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Welcome to
First Congregational's
Biloxi Blog!
READ OUR BILOXI DIARY: SEE BELOW
Eileen will try and update this as much as we can with technology.
Check back often for updates!
Quote of the week: Joey Liegel: in Taco Bell
somewhere in Missouri and the counter lady said..."What you gonna
have Sweet cheeks?" Joe was speechless which says a lot! |
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Day 1:
Sunday, June 24:
Depart Eau Claire 7:30 a.m.
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We arrived Memphis at almost midnight.
Up and ready to go by 8 a.m. Monday morning!
We saw big rains outside Memphis.
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Day 2:
Monday, June 25:
Arrive Biloxi
Our Lady of Fatima,
St. Vincent dePaul Society Outreach:
Our "Hotel"
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Left Memphis at shortly before 8 a.m.
Ate lunch outside Jackson at the same Wendy's restaurant as last year!
(remember Mark?..... :)
 We arrived safely about 4 p.m. at Fatima. Mary Frances wasn't here
but others greeted us and Foote's were here also. Fatima is an awesome
place to stay. I think everybody's happy with their quarters.
The kids were wonderful riders all the way...no one except me
asking, are we there yet?
We had BBQ's for supper and cabbage salad and Mary Foote's homemade
brownies. Becca's a vegetarian but we didn't let her starve!
 Sandy, Heather, Becca, Joe, Haley, Emily & I went to the beach last
night after supper for a very quick swim. Black clouds rolled in and we
only had a few minutes before we had to run to Big Blue. By the time we
got back to Fatima, it was POURING!
After a big card game, we all hit the sack. We're really here! Off to sleep, as we need to report in to
Back Bay Mission bright and early.
Mary Barnes
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Day 3: Tuesday, June 26
This is Back Bay Mission BEFORE Katrina hit.
This building was a total loss. |
Up at 6:30 a.m. for a quick breakfast and then off to
Back Bay by 7:30 a.m. We met with Don Morgan and Scott from Oshkosh who
came down here on a mission trip, decided to quit his job and now he's
volunteering down here for a year. Scott got everybody delivered to 3
job sites. Some of the work done today included painting, mudding,
installing a mantle on a fireplace. Mary, Mary & Haley spent time at
Winn-Dixie stocking up on food etc and then making lunch.
We made a Wal-Mart run this afternoon to buy water
shoes as Scott says there's still a lot of junk in the water. Someone
stepped on a bed spring from a previous group. So for $4.78 we will have
protected feet. Tonight we're hoping to swim again.
Tomorrow we will probably go to the prayer service at
Don Morgan's church.
We've got a wonderful group and everyone is working
together and having fun. The kids are doing great and I think having
fun. Tell the parents they have terrific kids.
Well, that's all for now. We'll try to send some
pictures now that we know how to get on the computer.
Love, Mary (Barnes) and the gang
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Day 4: Wednesday, June 27
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Miss Margie's Bathroom before and after our crew!!
Everyone else will be returning to their job sites from yesterday. Jerry
Foote commented that they could
work on Miss Margie's house every day
for a year and there would still be more to do!
Evening update from Mary:
Mitch has an amazing eye and took some
wonderful shots. Today has been an amazing day for all of us. Gib worked
at a couple's home doing everything from electric, plumbing,
construction and now he is a referral source to the man who has a great
deal of pain and has waited two years for knee surgery through the VA.
Gib asked Leah (Volunteer Coordinator at BBM) about it and she gave Gib
info on medical services here to pass on to his guy. Hopefully he will
get some relief.
Other jobs included putting in a sub-floor, patching holes in dry wall,
priming and painting. I believe our crew has worked on at least four
homes so far. Meanwhile, the kitchen crew of Mary, Mary & Haley spent
the morning at a soup kitchen called Loaves and Fishes. We made 70 bag
lunches, made hot food including a chicken stew, rice, lima beans &
sausage, and served 100 plates of food. One of the kitchen guys told us
he is living in a laundry room of a private home with another guy and
both are paying $200/month for that privilege. Housing is in very short
supply and the only shelter in Biloxi is for single men.
We went to BBM for a 4 p.m. meeting with Don and Leah who showed us a
video they made about Post Katrina efforts that was excellent. We all
got to ask a lot of questions about what we're seeing which was great.
We had a quick supper of polenta with black beans ala Mary Foote and
then off to the Missionary Baptist church for their 7 p.m. prayer
service. Brother Don Morgan gave a very powerful sermon about Elijah
being down in the dumps and how God revived him...rest, listening,
feeding his body, more rest and then when he was better, God sent Elijah
back on the road. A man turned his life over to Jesus and we did lots of
singing and praying. And our Brave Becca asked to be our spokesperson
from our group and she stepped up to the microphone and told the people
how glad she was to be here and how sorry she was for their many losses.
She was awesome!
Then back to Fatima for Neopolitan ice cream cones. A very good day...Allelu!
More tomorrow, Faithfully yours, Mary
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Day 5:
Thursday, June 28
Sunset Evening Cruise by the staff
of the destroyed Biloxi Maritime Museum
They have a new dock and their ships survived the storm (moved inland).
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Mary
Barnes wrote to Eileen tonight:
 The
cruise was fabulous. It was perfect weather...blue sky, nice breeze,
calm water...a full moon and best of all dolphins who followed us
quite a ways. There were 3 together, mom/dad/baby. Then there were 5
or 6 swimming pretty close to the boat. Afterward, we visited the
Katrina Memorial which was a mosaic of a big cresting wave and an
artist's collection of storm debris. All within a block of a
blasting Hard Rock Cafe complete with 2-story guitar in neon lights.
Backed up by one of the area's 9 operational casinos, opulently
designed and landscaped. Quite the contrast to where we have been
spending our days.
Miss
Margie lived in 4 different places after the storm and finally
re-located to a FEMA trailer on her house's lot. When she was able
to get back to her house, she found her piano had floated to settle
on the top of a glass table which didn't break. Miss Margie told us
she likes the way our group talks.
 Everyone comes in with a smile on their face and it makes all the
difference. She hasn't had locks on her back windows and she's had
some trouble with someone coming in the window and sleeping in her
house. Thanks to our workers, Miss Margie now has locks on her
windows. Also she told her neighbor, "Don't you be knockin on my
door no more...my doorbell works!" Her kitchen and bathroom are
totally completed.
Miss Celestine has been living in a FEMA trailer on her property for
almost 1½ years. We learned that the trailers emit formaldehyde
after awhile which makes people sick. The first electrician she
hired messed up the job so badly that approval by the city was held
up for months and months. She has since had several more contractors
who have taken her money and failed to make her house livable. Our
group laid the sub-floor and painted some of her interior walls.
Tomorrow her niece plans to make a chicken dinner for our crew to
say thanks for all they've done. Gib will be enjoying a nice shrimp
lunch made for him by the homeowner where he has worked this week.
The enormity of the work left to be done here is overwhelming. I
predict we will send teams to Biloxi for more years to come. Fatima
is booked into next year for volunteers.
Everywhere we go, people say thank you for coming down. A guy on the
cruise with us who is from this area says the next time he hears of
a storm somewhere, he's taking time off work and going to help
there. Somehow it's easier to travel somewhere and help someplace
you don't live?
All for now. We've taken hundreds of pictures which we're hoping to
pool and get some on the church website. We haven't mastered sending
them to you though. We appreciate all your planning to get us here.
It truly is a life changing experience.
Blessings, Mary et al
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Day 6: Friday, June 29
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Mary Barnes' note from tonight:
This will be short as we have to get packed.
We're leaving by 8 a.m. tomorrow to head home.
Today Mary Foote, Sandy and Emily worked at Loaves & Fishes, the soup
kitchen.
I got to work painting a deck with Heather Ann & Becca.
Greg and Joe finished sub-flooring for Celestine.
Ann, Meredith, Sandy, and Haley did lots of painting at Celestine's,
Jerry Carl & Mitch finished stuff up at Miss Margie's, Gib did some work
for Georgia's house.
Birthday cake was served at Celestine for both her and Joe's birthdays
July 3.
We proved our midwestern work ethic by working later than we should so
were late for the shrimp feed at Back Bay.
Don Morgan made the shrimp (headless but still with the feet) and we had
a joint feast with the Illinois folks staying at Back Bay. We all got to
say our favorite thing of the trip and our least favorite. Lots of
awesome memories....and a resolve to spread the word that the Gulf area
still needs lots of help to recover. With that...I'll sign off.
Blessings...from all of us in Biloxi!
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 Day 7:
Saturday, June 30: Heading Home!
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 We'll be staying at the Ramada Inn in Arnold, MO tonight, just south of
St. Louis.
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Day 8: Sunday, July 1:
Arrive Home! |
5:30 pm: Home safe and sound! Read your next newsletter
for their stories!
Check back here for photos later this week! |
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