Tuesday, April 14, 2009

The Re-Creation of Helene's House

I must say that of all the houses LPC has worked on, Helene Johnson's has sold me on the idea of 'Restoration'. This was one of those projects that I stood outside of - gazing up - thinking to myself, "Lord have mercy - please don't let this be it!" Well, in this case, this WAS it - rotten siding, stomach-turning colors; a structure obviously badly damaged by Katrina and VERY obviously lacking in TLC. As it turns out, Helene has had very little help since Katrina. A single, hardworking mom, and owner of the Bay's Fit First, she has had her hands full just staying afloat, and if that meant continuing to live in a house that made people RUN by, then so be it. LPC first met Helene when the Salvation Army called requesting that LPC act as construction partner for a grant recently approved for this house, and after a visit to the site by Jordan, LPC agreed to sign on. The pictures tell the rest of the story. I honestly almost drove off the road and into the ditch when I saw it the other day - it is beautiful! Andrew Thompson, LPC teams - congrats all of ya'll and THANK YOU for helping make The Bay beautiful one disaster at a time!!!

Friday, April 03, 2009

Bobbii and Troy

HEAR YE ALL 2008 RUF BLITZ BUILDERS - Bobbii & Troy Lane (and all the rest of the family (including goat?)) are moving in!! Bobbii and Troy gave a shout-out to all of you who worked so hard in December to frame and dry-in the house. THANK YOU!! (check out Lagniappe Church Blog post 12-20-08 for pictures of the blitz.) Jordan, Andrew, Annette, and Troy complete a walk-through of the kitchen and livingroom. Annette works for Fuller Center Disaster Rebuilders, LPC's local partner organization, which completed the interior. (No, that is not a road down the middle of the room - thank you - it's a paper walkway to keep our mud-caked shoes off the new floors. For all of ya'll who've been down here during one of those "wash-out" thunderstorms we get around here - yeah, we had one yesterday, complete with tornados. (No one was hurt, thank goodness, but I did get frostbite after temporarily relocating my office inside the walk-in refridgerator, where i figured if nothing else, at least the roof wouldn't fall on my head...)) Here Andrew, Jordan, and Bobbii discuss the roof-line, weather-stripping, and the inherent evils of BirdBoxes...