Road Trip: New Orleans, Part II

So, recapping the New Orleans trip... Thursday, driving to NOLA. Friday, helping build a Habitat house. Saturday, gutting a house.

Gutting? It's pretty much as bad as it sounds, but has to be done, and it can make such a difference to a family that wants to rebuild. The houses that were being gutted were flooded up to the rooflines and higher during Hurricane Isaac which happened just 2 months ago.

Our volunteer group was still using the organization of RHINO, Rebuilding Hope in New Orleans, this time partnered with the St. Bernard Project. We met with our group at the Braithwaite Auditorium, and then headed to the house. The owners were there, and planned to rebuild. According to our SBP representative, Alex, this was an "easy" one. The fridge and food had been removed, and, well, actually, all the other belongings had too (clothes, furniture, etc). All except one water-logged sofa. There was still running water in the house (running water in the pipes, I mean), and the owner had cleaned the bathroom as best she could, so we had indoor facilities. That meant a lot. Trust me.

Our job. Simple. Take a crowbar/sledge hammer to the drywall. Pull it down. Pull out the moldy insulation. Don't scream when you see cockroaches. Shovel the debris into a wheelbarrow. Dump into a trailer which is pulled to the end of the driveway where it was deposited for pick up later.

  

Cute frog clinging to the wall near the ceiling. We saw lots of these and tried to rescue them and toss them outside. They were hard to catch though.

Extended view of the frog. You can see that we tried to leave him a little wall to cling too, if only temporarily.

Blurry, pile o'debris

Our "facilities" sans walls. Yep, as we tore down the walls, we quickly realized that our privacy would kinda be compromised. Of course, we girls can be creative, so we made our own kind of privacy.

The owners were so grateful to have this job done, and they can get on with rebuilding.