10:30 a.m. Back at Common Ground – while we were off spreading “the word”, our volunteer crew was getting to business! The roofers persevered through the rain and were in a groove on the second (white house) roof. They are truly a force to be reckoned with; their spirits were high and their energy boundless. As you can see in the pictures, it’s a complete team effort – in everything that we do. I use the term “roofers” not to describe a particular team but to describe the team that is working on the roof at any given time.
Simultaneously, work was taking place at the Kager House & the Perma-Seal house.
Some background on the Kager House – After the flood it quickly became apparent that the city looked at the destruction in the Lower Ninth as an opportunity to widen the canal. In December of 2005, Brandon Darby, the first co-founder of Common Ground, found Mrs. Kager and signed a lease. When the city tried to move him out, the lease prevented them from doing so. Mr. Darby proceeded to use the Kager House as the first medical facility, distribution center for food and water as well as a lending depot for tools and equipment.
As you can see in the photos, the transformation of the Kager house is seemingly magical. Today we will finish the patching of the cracks, Thoroseal the house and replace the fascia. Quite a big job but this dedicated crew is up for the challenge! We hope to have some significant progress completed when Mrs. Kager comes to visit tomorrow morning.
Over at the Perma-Seal house, we are finishing the carbon fiber straps and getting started on the roof. Time permitting we will start applying the Thoroseal as well.
Many people are quite impressed by our work product and transformation. Several other residents have approached us to help them with their homes. All we can do at this point is to look into their eyes, eyes that are full of pain and despair, and tell them that we will do the best that we can while we are here BUT that we will be back. WHEW – it just pulls at your heart. If only we had more time and resources…
The rain, finally, ended about 1 p.m. As you can see it was a very full day. We accomplished everything we set out to accomplish today AND then some! We worked until 6:30 p.m. – way after darkness had set in. We were bone-tired, hungry and chilled through but as I looked around the group there were still plenty of smiles and hope for tomorrow. It was a very good day.
