terrehautian
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Terre Haute
For me, this one is very simple.
The people of New Orleans Franklin Avenue area. I spent 3 week long periods down there working on homes. Before I went down, I heard about the violence and other things that left me thinking that the people weren't going to be nice. Once I got down there, I realized that the people down there are great. There is three people that I have really been missing since the organization I had volunteered with pulled out and my last trip was August of last year. Ms. Vigne, Ms. Bundy and Ms. Smith. All three had water at least 1/2 way up their homes. All three hired a private contractor to work on their homes. All three were scammed out of thousands of dollars and were left with no money and no home to live in. That was until Samaritans Purse came in. They rebuilt Ms. Vigne's home and renovated the other two.
Ms. Bundy's home.
Ms. Bundy is an awesome lady. She was also the only one out of all the homes I worked on to stay during Katrina. She was rescued out of her attic vent via boat. I can't remember the exact story of how she got this color house, but you can't forget it. She is also a talker. I called her today and amazingly only talked for 12 minutes. Last two trips there, we were there talking to here until it got dark. White people in a bad neighborhood at night isn't that great, but we always made it back to the church safe.
Ms. Vigne's home.
Before I show you the finished home, the home on the left is her house. Amazingly a contractor tried to rebuild that home. I should also point out that Ms. Bundy took this picture from her attic a day after the levees failed.
Ms. Vigne did leave her home. Ms. Vigne is a very quiet person, but she is awesome. On the last trip, she had her grand daughter with her at points and brought her to dinner the night before we left. Her grand daughter was talking about pictures and was always having someones picture and taking pictures with it. I asked her if she had one of her own and she said no. I had been hanging onto my old point and shoot for a while but hardly ever used it. A little after I heard this, I went back to my camera bag and gave her that camera. I have never seen someone so excited in my life.
This is her grand daughter Taylor.
Ms. Vigne and Taylor.
and then after I gave her the camera she was running around taking pictures with it.
The home I worked on in april of 2010, I didn't met the owner until August of 2010. Ms. Barbara smith.
Her house the day I showed up to start working on it. We had quite a few things to do before the of that week. One set was due to her home owners insurance. They had given her until the end of that week to A. have siding on two sides of the home and have a garage door in. Amazingly we did get all that in. But in the process we discovered rotten corner post that we had to replace. We had to rebuild the header for the garage door. Re sheath the entire place. Demo drywall and other things. The whole thieves thing sucks also because her husband was a chef before he died and had quite a few pots and pans. I guess at some point all those pots and pans disappeared. Also, she had a storage unit and had personal belongings in it. I guess there was some is communications and the furniture was left out for a short period of time and it disappeared.
Who puts the entire electrical system over boards and not through them.?
Got enough studs?
How we left it on Friday, other volunteers got the siding done on Saturday.
Final product
It was finished in July, but due to some thieves who cut the iron bars around her A/C unit for the copper, she was still not in her home in August.
The final home was not part of SP, but just one in the neighborhood that was nicknamed the "John Deere House".
I don't know who the owner was or anythng, just know that one day in August we were walking by on the way to see other homes and the lady on the porch said, 'don't you think you are going to walk by without stopping to pray with me".
If it wasn't for me being at my job for ten years and being full time. I would try to get a job in New Orleans in a heart beat. Such an awesome town for the people and the food. Especially the food.
The people of New Orleans Franklin Avenue area. I spent 3 week long periods down there working on homes. Before I went down, I heard about the violence and other things that left me thinking that the people weren't going to be nice. Once I got down there, I realized that the people down there are great. There is three people that I have really been missing since the organization I had volunteered with pulled out and my last trip was August of last year. Ms. Vigne, Ms. Bundy and Ms. Smith. All three had water at least 1/2 way up their homes. All three hired a private contractor to work on their homes. All three were scammed out of thousands of dollars and were left with no money and no home to live in. That was until Samaritans Purse came in. They rebuilt Ms. Vigne's home and renovated the other two.
Ms. Bundy's home.
Ms. Bundy is an awesome lady. She was also the only one out of all the homes I worked on to stay during Katrina. She was rescued out of her attic vent via boat. I can't remember the exact story of how she got this color house, but you can't forget it. She is also a talker. I called her today and amazingly only talked for 12 minutes. Last two trips there, we were there talking to here until it got dark. White people in a bad neighborhood at night isn't that great, but we always made it back to the church safe.
Ms. Vigne's home.
Before I show you the finished home, the home on the left is her house. Amazingly a contractor tried to rebuild that home. I should also point out that Ms. Bundy took this picture from her attic a day after the levees failed.
Ms. Vigne did leave her home. Ms. Vigne is a very quiet person, but she is awesome. On the last trip, she had her grand daughter with her at points and brought her to dinner the night before we left. Her grand daughter was talking about pictures and was always having someones picture and taking pictures with it. I asked her if she had one of her own and she said no. I had been hanging onto my old point and shoot for a while but hardly ever used it. A little after I heard this, I went back to my camera bag and gave her that camera. I have never seen someone so excited in my life.
This is her grand daughter Taylor.
Ms. Vigne and Taylor.
and then after I gave her the camera she was running around taking pictures with it.
The home I worked on in april of 2010, I didn't met the owner until August of 2010. Ms. Barbara smith.
Her house the day I showed up to start working on it. We had quite a few things to do before the of that week. One set was due to her home owners insurance. They had given her until the end of that week to A. have siding on two sides of the home and have a garage door in. Amazingly we did get all that in. But in the process we discovered rotten corner post that we had to replace. We had to rebuild the header for the garage door. Re sheath the entire place. Demo drywall and other things. The whole thieves thing sucks also because her husband was a chef before he died and had quite a few pots and pans. I guess at some point all those pots and pans disappeared. Also, she had a storage unit and had personal belongings in it. I guess there was some is communications and the furniture was left out for a short period of time and it disappeared.
Who puts the entire electrical system over boards and not through them.?
Got enough studs?
How we left it on Friday, other volunteers got the siding done on Saturday.
Final product
It was finished in July, but due to some thieves who cut the iron bars around her A/C unit for the copper, she was still not in her home in August.
The final home was not part of SP, but just one in the neighborhood that was nicknamed the "John Deere House".
I don't know who the owner was or anythng, just know that one day in August we were walking by on the way to see other homes and the lady on the porch said, 'don't you think you are going to walk by without stopping to pray with me".
If it wasn't for me being at my job for ten years and being full time. I would try to get a job in New Orleans in a heart beat. Such an awesome town for the people and the food. Especially the food.
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