Metro Monthly

By William S. Peyko
Metro Monthly Staff Writer

The most recent group of local volunteer workers to go to New Orleans had its final meeting on Sept. 18, 2007. We were informed that a floor-installation group would be on the job on Sept. 30 to continue rebuilding neighborhoods devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

We were supposed to leave on Saturday, Sept. 29 in one van. One of the volunteers, Valerie Parm, felt it would be too crowded, so she opted to travel with her group in another van.

We met in Austintown and were to travel together. I arrived early so the Metro Monthly could interview and take pictures of the group, which they did.

We left about 6:15 a.m. and had two no-shows – Nancy Yarwick and Joe Baker. We were on the road for about 10 minutes when we received a call from Rev. Ed Brienze. He said we had to go back for Nancy because she had just missed us. And Joe was flying down.

The first van traveling to New Orleans consisted of three women and three men. Valerie’s group consisted of three women and three men. We arrived in Nashville about 5 p.m. Several of us went to purchase groceries and we had a picnic in the host church’s courtyard. We mingled and became better acquainted. We stayed at the church’s dormitory overnight. It is a good way to get to know each other because you act natural when rooming with strangers and you adjust quickly.

Valerie and her group are with an organization called Youth Build. Parm’s traveling companions, Jessica Queener and Ahmad Parker, are Youth Build trainees and Rick King is also involved with the project. Hopefully, these two students will learn skills in the building trades and become a part of the construction industry. Two other volunteers, Phil Thomas and Lillian Cunningham, were there to work.

I sat behind Veronica Pitzulo, Pam Thomas and Nancy Yarwick. They carried on a lively conversation throughout the trip. Joe Fraser, John Pitzulo and Nancy took turns driving.

As we entered the Louisiana area, the trees were less bare than in previous visits. It seemed that nature was doing a much better job of returning things to normal than man, who still has a lot of repairing to do. The trees that had resembled giant toothpicks during an earlier visit now had greenery on them. However, the majority of the trees didn’t have any branches on them for at least 10 to 20 feet from the ground.

We arrived in New Orleans about 5 p.m. and met up with Rev. Ed. (We ate at Cici’s again – not my ideal place to dine.) After a couple of hours, we went to St. Raphael’s, which would be our home away from home. We stayed in a dorm with bunk beds and went to sleep for the night. We got up at 6:30 a.m., ate cold cereal, had coffee and went to pick up supplies at St. Raymond’s. We were held up for several hours. From there, we went to a work site on Pauline Street. The flooring group (led by Mr. Snovak) was working on the floors in various parts of the house. About 10 of us put joint compound on the walls or primed several rooms, the hall and five closets. We applied the first coat in the living room. Veronica and I were sent back to prepare dinner.

Oct. 2 – We left for work about 7 a.m. John Pitzulo and I went to Congress Street. I swept up the debris in most of the rooms. John prepared the bathroom and I helped install the Jacuzzi.

We joined the crews at Pauline Street who were doing various activities. Half of us painted and applied second and third coats to five rooms and a hall.

After we wrapped up, we hightailed it to Congress Street. We primed and put the first coat of paint on three rooms, some closets and a hallway. Snovak and his crew finished the flooring and then went to Congress Street. They really knocked themselves out and did floors in four rooms. Tomorrow, they would install carpet because some of the remaining floors were slanted and out of square.

Oct. 3 – We went on the job at 7 a.m. so we could put a second coat on two rooms. The floor people were going to do the rooms, so we painted before they got on the job. We didn’t want to be in their way.

Jessica Queener and I started on the ceiling in two different rooms. We stopped because we were putting on the wrong color. We wiped off the paint and applied the correct color. We also put a first coat on another room. We painted more rooms, closets and a hallway. The floor guys put tile in two rooms and prepared several others for carpeting.

We were informed the homeowner was going to feed us catfish with red beans and rice. I think she will come to Pauline Street with the food, as that’s where we’ll be working.
About 10 p.m., we received word that a driver with no insurance broadsided the van carrying Jessica and Armand. The driver ran a stop sign, reportedly a common practice in New Orleans. Our driver was injured and health care workers would hold her overnight to see how extensive her injuries were. Jessica and Armand were in the emergency room. They didn’t want to go, but Valerie Parm insisted.

Oct. 4 – When we got up at 5:30 a.m., it was raining. We went to Congress Street and checked things out and then went on to Pauline. We set up to paint the baseboards and doors outside, but it looked like more rain so we took everything inside. We learned that Miss Lydia, the New Orleans’ homeowner with whom we had developed a working relationship, had slept in her house last night for the first time.

We sat around until we got supplies, and then cleaned up. We mudded the kitchen and some windows were framed and painted.

Valerie Parm and Lillian Cunningham took the injured pair to the airport to fly home. Val felt a long ride would be too hard on them.

We continued working and cleaned up the equipment. We took pictures of the group because the flooring gang was finished and they would be leaving that evening for Youngstown. Before they left, Rev. Ed was going to take them to the Ninth Ward to show how bad it was – and still is.

When Russell, the tile installer, looked at the deplorable condition of the floors in both homes, he threw up his hands and felt it couldn’t be done. Snovak encouraged him to look at the big picture and said it will be done. Lo and behold – as the work progressed – things began to gel and Russell really transformed the rooms with his work. We were almost as proud of his work as he was, and he was grinning from ear to ear.

We went back to the dormitory, showered, ate and sacked out.

Oct. 5 – We left for the Pauline Street work site about 7 a.m. and started at 8 a.m. or so. John Pitzulo cut up a lot of the baseboards and we repainted window frames. Rick King mudded the baths and kitchen. Several people sanded. Pam, Veronica, Lillian and Val set up horses, put the baseboard on them and applied the second coat. They painted all the doors on both sides. Phil Thomas and I hung 15 or 20 doors. We installed the hardware, made a few mistakes, and corrected them while Nancy Yarwick and Pam Thomas scrubbed the floors. We took pictures of Miss Lydia’s new bedroom and we also took pictures in the living room. A lot of kidding around also took place.

We left or quit at 4:30 p.m. When we got to St. Raphael’s, the men were informed they would have to leave the dorm as a group of 30 were expected for a day or two.

Before we left, Miss Lydia brought out the drapes that Joe Fraser got for her. She and some of the women made comments as to which curtains or drapes would go into which room. Miss Lydia just beamed. We also gave her a large microwave that Ron Gordon from Mobile Meals (in Ohio) had donated.

Nancy was flying out at 6 a.m. and Joe Fraser was driving her to the airport. I went with them to keep company on the way back.

Before dusk, Rev. Ed took us to the lower Ninth Ward. It still looked like a battle zone, with abandoned homes and severely damaged buildings. From there, we went to a restaurant called “Forrest,” named after the lead character in the movie “Forrest Gump.” A lot of the memorabilia pertaining to the movie decorated the restaurant, and the food was excellent.

Oct. 6 – I woke up at 4 a.m. to go to the airport with Joe and Nancy. We saw her off and returned to home base and picked up our remaining building crew, as Val and her team had left for Youngstown. We got two new members, Kaye and Harry O’Brien from New York. They fit right in. Kaye painted and mudded and Harry, a retired cop, was quite handy with the nail gun. He nailed baseboards to the walls. This all took place at Miss Lydia’s and we continued mudding, sanding and puttying and painting window frames. John Pitzulo sprayed (texturized) various parts of the rooms and got really serious by spraying both bathrooms and the kitchen. Joe Baker, the new guy, also helped out.

Veronica brought Miss Lydia’s visually impaired daughter over to the house to show her the home. She was really excited and when she was shown how to open the window in her room she said, “When it’s cool, I can close the windows and when it’s hot, I can open the window!” Miss Lydia remarked that they couldn’t open the windows for 17 years. Miss Lydia’s daughter also marveled at the size of her new closet. She and Veronica toured the rest of the house. She was amazed at the different things in the house. She was more aware of things than a sighted person.

Oct. 7 – We attended Catholic Mass at 8 a.m. We didn’t have a field service because Father Ed had to get special permission, and our working on the home on Sunday was not considered an emergency. After Mass, we went to work on Miss Lydia’s home. She was going to make chicken gumbo and Veronica was going to help. (Veronica will do anything to get a recipe.)

Preparing gumbo took most of the morning. In addition, Miss Lydia did a telephone interview with the Metro Monthly. Father Ed was also interviewed. Both interviews were quite interesting and informative and turned into podcasts for the newspaper’s Web site. (Click here to listen to the podcasts.)

We applied two coats of paint to the kitchen and the two baths. We painted some of the window frames. We ate the gumbo about 3 p.m. and it was worth the wait. Miss Lydia and Veronica put their heart and soul into it because the meal was top shelf. And to top it off, we had peach cobbler with ice cream. Several people visited Miss Lydia’s repaired home. She was on cloud nine, describing her new freedom.

Miss Lydia told us if we stayed for two weeks and ate gumbo, we could vote in New Orleans. I guess we are citizens of New Orleans, because we qualify on both counts.

We did some more painting and were going to apply a second coat on the windows but had to leave. We hoped to wrap things up at Miss Lydia’s tomorrow and head back to Congress Street where we still had a lot of work to do.

Oct. 8 – We got up early so we could work on Pauline Street but before we had to attend an 8 a.m. safety meeting at St. Raymond’s. It didn’t happen until about 8:45 and was a complete waste. We high-tailed it to Miss Lydia’s, where we cleaned, painted and worked until about 2 p.m. We then took a break and had more gumbo.

It rained for most of the afternoon and we kept working in the house. When we were about to go to Congress Street, Joe Fraser was unable to start the van. He had it towed to a Chevrolet garage. Miss Lydia took the rest of the crew to Congress Street. She offered to provide transportation until our van was repaired a few days later, an offer which would be quite expensive and time-consuming for her. However, another solution was provided and Father Ed had the Chevy garage look at the van on Tuesday.

Oct. 9 – We passed Music Village, a housing project sponsored by Harry Connick Jr., and Habitat for Humanity. There were several homes that seemed to be completed. The homes are really colorful, a variety of pastel shades. At one home, a statue of Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong was prominently displayed. There was a block set aside to construct more houses.

I realize that the qualifications for Habitat for Humanity were a lot different than for our volunteer program. The two are vastly different, yet our pilot project proves that – with the proper volunteers – some Katrina victims can look forward to having their homes back.

We had big excitement this morning. Pam Thomas had a nightmare last night and she bounced off the wall and fell out of bed. We used the priest’s car to travel, as Joe’s van was resting at the garage, and two trips were required to get all of the crews on the job.

Pam and Veronica took our laundry, while the rest of us went to Congress Street.
John Pitzulo cut out baseboards and window trim, and we installed them after and before being painted. We had some help from the group from Cincinnati. They installed plasterboard. We hoped they would complete the job tomorrow.

We removed all the hardware from the doors, so they could be painted. We installed French doors, but had to plane them so they fit properly.

We marked the doors, baseboards and framing so they could be painted. We had to bring in the painted items because it looked like rain. We installed and hung the painted doors and framed in some of the windows. We had to remove some old window stock, so the window frames could be installed and the stock could be put back on the frames.

One group left for home base and while we were waiting for our ride. Several of us continued installing the door hardware. We then put everything away, closed all the windows and locked the doors. Our ride came to take us back to home base.

The Chevy garage told Joe Fraser his van needed a starter – which cost about $300 – and the repair workers couldn’t guarantee that was the problem.

We went to Father Ed’s lodgings and Father Bill (a priest, not me) made red beans and rice, New Orleans style. It was quite good for someone from New York. We had cake for dessert and it was tasty and rich. We sat around and talked for a while and then piled into the car and got home about 9:30 p.m.

The extra help we got today enabled us to get a lot of work done. Tomorrow, we will be doing a lot more of the same.

Oct. 10 – It’s midweek. Just three more days and we’ll be heading north – if the van gets fixed. If not, who knows? But Joe received good news: the van is fixed. It had a bad ignition switch and we were mobile again after $350.

We went to the job about 8 a.m. We had help from another group on Congress Street. They were concentrating on drywalling and mudding the bathroom. Our group did more painting and touching up. John Pitzulo worked on the baseboards and framed in the windows. He miscounted (a first for him), and he had more framing to do.

Several doors were hung and the hardware attached. John finally got the French doors adjusted properly. The amateurs among us tried our best, but it took a pro like John to make things fit and work properly.

We sanded the kitchen again and John applied mud. He used a battery-operated saw to frame some more windows. We took the generator back to St. Raymond’s for safekeeping overnight. A crew of about six mowed, weeded and weed-whacked the yard most of the day. It is looking a lot better.

Oct. 11 – We were on the job at 7 a.m. We swept, painted frames and removed three-quarter rounds of stock from the windows. It was a pain in the you-know-what! The stock snapped fairly easily, but we only broke one out of 23 sets. We caulked and made trim for the windows and sanded the kitchen ceiling and walls and the bathrooms. We fixed the majority of the windows with one-by-eight boards. We coated them first and continued painting the second coat of window frames.

John Pitzulo sent part of the crew home at 4 p.m. so he could texture the walls and ceilings in the kitchen and bathroom. We will be ready to paint the two rooms. We are expecting a big day tomorrow: Father Ed has arranged a phone conference between Bishop George V. Murry, two homeowners and the volunteers. The bishop also planned to congratulate the volunteers for getting the two homes 95 percent complete. I will report on this tomorrow and we’ll have the place sparkling for the affair.

We went to Miss Lydia’s house where John put a golden spike in the front doorway. According to John, this is a tradition when a carpenter finishes a house.

When we got back to home base, all the food was gone. Twenty or so college students staying in the building had wiped it out. We made salad for ourselves and later talked to some of the young volunteers. They were assigned to remove the lead paint from outside the house on Congress Street. Later in the evening, a young man was playing the guitar in the courtyard and about half a dozen students were hanging around. Earlier, the students were really rowdy. Veronica told them to make all the noise they wanted until 10 p.m. If they persisted beyond that time, she said she’d wake them up at 4:30 a.m. when we got up. They heeded her warning and quieted down.

Oct. 12 – We went to Congress Street at 7 a.m. We wanted to get the place cleaned up because the big guns from Catholic Charities were going to stop by to check our progress at 10 a.m. or so. Father Ed also was going to have the scheduled teleconference with Bishop Murry and the homeowners (only Miss Lydia showed).

We stopped working at 10 a.m. so Father Ed could set up the phone conference. Father Ed had Miss Lydia talk to Bishop Murray who questioned her. She did a really remarkable interview. One of the heads of Catholic Charities got on the phone, but Bishop Murry wanted to talk to his Youngstown people. We selected John Pitzulo as our spokesman and he told the Bishop like it was. Bishop Murry thanked him and all of us.

***

This was my take on conditions at St. Raphael’s and how we are perceived. When I was in the Navy, every time we got a new skipper, we’d say he couldn’t be any worse than the old one – and he usually was. The same thinking applied to our lodging and treatment at Hope Haven and St. Raphael’s. While discussing various problems, some of our crew felt that volunteers, in general, were considered a nuisance and people of no consequence by the powers that be in Louisiana.

And I said we didn’t expect to stay at the Hilton, but we didn’t expect ghetto conditions. Case in point: the showers and bathroom facilities were downstairs. You had to go down an extremely dark stairway and go outside to get to the bathroom and showers, which were substandard. We didn’t have the use of a washer or dryer. The excuse was “the wiring is not available for these machines.” Yet, there were working air conditioners that required the same type of wiring. Our clothes would be filthy after putting in 10-hour days, and we’d have to find a laundromat.

***

After the teleconference, we put on three coats in the kitchen and bath and cleaned the floors. We touched up, wiped off paint and fixed the French doors so they would open properly. We fixed the all the framing for the bay windows in the living room and had to get more paint to apply a third coat in two rooms.

The students from Xavier University were removing lead paint on the outside. They were about half done and we hope the house will be painted before Christmas.

There was a party in the evening at St. Raymond’s. Red beans and rice was the main course. Miss Lydia’s daughter and grandson attended as did Mrs. Hill, the owner of the house on Congress Street. Both ladies thanked us for our efforts to help rebuild their homes. We have an open invitation from both of them if we would go to Louisiana again. After all the problems we faced, we thought it was well worth the effort.

We left at 8 p.m. and returned to our lodgings. We are leaving for home at 6 a.m. – Joe Fraser’s magic hour. We met Father Ed at 6:45 a.m. at Shoney’s. We had breakfast, said our goodbyes and headed north.

We arrived in Nashville about 3 p.m. We stayed at a private home and it was a nice change of pace. I tried to talk the group to go to the Loveless Café but I was voted down because it was too far away. If we come here again, I’m going there – even if I have to hitchhike.

We arrived in Austintown at about 4:30 p.m. We unloaded luggage, took some pictures, and went our separate ways.