Toms River revisited

It was good to be back in Toms River for 2 more weeks of Sandy repair work for Habitat.  It was a nice feeling to be greeted by my old neighbors and the staff as I pulled into the campground.  I was lucky that 2 of the couples on my team had been there previously, so everyone was familiar with the set up.  The 3^rd couple was new to Habitat and couldn’t come till the 2^nd week.  They were a bit younger than the average Care-A-Vanner and were still working for a living.  They brought along their 2 teenage boys. 

The affiliate wasn’t quite as organized as the first time. The Executive Director was out of town and the volunteer coordinator was back home tying up loose ends.  During our first trip, Daryl was a Habitat disaster corp volunteer sent to help out for a month.  He did such a great job he was offered a full time position.  The first problem was the campground not knowing we were coming when I called to confirm our reservation.  This didn’t surprise me, since the same thing happened the first time.  It took a few days, but Daryl got it all worked out.  The next issue was when we were asked not to work one day because they had some other volunteers scheduled. Instead we were asked to go work at a minor league baseball game.  That sounded like fun and we were all on board, but we thought we were manning a table for Habitat.  Instead we were working a concession stand.  In the end, we had a pretty good time though.  The next problem we encountered was when our 3^rd couple arrived. Unbeknownst to us, before a new volunteer could work they had to go through an orientation.  We didn’t find this out until late the night before.  I’m sure it wasn’t appreciated, but I just showed up in the office with the couple.  Some of the office staff gave them a quick orientation and we were off to work.  The last problem occurred when they scheduled a 2 day training session in the middle of our build.  We asked if we could still work and they said they would get back to us.  Because we were in people’s homes, vs a new build, there is a question of liability.  Since we didn’t hear anything before leaving work the day before, we figured we couldn’t work.  One couple made other plans.  Of course once they were committed, we got the call saying we could work.  Despite the communication issues, I still really like this affiliate and hope to come back next year. The build was good, we had a great time and as always enjoyed seeing everyone again.

We were reunited with Don, who we all worked with before.  Bill and Barb were with me the first trip and Bill and Carol worked with Don on the 2^nd Care-A-Vanner build.  On this trip, we worked on 2 houses.  The first was John’s, a 70 something Navy Korean war vet who regaled us with stories about life on the ammo ship the USS Mt Katmai.  He was the most interesting man!  And such a hard worker, everyday he was working when we got there, and still working when we left.  He was using tools that his dad had given him, real old fashioned things that were much better than those you see today.  Every morning he gets up and walks 3 miles then comes home a rows on an 50+ year old rowing machine.  I think John will live forever!

The 2^nd home belonged to an older woman who’s son Jimmy had done some DIY on the house.  Everyone connected to the house, including Jimmy, were in agreement that it should have been torn down.  But his mom insisted that her home be restored, so that’s what we did.  We spent most of the time at this house, doing dry wall.  It was especially challenging because the house was old and there had been additions and DIY modifications to the house.  The walls were not straight and in some places some of the studs stuck out farther than others, so we had to shim them so the drywall would lay flat.  The floor was uneven by as much as an inch, so when we hung the sheet closest to the floor, there was a noticeable gap that wouldn’t be covered by the trim.  We had to redo it, leaving the gap in the middle of the wall and filling it with pieces cut to fit.  Once we started using scrap drywall for the smaller walls, we ran into big problems because the original cut was at an angle to accommodate the crooked walls, which meant the left over piece wasn’t square.  This threw us off several times before we started checking both sides before we cut it. 

On the first day Don had given us the key to Jimmy’s house and said go take a look.  The downstairs had been gutted, but the 2^nd floor was intact.  Bill went upstairs to use the bathroom, only to discover the water had been shut off.  Uh oh!  He had to go find a bucket and carry water upstairs to flush the toilet.  From then on, we used the porta potty down the street, or held it till lunch when we all went to John’s house.  John not only had plumbing and running water, but an awesome deck overlooking a waterway.  We sat out there every day and ate our sandwiches while watching the boats go by.  John also had a boat and we asked him, pretty much every day, when was he going to take us out on it.  He would suddenly find something to do in another part of the house.  We got the distinct impression that he didn’t want us anywhere near his boat!

At some point, John’s house was ready to paint so a few of us went over there and the rest continued at Jimmy’s house.  We liked John’s house better, because he always had great stories to tell, but we didn’t always get a lot of work done.

One night after work, Bill, Barb and I took a ride over the one of the families we worked with the first trip.  She was delighted to see us!  She invited us in and we were amazed to see the difference.  When we left it was still a work in progress.  Now it was finished and they were in the process of moving their stuff back in. 

Bon Jovi was in town for a concert and he gave Habitat some free tickets.  He is a big supporter of Habitat, in Thibodaux Louisiana he donated 1 million dollars to the affiliate I volunteered with last year. I heard he gave 2 million to Sandy relief on this trip.  After working half a day, Bill, Barb, Don and his wife hopped in my truck and we all headed off for a night of fun.  We stopped and got subs and had a tail gate party in the parking lot next to a really fun group.  Of course we didn’t have chairs, so we sat on the edge of my truck bed.  I wish we had got there much sooner, the entire parking lot was one big party of the nicest people! Inside the concert we met up with Frank, his girlfriend and Leif.  Frank and Leif were site supervisors we worked with the first time.  Although we were in nosebleed seats, they were directly in front of the stage and we had a pretty good view. And of course, you just couldn’t beat the price!

The 2^nd week we were joined by a new couple, Dan and Gina and their 2 sons Danny and Jack.  What a great family!  This was their first experience with Habitat and they  signed up specifically to teach their boys the value in volunteering for a good cause. 

We decided to take the newcomers on a tour of the destruction that we had seen on our first trip.  We were (pleasantly) shocked to see a very different sight then when we were here 3 months earlier.  Gone were the piles of rubble that had been people’s homes.  All the debris had been cleared away and we now saw either cleared land or even houses under construction.  There were a few spots where you could still see the destruction, but not at all like what we saw the first time. 

Jack was under 16 so he couldn’t work on the construction site.  He and Gina worked in the Restore a few days.  Once we started painting John’s house, he was allowed there because there were no tools being used.  He did a pretty good job of painting, but it was a little hard to keep his attention.  He seemed to really enjoy the water and spent a lot of time with an old net John had.  He caught all kinds of stuff - jelly fish, crabs, shrimp.  The net had a hole in it, so the 2^nd day, John patched it up and the two of them spent most of the afternoon on the dock while the rest of us slaved away!  While Jack was having a grand ole time, his dad and brother were crawling around in a super hot attic at Jimmy’s house, repairing the ladder.  Almost felt sorry for Danny, but something tells me bonding with dad using power tools was a pretty good time for him too.  He did really good work, I hope they build with Habitat again.

On our days off, I did some hiking at a local park and hung out on the boardwalk at Seaside.  Wow it was packed.  The Today show was there on our previous trip and you could see lots of vendors, but it’s one thing to see it when everything is boarded up and an entirely different experience to see the area packed with people, the smell of sun tan lotion, the sound of kids laughing and the sound of the waves.  It so reminded me of growing up in Florida.  I hadn’t brought a bathing suit, but wish I had.  Normally I don’t care for the ocean, I much prefer fresh water, but on that day, I could have totally seen myself hanging out at the beach all afternoon. 

This build was good, as are all the others, in large part to who you are working with.  John was such a delight to be around all day.  He was so appreciative of our help and couldn’t thank us enough!  It’s a Habitat tradition to sign any house you work on, so we signed in the kitchen where the cabinets would go.  Mostly people say things like good luck, God bless, great working on this house…  John was so touched, he signed after us saying ‘Love these people.’  Its home owners like him that make all the difference. 

Next stop New Hampshire

 

Link to pictures:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/118205599704530902363/albums/5908092942343258769?authkey=CL_b5dHrh_-xfA