Red Hot Chili Pepper house

Left: "Chili Pepper House" Right: Andre Charles, owner of right side

We finally started work on our project this afternoon. Sometime after we started, the owner's son, Andre, took us aside to tell us the story behind the red painted house. They chose a paint color called roasted red hot chili pepper to paint the exterior because they love to eat spicy food with red hot sauce. It is a very colorful house to say the least! And it fits in very nicely in the neighborhood. In the left part of the house, Andre chose more subdued earth tones for his mother, a yellow melon color and a couple of different green colors. Andre's side is much more colorful with a couple of different blues and a bright purple.

We learned that Andre's mother, Otha, hired some workers from Mexico to install plumbing and electrical wires to her house after Hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately the work was never done properly nor inspected and she lost all her money. Andre started working on the house in April 2007 and at some point, the UCC became involved in her case. They had to lift the house up to treat it for termites and redo all the plumbing and electrical. There is currently a long list of items to be done to get ready to install the cabinetry.

Today, some of us removed tiles that did not set properly, some worked on carpentry, some were cleaning grout off the floors. It seemed to take a lot time to get the equipment in and just to get organized for this project. We hope we will make lots more progress tomorrow.

We have taken lots of pictures but are unable to post them through this computer. I'm sure someone will be able to post pictures back at home.

Katherine

Returning to New Orleans

This is the third trip to New Orleans for me. It has been so exciting to see the changes each of the years as there has been progress, but mostly by volunteers. Near St. Matthew's UCC Church, where we stayed the first year, most of the homes are all repainted and there are no visible watermarks, as there were the first two visits here. Now, most stores and businesses are back and running, or new ones have taken over for places that the owners did not return. Those are the good signs. We have not been to the 9th ward, however, so that may be a different story. Stay tuned for more as we get to work tomorrow.

Marty Stienman

We have arrived!

(Church picnic in a member's backyard. Alan Coe, Director of South Coast Disaster Relief is in yellow shirt and sunglasses.)

Saturday, David Campbell, Dinah Campbell, Katherine Kurima, Marty Steinman and Dawn Dobie all met in New Orleans and got settled at our home away from home.... Little Farms UCC. Sunday morning we attended a wonderful worship service at Little Farms, it's a tiny church in comparison to First Congregational. It really makes me appreciate all that our own church has to offer. After church, we were invited to attend their annual church picnic at a members house located just a few miles from the church right by the levee. We enjoyed hamburgers, hot dogs, snacks, homemade banana pudding and a couple of us even enjoyed the refreshing backyard pool. Everyone has been very friendly and welcoming.

Later in the afternoon we met up with the rest of our team, Erma and Fenton Karnes, former members of First Congregational. For dinner we decided to venture out a bit and go to the Saltwater Grill near St. Matthews UCC, unfortunately, we discovered it was closed. There were a few other places nearby and we settled on a little neighborhood restaurant called Lebanon's Cafe which serves middle eastern food. So we came to New Orleans and ate Lebanese food! It was excellent, by the way.

Monday morning we will be heading out to our work site in Orleans parish. We were told we will be installing cabinets, trim and doors. I feel a bit nervous since I have no experience and we are responsible for helping to build someone's house, but we will do our best.
Katherine

Ready to go

2008 New Orleans Crew is getting ready for our trip. Our crew mostly arrives in New Orleans July 19th and begins work Monday July 21. We are smaller this year but we have some new crew members.