you would never guess what stages each room has gone through if you didn't know the stages of construction. In fact, I almost forgot everything I learned in that moment.

But in all seriousness, it felt great to know that somehow I managed to train and lead volunteers to build all of this - a feat that seemed unrealistic to me at the start of this thing. Go me!

Anyway, in even more sincerity, it is really the volunteers who have gotten the house this far. I've been lucky enough to have fantastic volunteers each week who care so much about what they're doing and just want to get to work. It's motivating and gives even more meaning to my role this round.

Back to the timeline -- We wrapped up at 4:30 with the volunteers, closed up shop and headed back to Camp Hope. Today, all 6 NCCC teams (from various campuses) staying at Camp Hope helped with taking down the second floor rooms. The assistant camp director organized this into a competition, where each team was given a room to break down. The objective was to take out the ceiling tiles, insulation, mattresses, and bed frames and to move them to storage in respective locations. First team to finish would be treated to custard from Willy D's, a shop in St. Bernard that sells a kind of ice cream I've never had anywhere else.

It was a good time. Badger 6 spent two hours removing the ceiling, swimming in insulation, carrying and transferring lots of 2X4's and bed frames, and attempting to take apart wooden bunks, and sweating out all 8 glasses of water in our systems. Many splinters later, we still have much to do (to be continued next Wednesday), and we're crossing our fingers for some more tools.

As we were all moving items and sweating, a few of the young volunteers who were staying at the camp took it upon themselves to grab a couple of trays and cups of water from the cafeteria, which they held out for us in the hallways as we huffed and puffed by. Very sweet of them, and extremely helpful, and another reason I love being around volunteers, and anyone who is giving up their time to help others. Things that may seem small but really aren't. That sort of thing. It's grand.

And after all of that, sleep is the next thing on the agenda. More to come, and pictures to be uploaded, as soon as I have a chance!

NOTE of Excitement: JAZZ FEST is this weekend. Dave Matthews is playing, Bon Jovi is playing, many others, AND we're volunteering there, and it will be free, and I'm beyond excited. I love New Orleans.