Friday, July 26, 2013

July 26 ~ERT Mission Trip~

As soon as my photos from the last post uploaded we left for our usual breakfast at Logan's.  2 eggs, bacon and toast and we split a cinnamon roll.  Sharon had an orange juice but because Dave ran out of juice and couldn't fill the glass, he didn't charge her.  He also only charged us $3 for the same breakfast as yesterday since it was our last day.  Each day as we left he thanked us for helping out the people here in DuBois.  Sharon noticed a newspaper clipping on the wall with a story about a fire in his restaurant in 2001.  It mentioned how the town rallied around to help him rebuild.  We think he might have a greater appreciation for volunteers because of his experiences.  We always heard a "God Bless You" as we walked out the door.
When we got back to the church we met Pastor Carr who would be giving us our assigned work site.  As soon as the other teams arrived he began sending teams out.  We were joined by two women from LaTrobe, Pa. which is about 1 1/2 hours south and a female pastor from around the DuBois area.  She is a circuit pastor, something I didn't even think the Methodist churches still did.  She has 5 churches so she has the service at a different church each Sunday for 5 weeks and then starts the circuit over again.
The job today was to clear out a basement and sanitize and disinfect the walls and floor.  It didn't sound like more than a half day job but as it turned out it was packed with tons of catering items such as cake pans, muffin tins, casserole dishes, warming trays, crock pots along with canning jars and various household items that had been stored there for years.  There was carpet to pull up and because the water had been about 4' deep in the basement even the items and boxes that were sitting on the four tables were still wet.  The only way to remove the items was to take them out a window that was under a deck.  Certainly not an ideal situation.  However, our group of 5 came together as a team and tackled all obstacles and finished the job around 2:30.  The homeowner's sister was there and helped to identify the items that she wanted kept.  She was so nice and when we broke for lunch she brought a sandwich out on the patio and ate with us.  Sharon and I felt as though we were fortunate to have met such wonderful people during our first ERT experience.  We learned so much and are very much looking forward to our next trip.
One of our other teams just across the alley.

Our new team, Lorraine, Lola, Janis, homeowner's sister, me & Sharon

The city work crews have been working non-stop since the flood picking up unsalvageable items

This is the window under the deck that we passed most of the items to Sharon who then carried them to the curb

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send?  And who will go for us?"                                               And I said,  "Here am I.  Send me!"
                                                                                                 Isaiah 6:8

No comments:

Post a Comment