Labor of Love: Habitat for Humanity Day 3

Today was my final day working with Habitat for Humanity in Monmouth County, and man was it hard to leave. Today was the most physically tasking day, but it was by far the most rewarding. Today I really understood how building these houses really is a labor of love for every single contractor, staff member, and volunteer.

I arrived knowing that I would have to tackle the most dreaded project: clearing out a shed that was filled with moldy, rotten, and reeking things. The shed had withstood Sandy, and at one point was filled with 10 feet of water. The belongings had been rotting there for years now, and most were water damaged. Boxes were disintegrated, glass was broken, and the shelves were warped so badly it looked like a roller coaster track. Others working inside often scoffed at the idea of tackling the shed, and they all warned me that I had to wear a mask to get anywhere near there. I thought of this as I walked onto the site, kind of hoping there'd be something else to do. But right away I saw Anna in the shed by herself, and I knew that's where I had to be. 

Shoveling gravel
for the driveway

I put my mask on and soon after a group of freshman from Brookdale Community College came to help (THANK GOODNESS). It took us two hours to clear it, and in that time we dumped multiple bins full of debri and stagnant water, took out a ton of boxes, and shoveled the rest of the belongings out. We thankfully only found one little critter in there, a baby mouse. I have to say, after it was all said and done it felt really good looking at the empty shed. We all worked together, and were all good sports regardless of the health hazard and unpleasant smell. When it was all said and done I realized that I kind of enjoyed it, because I knew that it meant a lot to Anna to help her clear it and find a few salvageable items. It isn't something I'd typically want to do, but I realized that these kinds of jobs are often the most helpful and mean the most to the homeowners. I think some people fail to remember that people like Anna lost everything in the storm, so even though it seems unreasonable to us, saving even one item is special. 

After that was done I got everyone started on finishing the driveway. The Brookdale students helped me dig out the rest of the dirt, and helped me haul gravel from the side of the house into the pit we made for the next 3 hours or so. They left early, so then there were two, and Anna and I got almost all of the rest of the gravel laid and raked out evenly over the driveway area. This was the most physically demanding part of the day. I'll tell you....that pile of gravel NEVER.SEEMED.TO. DWINDLE. But we got almost all of it done and I really enjoyed working closely with Anna. 

Driveway almost completely
 filled with gravel

I left the house feeling accomplished, and my only disappointment is that I can't be there on September 2nd for the big reveal. Little does Anna know, but she won a home makeover, so when the big reveal happens she'll be surprised to find that they've bought her furniture for her home. This woman is so deserving of this Habitat home. She showed me pictures of her family and her late husband today, and she talked to me about her past. It was these moments I cherished most, because I really got to know her and saw just how grateful she is for every single person that has set foot on the build site. She worked just as hard as anyone else, and it was really special to spend these last few days with her working, reminiscing, and laughing. 

Front of Habitat home

Though not every job is glamorous or easy, I can tell you without a doubt that every nail that is hammered down, every cabinet put up, and every rock moved is done out of love for people like Anna. Hurricane Sandy was truly devastating to this region, and it was surreal to see it with my own eyes instead of hearing about it on the news. But with every day, and every project, we are helping restore the shore and giving people a piece of their lives back to them. I will be forever changed by my Habitat experience in Monmouth County, and I will never forget the people that I've worked with and the lives we've helped change. 

I'm not sure where my arrow will take me next, but I'm positive I'll be working with Habitat for Humanity again somewhere in this country very soon. Until then...

Toodles, 


Lisa

Breaking a Sweat: Habitat Day 2

Breaking ground for
new driveway

Uff-da, today was exhausting! I arrived at the Habitat home at 9am, and immediately began breaking up the ground to make the driveway. A lot had been done the day before, but I had two other local high school ladies come help me make more progress on it. Even Anna came to help us! 

It was really tiring work; the ground was full of rocks, glass, and old brick from her old home so we had to use pick axes to break up the area, and then haul the dirt out to another area. It was hot, but the storm Minnesota had a few days ago must be rolling in since the clouds came and there was a light breeze to cool us down.

Tiling the bathroom

A little before noon the project manager (Andy) came out and said the bathrooms were ready to be tiled and that we could get out of the sun and help with that. THANK GOODNESS. I was excited to learn how to tile and it was really easy! We used the laminate tiles that are sticky on the back, so all you have to do is peel back the cover, and fit them together. We also had to cut a lot of the tile to fit around the wiring and the showers. We had fun doing that and working with another volunteer named Rich. He helped us a lot with measuring the tiles. We finished two bathrooms today, and it felt awesome being able to see the finished product. We moved on to the kitchen as well and got about 3/4 of that done too. 

Tomorrow we're supposed to get rain, so we'll see what project I get to do. It's planned that I have to remove a shed's worth of moldy/rotten belongings into a dumpster. The plan is to empty the one shed, so that items can be transferred from another shed into the first one. After that the second shed will be demolished. Hopefully I'll get to do something inside, perhaps starting on the                                              slatted wood floors we'll put in! 

After all that work, I had dinner with my host family at one of their friends' homes. They have a beautiful yard and pool so we had pizza and then took a swim before the rain. We finally got a picture together as well, I'm so happy! Kathy and Simon have been the best hosts, and have shown me so many "Jersey" things. I couldn't have asked for a better family to stay with, and I'll be sad to leave them on Saturday. 

Me, Kathy and Simon

Well, until tomorrow I suppose!

Toodles, 

Lisa

Habitat for Humanity: Day 1

Wow, I can't believe the day finally came when I could work with Habitat for Humanity! After 3.5 months of planning I was finally able to work with this amazing organization, and I can tell you they didn't disappoint. 

I started the day off working with Kate Nelson, who focuses on the region's A Brush With Kindness projects. These projects are under Habitat, but instead of constructing an entirely new home from scratch, they focus on renovating already existing homes and helping those do work that they otherwise cannot afford, or work that people physically aren't capable of doing themselves. Kate was absolutely awesome and it was interesting driving around with her today. As we got to know each other I actually found out she's from West Chester, where I'm going to grad school starting Monday! Such a small world!

Anyway, we started off the day driving to Union Beach and Keansburg, which were two areas that were hit the hardest by Hurricane Sandy. As we drove through the neighborhoods it was clear that there was still so much work to be done in the area. The three year anniversary of the storm will be in October, but even today there are many homes that are abandoned, rotting, or are really run-down. We saw many homes that were being raised-I learned this is now a requirement of every home in the area, to prevent damage if another storm were to hit and because insurers won't insure the homes otherwise. After that we did three projects today.

Project 1: Seal Decks at Keansburg Home

We made our first stop at a home in Keansburg, where we were to seal the family's decks (many people had decks before, but now every home pretty much has one since all the homes have been raised up high). We met a woman who was so friendly, who has a young son and an adorable dog named Smokey. It was a great project to start my Habitat experience with; something fairly easy to do and allowed us to all just talk and listen to what this woman is going through right now. Unfortunately after we left it rained, and we are praying that it didn't rain on this woman's decks or the whole project would be ruined and we'd have to start from scratch. However even if it didn't work out, I think the most important and impactful part of this stop was simply listening to this woman's story. She has a lot on her mind and I think it was therapeutic to simply talk to people who are willing to listen. 

Project 2: Power Wash Decks at Keansburg Home

Power washing the deck in the rain

The next stop we made was at another woman's home in Keansburg. We didn't interact with her, but we power washed her front deck and a small stoop near the curb of her home. We also watered her bushes and plants. I can officially say I can use a power washer, which knowing me is a pretty cool thing! We were at this home when the rain started (it's hard to tell in the picture, but I'm drenched), and we hoped it would steer clear of the first home and instead go out towards the coast. 

Project 3: The House That Youth Built, Port Monmouth

Me, Anna, and Kate in front of the Habitat home

After we were done, we drove to the new home that is being built in nearby Port Monmouth. This is the home I'll be working on the next two days. This project is unique in that area youth raised $75,000 to build this home, and are often the main volunteers working to build it, hence it's title as "The House That Youth Built". Originally we were there to just take a look at the progress and meet the project managers, but we wound up staying for quite a while! The house is really coming along, people were inside spackling the walls and were constructing a deck and stairs leading up to the front door outside. We ran into the recipient of the home, whose name is Anna. Anna and her granddaughter lost their entire home to Hurricane Sandy, and have been living in an apartment for the last year and a half. This woman just lit up my whole day- she was so excited for us to be there and she was really engaged in the whole process. She made us delicious homemade Mexican food and proudly showed off the progress of her new home. 

The yard before we started

The yard after we were done 

A big part of Habitat's mission is to be a hand up, not a hand-out. Therefore they require home owners to participate in the project, which is something I love about the organization. I think it gives people more pride in what the organization is doing for them, because they are helping too. Anna was the epitome of this. We decided to pull weeds out from along her fence line since they'd been overgrown since Sandy hit. Anna was there with us the whole time, laughing and telling us about how she loves to garden and which plants to not rip up. It felt really good helping her today-I can tell that she is so grateful for the work Habitat is doing, and she can finally see the end in sight! This home is to be completed by September 2nd of this year, and she can finally move back into a place that she can claim as her own. 

That was the major project we undertook there today, and as you can see in the pictures the yard already looks a lot better. Next week Kate is coming to landscape the entire yard, and this was a much needed first step to prepare for that. 




I am exhausted, am getting a great tan, and I could not be happier. I'm excited to start at Anna's home again tomorrow!

Toodles, 

Lisa

The Jersey Shore Experience: Point Pleasant Beach

You'd be crazy not to explore the shore while in Jersey, so today that's exactly what I did! Often times people think of Seaside Heights, which is where MTV's Jersey Shore was filmed, but I decided to go to an area that still has the boardwalk and beach but doesn't have quite as many people milling around. My host family suggested I go to Point Pleasant Beach, which is about 20 minutes north of where I'm staying. I tell you it was beautiful! It was extremely hot out though....definitely rocking some sick tan lines now (and wishing I was rocking that aloe). 

I walked the entire boardwalk and then settled into the middle for a few hours, where all the main rides and attractions are. On the north end there are some cool little beach houses, there's even one that has speakers set up in the deck and plays Frank Sinatra constantly! This end also runs up to the inlet of the river so I watched the boats go in and out for awhile. 

Back on the main drag, I had a blast playing some arcade games, and eating an absolutely delicious funnel cake (they get me every time). I also got to explore an aquarium they had there, and had fun looking at the marine life and watching the younger kids go on their tours. 

I didn't win any big prizes or get a chance to swim in the ocean, but I had a great time just walking around and exploring the area. I'm glad I had the chance to visit the shore and relax a bit before I start with Habitat for Humanity tomorrow, but I am so pumped for this next part of my adventure!


I'll go into more detail tomorrow about my first day, but as an aside I'll be working with the A Brush With Kindness program through Habitat for Humanity tomorrow in Keansburg, NJ. Stay tuned for how it goes!

Toodles, 

Lisa

Made it to Jersey!

Well it's official: I've made it to Jersey! The last few days have been a whirlwind and it'll only pick up from here, so I better start recapping now...

The drive out here was, well, how do I put it? LONG. Like longer than the last minute of the last class of the school year long. I played through my T Swift and M Train CD's at least 10 times over each, and a plethora of random old country CD's I found about half that. And then the trip STILL KEPT GOING. However on the bright side, it was a beautiful drive and once I made it out of the Midwest I was awestruck at how beautiful the mountains are. 

As I got into New Jersey though, I had the most harrowing experience of my trip (even worse than Chicago in rush hour, during road construction). I had to enter onto the Garden State Parkway. Picture this: you crest over a massive hill onto a huge bridge running over a bay. Beautiful right? Except suddenly you see that you are entering what is now 7 lanes of traffic, of which all drivers are way more aggressive than what Ms. Minnesota Nice is used to, and to top it off, it's rush hour and my GPS doesn't specify which toll lane I need to be in. I kept saying, "I can't do this, I can't do this, nope nope nope I'm done". But clearly I can't just stop so I committed and miraculously got to the right lane without dying. 20 minutes after that I was at my new home for the week. 

When I arrived I met my host family, which is absolutely wonderful! I'm staying with Kathy and Simon, who I'll try to get a picture of later. They are active members of the church I was originally going to stay at alone, and they graciously opened up their home to me and have been great company. My first night they invited people over from the community and the church and we had a great feast. Everyone was so kind, friendly, and were eager to tell me about the community and which part of the shore to hit up! They also shocked me with some facts, like it's illegal to pump your own gas here (still can't wrap my mind around that) and there are "Jersey jug handles" which make you turn right on roads in order to go left. 

At the end of the night I was exhausted and was out as soon as my head hit the pillow. 

In my next post I'll tell you about my Jersey Shore experience, but until then, 

Toodles,

Lisa

Follow Your Arrow

I'm a 23 year old Minnesota girl with a hankering for adventure. I've enjoyed traveling before, but I've finally decided to put seeing the world as a priority in my life. After deciding to take the plunge and go out of state for graduate school, I've made the choice to see as much of the world as I can with the years God's going to give me on this wonderful earth. 

There's that saying that people use, saying they are "wandering, but not lost". I don't have a strict plan, but I know what I want to see, and I'll find a way to get there. That drive is my arrow- it'll be my compass and put me in the direction of where I need to go. To start, I want to travel to all 50 states. My adventure begins next week in New Jersey, where I'll put myself to work building and renovating houses damaged by hurricane Sandy with Habitat for Humanity. Might as well do some good while I'm traveling! 

While I'm on this journey I figured I would keep record of it-I'll share with friends, family, and anyone else interested in my babbling about the people I meet, the places I see, and the opportunities that come my way as a result. 

I hope you enjoy reading. One word of advice: start today, follow your arrow. If you never decide to start you'll never know where you'll end up :) 

                      Until next time,

                               Lisa