Why rebuilding the Gulf Coast is like working on a show...
(really, it's like every week is tech with a whole new crew)

Because most of my friends all have one thing in common - theatre - I thought I'd use some common terms to describe give you an idea what I'm doing -

The people who know what's going on carry keys (and after two weeks, I'm one of them -!?)

You'll be covered with bruises and not know why.

Coffee is important (and you have to get up at 5 a.m. to make it).

The hours suck (sometimes 12 hour days, usually six days a week. Although I'm often in bed by ten.)

There's always a huge build going on (try 75 houses and 400 on a waiting list).

You lift with your legs and not your back.

There's no such thing as a typical day.

You learn not to assume things about people - like don't assume that 76 year olds don't have email or cell phones (or that they can't work 6 or 7 days a week).

You meet interesting people from all different backgrounds (from all over the country).

Every day the "audience" we serve changes.

There's yoga every morning before the "performance" (starting at 6 a.m.)

People make their own t-shirts with inside jokes on them.

There are naps on the couch in the "common room" (it's like a green room) (although it's strange when your day starts and you find yourself "napping" between 7 and 8 in the morning.)

There's some hurry up and wait, things move by quickly but the hours are slow. You get a lot done in a day, but there's always more to do.

You always go to bed tired!

Why rebuilding the Gulf Coast is like working on a show...
(really, it's like every week is tech with a whole new crew)

Because most of my friends all have one thing in common - theatre - I thought I'd use some common terms to describe give you an idea what I'm doing -

The people who know what's going on carry keys (and after two weeks, I'm one of them -!?)

You'll be covered with bruises and not know why.

Coffee is important (and you have to get up at 5 a.m. to make it).

The hours suck (sometimes 12 hour days, usually six days a week. Although I'm often in bed by ten.)

There's always a huge build going on (try 75 houses and 400 on a waiting list).

You lift with your legs and not your back.

There's no such thing as a typical day.

You learn not to assume things about people - like don't assume that 76 year olds don't have email or cell phones (or that they can't work 6 or 7 days a week).

You meet interesting people from all different backgrounds (from all over the country).

Every day the "audience" we serve changes.

There's yoga every morning before the "performance" (starting at 6 a.m.)

People make their own t-shirts with inside jokes on them.

There are naps on the couch in the "common room" (it's like a green room) (although it's strange when your day starts and you find yourself "napping" between 7 and 8 in the morning.)

There's some hurry up and wait, things move by quickly but the hours are slow. You get a lot done in a day, but there's always more to do.

You always go to bed tired!

Deputized!

At the end of my third day here in Ocean Springs Mississippi, I have been informed of some of the additional duties I'll be taking on as a long-term volunteer (about two and a half months - I'll be coming home some time in December). John, the "house manager" here is making me his assistant. I'll carry keys, lock up at night, turn out the lights, be available to answer questions, give directions, ring the bell for evening prayer. On Saturdays and Sundays I'll cook meals for all the volunteers here. I'll have a desk, access to an LSS (Lutheran Social Services) computer, and an LSS cell phone so I don't have to use my own minutes if people need to get a hold of me. Did I mention keys?

In addition to being a John's part-time assistant (I'll have mostly evening shifts) I'll be working most mornings in the distribution center which supplies food, water, personal hygiene items, diapers and some other things to local people displaced by the hurricane. For the last three days I've been working in distribution, filling orders for people and loading them into cars (we have for this task we have a collection of reappropriated shopping carts.)
I'm told I'll be in charge of organizing the distribution center when the two main people working there now leave later this month. I'm not sure what that means yet.

So far I'm having a good time and meeting a lot of interesting people from all over the country. I'm learning new things every day, and working with people with a variety of work and communication styles is a great experience. I go to bed every night tired, but I'm also excited to see what this new position is like.

John, the house manager has been here since January. For a long time he's been working 12 to 18 hour days and has a lot of amazing stories about this place. It's a lot different from the last time I was here in March. I haven't spent much time in town yet, but we're no longer living, eating and working out of the church. We're in a huge warehouse, most of which houses construction supplies for our operation and other hurricane recovery operations. Then there's the distribution center, the "lounge" a room with tables couches, tv/dvd player, computers (iMacs) and a pop machine and a refridgerator, a kitchen and cafeteria, showers, laundry and the dorms (rooms with rows of wooden bunk beds). I live in a room with 24 bunk beds but not all are filled right now.

Camp Victor can house 208 volunteers, but in November we'll have 250.

Interestingly, I'm sharing my room (or they're sharing it with me) with a group of Americorps volunteers from NCCC) (It's another branch of Americorps - like I was a VISTA). This group has been here two weeks, will be here three more, and in two weeks another NCCC group will come in. More Americorps people. Huh, small world!