Ike Response: Plan Change

We’re still on for the Olsons this weekend (November 1st) but plans are changing for the following week-end (November 8th).

November 1st:
Sally Olson assures me that they can use a big crew on Saturday to load the truck at the old house and unload it at the new house (possibly repeatedly!). We will plan to meet at the church at 8:30 a.m. and leave promptly for the Olson’s house. If you are available, contact Iva at the church office (ivaf@trinityfellowship.net, 281-482-0577) or Bob (mail@trinityfellowship.net, 281-787-7130) to let us know.

November 8th:
The large group that was supposed to come for Friday and Saturday night has shrunk down to a size that can probably be handled on Galveston Island. That means we won’t have to build showers or provide food. However, we are still needed to help down on the island and to provide a little experience and local presence with some of these crews. I really encourage men, women and families to participate on Saturday, November 8th. Use the contact information above to let us know if you can come.

Ike Response: Back to Work

Last weekend we enjoyed perfect weather at the church camp-out in Huntsville. It was a great break and a meaningful time. But now, for the next two weekends, we have the opportunity to do a good amount of meaningful Ike work.

Saturday, November 1st. We hope to be able to effectively use a pretty big team to help the Olson’s with their move to a rental house. They will be packing and preparing this week and we’ll be helping them make the short move and get a bit settled in on Saturday. If you are available this weekend, contact Iva at the church office (ivaf@trinityfellowship.net, 281-482-0577) or Bob (mail@trinityfellowship.net, 281-787-7120) to let us know.

Saturday, November 8th. This promises to be an interesting week-end. Mark Lewis has between 200 and 400 people coming in to do Ike relief, mostly on the Island. Our big job is to house between 80 and 120 of these folks. We will be letting them sleep on the floors of the main sanctuary and the L.I.F.E room on Friday and Saturday night, and then sending them on their way early Sunday morning so we can have church. We’ll need to provide food and showers. How can we provided showers, you ask? We are designing temporary showers to be set up outside the building. Pray for relatively warm weather and no rain.

Our smaller job will be to accompany some of the teams down onto the Island to provide some local contact and some experience. If you have gutted or roofed, even a little, we really need you to lend a hand that day.

So please respond (ivaf@trinityfellowship.net, 281-482-0577) or (mail@trinityfellowship.net, 281-787-7120) as soon as possible and let us know what you can do on November 7th and 8th:
Food preparation, Friday night and/or Saturday morning, Saturday evening.
Shower preparation, Friday during the day, Saturday during the day.
Gutting or roofing, Saturday during the day

Two Weeks to Get Organized

Ike Response, 081021

Two Weeks to Get Organized

We had a light weekend of helping - only working at the Stark’s house in Dickinson - but it was a really worthwhile time.

This coming weekend we won’t be sending out any organized crews, because many of us will be on the church camp-out.

Actually, the word ‘organized’ in the above sentence may be a bit optimistic, which leads to the purpose of this post: we’ve got two weeks to get organized.

Two weeks from last Saturday will be November 1st. By that date I’m praying that we will have four crew leaders and hopefully four crews defined, one for each of the first four Saturdays of the month. This rotation will last as long as meaningful Ike response is available, which will be for a while, especially on Galveston Island.

Here is the schedule for November, December (need doesn’t take a break for Christmas, though we may have to some of these weekends) and January:
1st Saturday: November 1, December 6, January 3
2nd Saturday: November 8, December 13, January 10
3rd Saturday: November 15, December 20, January 17
4th Saturday: November 22, December 27, January 24

By the way, we’re thinking of using these crews for needs within the body as well, such as helping people move or helping with church building or individual home projects (like helping the Reeds do home modifications for Donna’s wheelchair).

We still need two crew leaders and many crew members to round out this rotation. Please prayerfully consider your schedule and respond to this need by e-mailing Bob (mail@trinityfellowship.net) or Iva (ivaf@trinityfellowship.net) with the following information: name, which Saturday (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th), willing to be crew leader.

Thanks for your help!

Galveston County Hazardous Waste Drop Off

The EPA has set up a hazardous waste drop off site for North Galveston County. The site will be open from Saturday, October 18th to Sunday, October 26th.

Here is a link to the flyer on the Dickinson web site.

http://www.groupbuilder.net/uploads/city_of_dickinson/GC_HHW_flyers_10-15-08.pdf

Pass this along to those who might need to know it.

Ike Plan for Saturday, October 18th

It's going to be a relatively light weekend of helping. We will be leading a mixed Trinity / Grace team back to the Starks house in Dickenson to complete the gutting and begin some mold remediation.

It would be really nice to have a few more Trinity representatives on the crew.

Please contact me if you are planning to come. E-mail mail@trinityfellowship.net, or call 281-787-7130.

Thanks

Bob

Update: Here's the plan for the next several weeks.
October 25th - No Ike relief - church campout
November 1st - Moving Laura Pinard and possibly the Olsons
November 8th - Possibly hosting a hundred volunteers at the church.

Looking Backward, Looking Forward

I’m sorry I haven’t updated yet this week. I fell into a hole called ‘Doctoral Thesis’. My thesis proposal was due yesterday, and I needed to work all Sunday evening, nineteen hours Monday and all yesterday morning to get it ready. Now that I’ve hit the ‘send’ button on that, I’m clawing my way out of the hole and addressing this week's work and communication.

Looking Backward: Last weekend was another good time of helping. EFCA Crisis Response had a planned total of seventeen crews on the island and on the mainland. Not all of those jobs worked out, of course. For example, one of the houses we were supposed to gut was declared structurally unsound just hours before we would have arrived. But we did get to work on two other places and made significant progress with both. In particular a combined Grace / Trinity crew did a great deal of work gutting a house in Dickinson and seemed to make a great impact on the homeowner as well.

Looking Forward: We had hoped to help Laura Pinard with her move to a new apartment this Saturday. As of now that move is off, because the new apartment turned her down. Please keep praying for her to find a new place. We’ll let you know when that move is re-scheduled.

In the absence of that opportunity, we will instead be helping again on the mainland. We will probably go back to the one house in Dickinson, and we will be looking for other opportunities to help there. Grace Bible Church will be sending another good group, possibly as many as thirty five.

We will need to carefully plan the work for Saturday and we’ll keep you informed of what develops. In return, I’d ask that you please think and pray about your participation for Saturday, especially if you haven’t helped in a few weeks, and call or e-mail to let us know you’re coming.

In Christ

Bob

Work Plan for Saturday, October 11, 2008

I just got back from meeting with Mark Lewis and several of the local pastors. We talked about long range strategies for Ike response, and discussed the transition from relief to rebuilding. Mark estimates that this could be a three or four year process as we attempt to serve the underserved who have been most catastrophically impacted by Ike.

As far as tomorrow goes, we will be local rather than on the island. There are two houses in Dickinson that we know need gutting and another with tree removal needs. We will work with part of the team from Grace Bible Church.

Anyone who can participate is welcome. We will meet at the church at 8:30 a.m. Please call or e-mail Iva or Bob to let us know you are coming.

Ivaf@trinityfellowship.net 281-482-0577

mail@trinityfellowship.net 281-787-7130

Thanks

Bob

Making A Difference

We’re making a difference. Helen Shinpaugh sent me the following encouraging e-mail:

Bob,

I talked with Marian last night, and she said Clay [Thomas, pastor of Galveston Bible Church] was a whole different person Sunday after you all had been down there. He was touched that the team came to his house, but even more touched that you yourself were there working on his house. His heart and countenance were lighter, and he and Karla were so encouraged. It was a real blessing all around. I'm gonna cry if I talk about it any more.

Blessings,

Helen


I will be talking with Mark Lewis this evening about plans for the weekend, but what I’d like us to do is make available one crew - five to seven people - to work wherever he thinks best, on the island or locally if the needs can be clearly identified.

Let me remind you of the strategy outlined in the previous post: we sustain our relief efforts by asking each of you to volunteer for one Saturday a month. My prayer is that we will find four crew leaders and five to seven crew members for each Saturday.

Please prayerfully consider your roll in this kind of process. You can call or e-mail the church office (ivaf@trinityfellowship.net) or call or e-mail me (mail@trinityfellowship.net) to volunteer for this weekend or for an ongoing Saturday each month.

Thanks

Bob

Helping a Friend

We had another good workday on Saturday. We took fifteen men down to Galveston and worked on gutting two different houses. I was able to work with the crew that was removing sheet rock and other items from the home of Pastor Clay Thomas of Galveston Bible Church. Clay and his wife are friends, and it was even more painful than usual to see all their possessions in a huge pile by the street.

We multiplied the size of the pile with the building materials we removed from the house. At one point I said to Clay “I hate to break this to you buddy, but I think you might have a little mold problem here”. The black mold was about 30 inches up the 2x4's in some places. I’m still not sure how they will get completely rid of it, but I know it will take lots of help.

Going forward, I would like to see us continue to make an effort every Saturday, but with the understanding that as we settle into a ‘new normal’, we will each have to develop a sustainable level of effort. My suggestion, for myself and others, is that as many of us as possible commit to one Saturday a month of helping. I would love to have a crew chief and a few key workers identified for each Saturday of the month (first Saturday, second Saturday, etc.).

For the rest of October:
Saturday, October 11 - helping in Galveston or locally as needs are identified
Saturday, October 18 - a somewhat larger crew will be needed to move Laura Pinard to a new apartment. (Only indirectly related to Ike, but a real need).
Saturday, October 25 - Church Camp Out
Saturday, November 1 - helping in Galveston, or possibly helping the Olsons move.

Thanks again to all who have poured hours into this key ministry.

P.S. Be sure to keep up with the larger picture at www.efcacrisisresponse.blogspot.com

Ike Relief, Details for Saturday, October 4

Here is the plan for the day as received from Mark Lewis:

Bob – I have you into 3 groups doing gutting. We have these gutting tips perhaps you’d be able to print out and have your men read on the way down.

Team 1 – working with clay thomas gutting to 4ft… well maybe 8 ft because I told him it was really hard to match texture when trying to feather in a 4 ft joint

Team 2 – pete alcocer, galv police officer - finishing a gut in progress

Team 3 – ray carrizalez galv coty sherrif dept – sheet rock removal, not sure how much water he had, 4’ vs 8’ gut

I have maps printed out with owner ph numbers for each place.

ml

Lk 12:48b

Ike Relief (not 'One Relief' - silly iPhone) Saturday, October 4

I woke up this morning and got right to work on my message for Sunday, and never did this update. Now I'm sitting waiting for probate court to open and drafting on my iPhone.

Anyway, things are about the same as the plan I already laid out. Men and boys should meet at the church at 6:30 am to go down to Galveston to work. We will mostly be gutting houses, so bring gloves, boots and masks if you have them. Wear long pants, and maybe even lightweight long sleeves.

We do not need to bring food. We will bring some cold water.

We will work until about dusk and probably be back at church by eight or eight-thirty.

If you are not going to Galveston, you might be able to help the Berreths help a friend in Dickinson (hauling trash) or you might be able to help Susan Torney. Call them directly if you'd like to help.

I'm looking forward to the day of work in Galveston, 'physically doing the will of God.'

Update: I just got an e-mail from Mark indicating that there will be fifteen people from Grace Bible Church coming down to work as well. We'll have to figure out where they can work

Galveston, Saturday October 4, 2008

The details for Saturday’s work in Galveston are coming together. We will not be traveling down Friday night, but rather Saturday morning. We will meet at the church at 6:30 a.m. sharp and leave to be at Galveston Bible Church by 8:00 a.m. We will probably work until dusk, returning to church around 8:00 p.m.

This workday is open to all the men and boys of the church. You don’t have to have been signed up for Men’s Bible Immersion Camp to participate. Please respond by phone, e-mail or blog entry so that we can get a good list for the EFCA Crisis Response team we'll be working with.

I’m still checking to see if we need to bring food. I’ll let you know in tomorrow’s update.

Sadly, the group from Abbie and Tim’s church will not be coming down this weekend, so we probably won’t have much formal work going on locally. I’ll check with Mark Lewis this evening to see if any of the EFCA folk will be local. And I suspect Susan Torney or the Olson’s might be able to use an extra set of hands.