Day 5 - A Second Chance

We had known since Monday that the teens from Michigan would have to leave on Thursday, so this was our last day to work with them. After breakfast, we found out that we would be going back to the Monoplex today. We were delayed, however, when Dr. Phil McGraw visited the FEMA camp next to Camp Rowley. Because his vehicles and his crews inadvertently blocked Madison Avenue, we had to take a different route. Some people disagreed with Dr. Phil, and some people agreed with him--as long as he carried the message that people still needed help in Louisiana and in the rest of the Gulf.

At the Monoplex, we were surprised to find that the piles of debris that we had left on Monday were gone today. We took that as a blessing, because it would give us all of that space again, to pile up today's debris from the house. We prayed together again, then got to work.

There was a lot of woodwork to remove from the walls, from baseboards and door frames, to paneling and shelf brackets. We went through the rooms removing the woodwork and cleaning out the rest of the debris. I was on my way out to the pile with another loaded wheelbarrow when the second ramp began to wobble. I struggled to stay balanced, but had to step down off the ramp to keep from falling. I stopped using the second ramp after that.

Later, I wound up helping in a closet in the back of the Monoplex, trying to figure out how some shelving was mounted on the wall. Wire shelf supports had been screwed down to some of the wooden shelf supports. After finally detaching one, I learned how the rest of them were put together. The work got easier after that.

We took a break for lunch and returned to tear out more woodwork. Chuck inspected the rooms as we went, and gathered us in one of the front rooms for a "Master Class" in drywall removal. This time, he had actual drywall to work with. As he gave step-by-step instructions, he worked on the wall. At the end of his instructions, he and another group member had a chunk of drywall that was as long as the wall, and still in one piece. They carried it out to the pile and returned. Chuck pointed out that some of it will always break off and wind up on the floor, but this method was definitely better than using a sledge hammer. There was much less mess on the floor, which made for less work cleaning it up later on.

We split up into teams of two and three, and spread out through the Monoplex. As we began removing drywall, rain moved in again. The group I worked with cleaned out one room and its closet, then worked its way down the hallway. At times, we helped push drywall off so that people on the other side of the wall could take it to the debris piles. We even got a drywall piece big enough that it took three people to carry it out to the debris pile. But time was running out. And there were appliances to be moved out.

It was already the end of the day, and tools were being loaded up in the trailer. I threw my dust mask away, when one of the teenagers from Michigan turned to me.

"They're probably going to need more help in there with the refrigerators," he said, "We should go in."