I've had several people comment to me lately that I must have some pretty amazing stories from working down here in Mississippi. I'm realizing that is very true and that I have an obligation to tell the stories of the people I interact with on a daily basis. Those people who are still living in FEMA trailers or MEMA cottages, who are doing everything in their power to rebuild their home so they have a real home again.
Today was a great day! It was a glimmer of hope in the countless difficult stories I hear every day. I have been working with a family in Pearlington, Mississippi to get them grant funding for the rest of the building materials they need in order to finish their house. For confidentiality reasons, I will call them the Smiths. Mrs. Smith had a heart attack last October and has been spending about 3 days a week in the hospital. They are so close to being back in their home, but they are struggling to pay all their doctor bills let alone afford building materials. Today they got approved for a Red Cross grant and it's going to the final approval stages of funding tomorrow! Mr. Smith was so happy that he said he might just have to dance at my wedding someday. It made me smile.
I'm really enjoying my job as a case manager now. It's tough. I hear a lot of hard stories and have to make a lot of tough decisions, but overall it is very rewarding to be helping these people.
The summer weather in Mississippi is just about upon us. It has really warmed up lately and the highs are about 80 degrees most days. I am not looking forward to the hot, humid Mississippi weather. But I've done it before and I'm sure I'll be just fine.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Case Management and Mardi Gras fun!
I certainly have a lot to update you on over the last few months. Over Christmas I got to go home to Seattle. It was great spending time with friends and family, and a refreshing break from life on the Gulf Coast. When I returned in January things were very challenging for me for a while. I had a very hard time working with my new co-village manager. We simply have very different approaches to how to do things and were not able to find a common ground to work through those differences. I tried my best to make the best of the situation and find a way to fix things, but it just wasn't possible.
Fortunately my boss was willing to work with me to find a place for me so I could continue working on the Gulf Coast. Now I am working with our case manager and am being trained and am starting to work as a case manager myself. I am really enjoying what I'm doing now and I think it's a better fit for me than being a village manager. I have the opportunity to talk with a lot of home owners and I am getting a better general feel for how much work there still is left here on the Gulf Coast. As I case manager I visit peoples' homes to find out what they need to get back into their house and help them develop a plan to do that. Also I help them find funding.
Recently I've been calling all the home owners we have in our files in our camp in Pearlington to see where they are in the process of getting back into their homes. It can be a long and sometimes boring process but at the same time it's very interesting hearing such a wide variety of stories from people. There are people who are back in their homes and doing just fine to those who seem to be still starting out and have a long ways to go. I hear a lot of stories of frustrated people who feel like they've fallen through the cracks and have basically received no assistance, but I am also encouraged by the stories I hear of people who have received volunteer help and are now giving back to the community because they are back on their feet again.
In other news, Mardi Gras just ended last week. Some of the people I work with and other friends spent a long weekend in New Orleans going to parades. We had a blast and definitely got a taste oflife in New Orleans around Mardi Gras. I have way too many beads, a ton of stuffed animals, feather masks, and other little useless things I caught in the parades.
Dan and I after the Endymion parade with all our stuff!
A Mardi Gras parade float
Our Mardi Gras crew waiting for the parades
Fortunately my boss was willing to work with me to find a place for me so I could continue working on the Gulf Coast. Now I am working with our case manager and am being trained and am starting to work as a case manager myself. I am really enjoying what I'm doing now and I think it's a better fit for me than being a village manager. I have the opportunity to talk with a lot of home owners and I am getting a better general feel for how much work there still is left here on the Gulf Coast. As I case manager I visit peoples' homes to find out what they need to get back into their house and help them develop a plan to do that. Also I help them find funding.
Recently I've been calling all the home owners we have in our files in our camp in Pearlington to see where they are in the process of getting back into their homes. It can be a long and sometimes boring process but at the same time it's very interesting hearing such a wide variety of stories from people. There are people who are back in their homes and doing just fine to those who seem to be still starting out and have a long ways to go. I hear a lot of stories of frustrated people who feel like they've fallen through the cracks and have basically received no assistance, but I am also encouraged by the stories I hear of people who have received volunteer help and are now giving back to the community because they are back on their feet again.
In other news, Mardi Gras just ended last week. Some of the people I work with and other friends spent a long weekend in New Orleans going to parades. We had a blast and definitely got a taste oflife in New Orleans around Mardi Gras. I have way too many beads, a ton of stuffed animals, feather masks, and other little useless things I caught in the parades.
Dan and I after the Endymion parade with all our stuff!
A Mardi Gras parade float
Our Mardi Gras crew waiting for the parades
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Trying Times
It has been a tough week here at with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. Early Friday morning we got word that my boss here and the Volunteer Village Coordinator for PDA, Rich Cozzone, died in a car accident on Thursday night. It was a single car accident and he was driving back home to Gulfport, MS from New Orleans. I was supposed to have a meeting with him early on Friday morning and he didn't show up. Soon after that we learned the news.
It's been a tough week for all of us here and I'm sure for his family. He was married and has 3 kids who are all somewhat close to my age. It all was so sudden and unexpected. He was a great man whose heart was in the right place. He loved being here and being a part of the relief effort. He touched many people's lives here and was living his life in God's service. I know he is in heaven but it is still a shock.
Also, yesterday Don Valencia, one of the adults from the Christian community I lived in during college, passed away. He fought cancer for the last 15 months and yesterday the pain finally left him as he went up to heaven. He has an amazing, loving family with two boys who are high school age. During these last 15 months Don kept a blog documenting his progress and keeping his friends and family updated. This blog served as a huge encouragement and testament of faith to so many people, myself included. The perspective he kept during such a difficult time absolutely amazed me. He would often end his posts "God is good all the time" and had so many stories of God's faithfulness and love. God truly was carrying him through these last 15 months and now he can truly be with Him. There's a link on the right-hand side of my blog that says "Don" if you'd like to check his blog out.
Please keep Rich and Don in your prayers. Please pray for their families and friends. Also, please pray for PDA as we trying to make up for the loss of our leader here. Our PDA family has really come around one other in support during these last few days and we are very thankful to have each other's love and support during this time.
It's been a tough week for all of us here and I'm sure for his family. He was married and has 3 kids who are all somewhat close to my age. It all was so sudden and unexpected. He was a great man whose heart was in the right place. He loved being here and being a part of the relief effort. He touched many people's lives here and was living his life in God's service. I know he is in heaven but it is still a shock.
Also, yesterday Don Valencia, one of the adults from the Christian community I lived in during college, passed away. He fought cancer for the last 15 months and yesterday the pain finally left him as he went up to heaven. He has an amazing, loving family with two boys who are high school age. During these last 15 months Don kept a blog documenting his progress and keeping his friends and family updated. This blog served as a huge encouragement and testament of faith to so many people, myself included. The perspective he kept during such a difficult time absolutely amazed me. He would often end his posts "God is good all the time" and had so many stories of God's faithfulness and love. God truly was carrying him through these last 15 months and now he can truly be with Him. There's a link on the right-hand side of my blog that says "Don" if you'd like to check his blog out.
Please keep Rich and Don in your prayers. Please pray for their families and friends. Also, please pray for PDA as we trying to make up for the loss of our leader here. Our PDA family has really come around one other in support during these last few days and we are very thankful to have each other's love and support during this time.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Long Awaited Update
I've been quite a stranger lately, so I better fill you in on what's going on here in Mississippi. We had a couple weeks in late October that were crazy. We had 60 volunteers one week and 90 the next week. Becca, Dan, and I were a bit burned out after those weeks and were in need of a break. Thankfully we didn't have any volunteers the next week so we were able to relax a bit and get caught up on things.
Recently we had two really great groups of volunteers here. I really enjoyed getting to know the groups and it was nice to have smaller groups here because we could actually get to know the volunteers a little better than when we have tons of people here.
There is still a definite need here and it still surprises me going into houses that are down to just the studs and still in need of drywall, flooring, and basically a lot of work. The other day, Becca and I went on our usual Walmart run. A lady who was working there giving out samples seemed a little shocked to see Becca and I wearing our Presbyterian Disaster Assistance shirts and she said, "You're still here." She was an incredibly sweet lady and she thanked us repeatedly for still being here to help rebuild. It definitely made my day to see her face light up at the sight of our t-shirts.
I've been reading the book "Blue Like Jazz" lately and one major theme that has really stuck out to me is the theme of humility and being real and authentic with people. It can be really easy to sit on our soap box of we are so great to be down here helping out on the Gulf Coast. But none of this is about getting attention for being here and helping out. We are no better than any of the home owners that we interact with. We are here to serve the people here not with big signs saying, 'look at the great things we are doing,' but rather just serving the people here. What an amazing challenge to have such an attitude of service and humility.
Recently we had two really great groups of volunteers here. I really enjoyed getting to know the groups and it was nice to have smaller groups here because we could actually get to know the volunteers a little better than when we have tons of people here.
There is still a definite need here and it still surprises me going into houses that are down to just the studs and still in need of drywall, flooring, and basically a lot of work. The other day, Becca and I went on our usual Walmart run. A lady who was working there giving out samples seemed a little shocked to see Becca and I wearing our Presbyterian Disaster Assistance shirts and she said, "You're still here." She was an incredibly sweet lady and she thanked us repeatedly for still being here to help rebuild. It definitely made my day to see her face light up at the sight of our t-shirts.
I've been reading the book "Blue Like Jazz" lately and one major theme that has really stuck out to me is the theme of humility and being real and authentic with people. It can be really easy to sit on our soap box of we are so great to be down here helping out on the Gulf Coast. But none of this is about getting attention for being here and helping out. We are no better than any of the home owners that we interact with. We are here to serve the people here not with big signs saying, 'look at the great things we are doing,' but rather just serving the people here. What an amazing challenge to have such an attitude of service and humility.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Just your "average" day at PDA
Fortunately or unfortunately Walmart is part of my daily routine. Dodging old ladies is becoming a specialty of mine. We have about 90 people staying at our camp right now so it's a tight squeeze around here. And the Walmart runs are pretty funny. For example, today I bought 120 bratwursts, 15 heads of lettuce, and 18 boxes of angel food cake. I got some pretty strange looks when I piled 120 bratwursts up in the check out line :)
It's also raining buckets around here today. When it rains down here it pours, Seattle rain has nothing on the downpours we get here. The funny thing is no one seems to own rain gear around here. During my trip to Walmart everyone was just walking around in t-shirts soaking wet. It's one of those days that I just want to curl up "inside" (in my trailer) all day and pretend the world doesn't exist. Thankfully everything is going smoothly around here even with 90 people, it's a miracle!
In other news, a week or two ago some insect bit me on the foot. They couldn't tell me what it was but my foot was so swollen and I ended up going to the ER for it. But no worries, I'm doing just fine now and my foot is back to its normal size, but you have to check out how it looked.
Now that's a swollen foot.
I wouldn't want to leave you with the gross image of my foot so here's a pretty sunset from a couple days ago.
It's also raining buckets around here today. When it rains down here it pours, Seattle rain has nothing on the downpours we get here. The funny thing is no one seems to own rain gear around here. During my trip to Walmart everyone was just walking around in t-shirts soaking wet. It's one of those days that I just want to curl up "inside" (in my trailer) all day and pretend the world doesn't exist. Thankfully everything is going smoothly around here even with 90 people, it's a miracle!
In other news, a week or two ago some insect bit me on the foot. They couldn't tell me what it was but my foot was so swollen and I ended up going to the ER for it. But no worries, I'm doing just fine now and my foot is back to its normal size, but you have to check out how it looked.
Now that's a swollen foot.
I wouldn't want to leave you with the gross image of my foot so here's a pretty sunset from a couple days ago.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Road Trip Continued
After we left the Grand Canyon we drove to New Mexico and stayed with my brother in Sante Fe. Then as we were driving out of New Mexico towards Texas we saw about 5 to 10 tarantulas on the road! It was insane! The first one Cassandra accidentally ran over but then we kept seeing more as we were driving. PJ insisted on stopping even though I was strongly protesting. He caught one in his camera case and attempted to smuggle it into the car with us, but I pretty much freaked out and we locked him out of the car until he let it go. My heart was beating so fast, I am not a fan of spiders, especially tarantulas! It was pretty ridiculous but quite a story.
The tarantula, ick!
PJ catching the tarantula
Cassandra and I at Turner Falls, Oklahoma. I was very impressed by Oklahoma, it's pretty. And there was a Big Foot researcher where we camped in Oklahoma, such good times.
PJ enjoying the view
We hiked along a little trail up to this creepy but cool cave!
Our last stop was in Wesson, Mississippi. Cassandra has a friend who owns a dairy farm, so we woke up in the morning and helped feed the calves. Cassandra even named a couple of the calves.
The tarantula, ick!
PJ catching the tarantula
Cassandra and I at Turner Falls, Oklahoma. I was very impressed by Oklahoma, it's pretty. And there was a Big Foot researcher where we camped in Oklahoma, such good times.
PJ enjoying the view
We hiked along a little trail up to this creepy but cool cave!
Our last stop was in Wesson, Mississippi. Cassandra has a friend who owns a dairy farm, so we woke up in the morning and helped feed the calves. Cassandra even named a couple of the calves.
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