Finishing Touches... Mostly.

Wednesday, August 2, 2017.

Another hot day, and visions of the end pull us through!

A new site in High Ridge had us working on manufactured homes for lower income residents. Here, we met up with another group from Michigan, working through National Relief Network (NRN). This crew consisted of mostly younger adults and high school students.


Jan Z preparing the joists
for the flooring.

Our team split up to work on a few homes. One crew cleaned up a concrete slab to prepare it for a new home to be built, picking up glass and preparing the ground after the home which originally stood here was destroyed. Another home had serious water damage, and needed new flooring and drywall. Our team was able to prepare the walls and get the floor insulation layers ready. Most of our team worked here, and made some great progress!

Another home needed some exterior painting, while yet another had years of moss which needed to be power washed off. This last home also had a family living in it which had some local enemies, so there were shot gun pellet holes all through the siding and windows which would eventually be repaired. This family no longer lives here, and another couple came by, interested in moving in when the work is done. They seemed very thankful of all the work we were doing, and we had the promise that each home we touched this day would host an appreciative family in the near future, no matter their condition today. We can all aspire to gratitude such as theirs!

Our Fenton project continued! Our crew finished working in the basement, and completed removal of the soffits. We filled two complete dumpsters with materials from the four units, and the buildings are ready for the next stages of reconstruction. The work crews which follow will have a good foundation on which to rebuild these homes for underprivileged families.

Andrea works on removing the last of the drywall. (Laura A)

Linda makes final preparations on the studs. (Laura A)

Resurrection Lily

We also filled in some more information about our Eureka home! This two story house was flooded to nearly the top of the first floor, which was cleaned and prepped by a previous work crew. This left us working on the electrical by standing on boards laid over the open floor joists, and two stories of siding.

In addition to the changes our group is facilitating by our labors, our crew here even found one small, lonely lily on the grounds around the house, not trampled or damaged. It wasn't blooming, and looked much like any other tall weed in the area - until our last day. The flower bloomed, almost as if to give our work crew, and the family who lives here, hope for the future!

The Florissant team finished the basement, and moved all of Carol's things back downstairs so the storage unit in her driveway could be returned. The Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) is now ready to begin work installing a sump system, making Carol's house safe for many years to come.

The team worked together to moved all the items from the
temporary storage unit in Carol's driveway back to the basement. (Ken J)



Some expert window cleaners
paused for a photo.

When our Fenton crew finished, they came over to High Ridge, and we realized that our team was now too big to fit in the work spaces when combined with the NRN team. Our project leaders, Denise and Chris, found a church which needed some cleaning help, and our team jumped at the chance to work in an air conditioned environment! Our combined crew headed to St Mark's church, where the custodian, Dan, put us to work with cleaning their windows and other spaces which needed attention.
As a celebration of a job well done, our last night was spent trying to solve a murder mystery at the Bissell Mansion! It was a great time of comedy and sleuthing, and our team of characters left our hosts in stitches. Pastor Eric was deemed the best "Les" they ever had! A fun way to wrap things up.