I traveled to Picayune, MS last semester as part of a class trip to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. This past weekend, I went back to Picayune, this time to participate in a Blitz Build. My professor, Dr. Bob, travels each semester with a group of students (he emphasizes that he will never turn someone away) to the same area in Mississippi, outside of New Orleans, since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Since that time, we have worked on many homes on the same street, impacting the community by building affordable housing.
This trip is unlike any other service trips offered through the univerisity, because you have the ability to attend multiple trips and build a relationship with the community. We get welcoming hugs from Donna every time we come to the site, and are greeted with smiles and handshakes from Dennis and Sean, the professional contractors that help organize and instruct the volunteers. We are also remembered in the community, venturing to some of our favorite local spots that agree to handle upwards of sixty people at a time (special shout out to Stonewall’s BBQ, the best place in town).
During this weekend trip, we built an entire house in 40 hours. We began at 8AM Friday morning, with just the base concrete and the beginning of the floor completed. Quickly went up the walls and roof trusses, and then it was time for my shift to try to sleep. Since we were building a house in such a short amount of time, the group was split up into teams to work around the clock until the house was complete. We returned at 8pm to SO much completed. The professionals were working on the dry-wall and paint inside, and the roof, insulation, and A/C had already been done. Here, we worked from 8PM to 4AM on hearty plank- the siding for the house. Basically, the teams rotated every eight hours troughout the night, morning, and another night, to be able to finish the house in 40 hours.
Although the work is tremendously rewarding, I have to say my favorite part is volunteering with my professors and classmates. Even though there were more than sixty people on the trip, I feel like I had conversations with many of the volunteers throughout the weekend about anything from what we were doing, to what they were involved in at school. I’ve made some great friends by going on these trips, and look forward to hopefully going on more (vacation time, and employer permitting).
Below are the the beginning and ending pictures from our trip- showing our pride and joy in full completion at 12:30AM on Sunday.
