Rebuild Lakeshore

Back in February I posted about putting new floors down in the first two Quonset huts we erected right after the storm. I didn’t have any good pictures of what it looked like underneath the decaying floors of the left hut, but Waygon Sanders had a great one in his Facebook photo album.

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I took a few minutes to try my hand at a youtube blog update. In this short clip I give a brief big picture overview of the tremendous amount of work behind us and ahead of us. If this seems helpful, we may do videos like this from time to time.

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If you have traveled as a volunteer to Lakeshore in the Last couple of years, its a good chance that you made use of the Disaster Relief Mobile Wash House provided by the Elkins Rotary Club of West Virginia. Two years ago today I posted about the shower trailer on my blog. I quoted from the original press release that read:

Not long after Katrina had ravaged South Mississippi, an outreach group of folks from the First Baptist Church of Elkins, WV and the Rotary Club from the same city ended up at the Lakeshore Baptist Church on the western side of Waveland, MS. Although the church was completely destroyed, there´s a slab there, the people of that church were playing host to volunteer workers from the North. The only facilities were tents to sleep in and portable toilets for use by the volunteers.

The folks from Elkins WV tackled the problem, met the need, built, and graciously provided the Disaster Relief Mobile Wash House. Thousands of volunteers have made use of the facilities as they worked here in the relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts.

The wash house is equipped with two bathrooms. The ladies´ room has a toilet, two shower stalls and a dressing area, while the men´s room has a toilet, urinal, two shower stalls and a dressing area. The center area contains two combination washer/dryers, a utility wash basin and houses the hot water heater. The dryers are operated by natural or propane gas, which also heats the facility when needed. The trailer is equipped with air conditioning and exhaust fans that keep the wash house cool and well ventilated. The wagon is equipped with an attached entrance stairway, landing platform and handrails that fold for storage and transport against the wagon´s underbelly. Utility hook-ups are also provided from the wagon´s underbelly.

Greg plans to travel to West Virginia this weekend and personally thank the Elkins Rotary Club for the use of the mobile wash house and update them on the continuing need here on the gulf coast. As we look forward to another labor intensive summer in the blazing Mississippi heat, we extend ongoing appreciation for the use of the unit. After working and sweating in humidity percentages and temperatures hovering around the triple digits, there is nothing like a good shower.

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In the news:

The summer of 1911 saw a new church planted in Hancock County Mississippi. The Lakeshore Baptist Church began with just a hand full of hopeful Christians desiring to establish an ongoing work of gospel proclamation and ministry. Speaking of the church’s history, Pastor Don Elbourne said, “We have inherited a rich legacy of Christ-empowered endurance and dependance on the sovereignty of God over all things. We look to extend that legacy into the future as a hope-inspiring presence in the community.” Lakeshore Baptist invites everyone, especially those touched by her ministry in the past, to join them on Sunday June 8, 2008 for “Homecoming” as they celebrate this 97 year heritage of hope. Services begin at 11:00 am at the Lakeshore Baptist Church, 6028 Lakeshore Road in Lakeshore MS. An old-fashioned “dinner on the grounds” will follow the morning service. For more information call the church office at (228) 469-0110 or on the web at http://lakeshorebaptist.net/

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I just wanted to remind everyone planning a trip to Lakeshore this summer to please read the “Frequently Asked Questions” page (FAQ) of our web site. You can find links in the toolbar across the top and the sidebar to the right. There you will find information about meals, housing arrangements, restroom facilities, job assignments etc. We ask that all teams planning a trip read through the entire document. We have found it also very helpful if the team leader direct every member of the trip to our site as well. The better informed everyone is, the more productive we will all be.

One of the more important sections explains how we do the meals. Look under “Food” on the FAQ. We explain how every week one of the teams takes the lead in cooking. While we do not have many rules here, I do stress that we do not want any teams soliciting donations from other teams. We have several reasons for this, but at the risk of sounding alarmist, if team-to-team donations cut us out of the loop we will not have the finances to continue our relief efforts. While we do not charge anything for folks to come stay and work with us, we do assume that most teams have some sort of budget for their trip. Most teams have part of their budget set aside for a donation to the cause. If that donation goes straight to the group preparing the meals for the week, we will not have money for electricity, propane, upkeep, and overhead involved with keeping the Lakeshore operation going. Instead, we ask the cooks to utilize donated food items already present in the kitchen as much as possible and then to supplement that with purchases made from their groups budget. If the need exceeds the available finances, the church office will provide supplemental funds. We have found this method to work well so far.

I hope the time we took to put together this Frequently Asked Questions page will prove helpful for you as you plan your trip to Lakeshore. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us. We are excited about you coming to be with us and we praise God for your generosity, dedication, and service.

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My son, Zack, and Mike from Seattle are hauling donated concrete blocks today. these blocks came from underneath decommissioned FEMA trailers. The contractors found it cheaper to give them to us than to haul them off for resale. We plan to use them in future building projects.

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I’ve been hearing a lot about the social networking and micro-blogging service called Twitter. At first, every description seemed uninspiring. Its basically a micro-blog for 140 character or less entries. In answer to the question “what are you doing?” people post what they are eating for breakfast, what ball game they are watching, or what’s playing on their ipod (or blue alien). Its sort of like the status thing on Facebook. Seems like one of those things where people say, “doesn’t he have anything better to do?”

I doubt anyone wants to know what I’m having for lunch, or when my wife takes our dogs to the vet, but we do have a lot of friends around the country wanting to keep up-to-date with the progress in Lakeshore. So I decided to try an experiment with another Web 2.0 technology and opened an @lakeshore account on Twitter. In contrast to the longer posts here on Rebuild Lakeshore I can post things like when a team arrives, what houses received attention today, short special needs, etc. Depending on the interest, I may even announce what the cooks are preparing for supper.

A nifty feature of the system allows you to receive the short updates via text message on your cell phone, if you would like, or via your instant message client. How cool is that?

Still confused? Just go to twitter.com and click the “Get Started - Join” button to sign up. Then link to our @lakeshore account and click “follow” to start receiving quick updates about the progress here. While you’re at it - share the love and tell a friend about us. Its just another way to partner with us to rebuild Lakeshore to the glory of God.

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Believe it or not, with only a few volunteers on site, its quiet here in Lakeshore today. That looks to change in about a week, as the summer gets in full swing. As of now, we have 35 teams scheduled for June-July with nearly 1,500 people planning to work with us in the next couple of months. That averages well over 100 a week. The intense long days will keep us moving forward in the relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts.. Its shaping up to be a joy-filled, work- accomplishing, God-glorifying summer. I am excited about the prospects. We hope to finish up several houses that have been dragging along in their headway. We look to begin at least three more. Several families will move into their new homes this summer, due to the hard work of our generous volunteers and your sacrificial support. Thank you so much. Keep us in your prayers and check the web site often to follow the progress.

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Our friends from Rocky Bayou Baptist Church put together this great video from their recent trip to Lakeshore.

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Courtesy of the NOAA Satellite and Information Service

Hurricane Katrina regional imagery, 2005.08.28 at 1515Z.
Centerpoint Latitude: 26:13:59N Longitude: 88:08:03W.
Observation Device: GOES-12 4 km infrared imagery.
Visualization Date: August 28, 2005 12:03:14
See this higher resolution image.

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