Everyone arrived safely at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Cedar Rapids last night. John and I (Jason) arrived around 8pm Eastern Time and the other 3 (Pastor, Mark, and Jack) arrived around 11pm ET. We were greeted by Loren (the volunteer coordinator) and shown to our room. The five of us are staying in the Bell Choir room, sleeping on air mattresses on the floor. There are 2 other groups here - one from Chicago and one from Detroit.
The church is very nice inside and the people are very welcoming. Our "bedroom" is adjacent to the fellowship hall and kitchen. The neighborhood that the church is located in is one of the rougher parts of Cedar Rapids, so we will probably stay inside. Of course, it was 22 degrees (14 windchill) when we got up this morning, so we don't want to spend much time outside anyway.
This morning we left for our first assignment. Loren led us to a 2 story house just a couple blocks west of the river. The whole community was flooded. This 2 story house was owned by Jose. He is an immigrant from El Salvador who has been in the U.S. for 21 years. He and his wife had purchased 7 homes over that time period and had been renting them out before the flood. 5 of the homes were severely damaged by the flood! Unfortunately, the government here does not recognize Landlords as either homeowners or businesses so Jose and his wife are not getting any help from the government.
The church is very nice inside and the people are very welcoming. Our "bedroom" is adjacent to the fellowship hall and kitchen. The neighborhood that the church is located in is one of the rougher parts of Cedar Rapids, so we will probably stay inside. Of course, it was 22 degrees (14 windchill) when we got up this morning, so we don't want to spend much time outside anyway.
This morning we left for our first assignment. Loren led us to a 2 story house just a couple blocks west of the river. The whole community was flooded. This 2 story house was owned by Jose. He is an immigrant from El Salvador who has been in the U.S. for 21 years. He and his wife had purchased 7 homes over that time period and had been renting them out before the flood. 5 of the homes were severely damaged by the flood! Unfortunately, the government here does not recognize Landlords as either homeowners or businesses so Jose and his wife are not getting any help from the government.
During the flood, the water had risen to about 3 feet above the floor of the main level (this is probably 8-10 feet above street level!) Several months ago, the house was mucked and all of the plaster and lathe was removed to that level. Our work assignment is to install insulation and drywall this area. Today we installed the insulation and began preparing to install the drywall. Since the existing walls were made of plaster and lathe, we have to shim the studs out so that the drywall will line up with the plaster. Tomorrow, we should be able to complete the shimming and can begin installing the sheetrock.
-Jason Leupen
p.s. Did I mention it was cold here??
-Jason Leupen
p.s. Did I mention it was cold here??
1 comment:
Hey there! It it not 22 degrees in New Orleans, in fact it is 77 degrees and sunny. Just one of the benefits to going south!
Keep up the good work and stay safe. Oh yea - keep warm!
DSA
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