It was all hands on deck this cloudy morning, racing against the impending rain to get all the siding up and windows caulked.

And the last piece slips cleanly into place! 

Caulking inside goes on regardless of weather, but wrapped up by noon so folks could enjoy the gift of a half-day off this afternoon.

After lunch, two van loads (including all the kids and five chaperones) went off to New Orleans, five of us visited the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, and the diehards returned to the worksite.

Tomorrow is the last day, and the last jobs — painting, inside and out. Oh boy.

Siding is going up fast at Porter Street, as the weather has been very cooperative. Rain is in tomorrow’s forecast, so the goal is to finish the siding before it comes.

Progress! 

Inside, a team focused on drywalling, taping and mudding — not one of my favorite jobs, for sure, but the Conways seem to love it….or could it be the fumes?

One of the other projects Craig gave us was to do some finish work on a house BBM is renovating to sell in Gulfport. Alan and Lorie finished painting the garage floor today, and report the house could be listed this week.

Tonight was prayer service at the Main St. Missionary Baptist Church, a tradition we wouldn’t miss for the world. We received the usual extravagant welcome from the congregants and offered two hymns under the able direction of Johan Hartman (who also treated everyone to a solo of the first verse of They’ll Know We Are Christians. Dr. Ron delivered our message of family, love and friendship.

The Micah Center is Back Bay’s day facility where homeless people can check mail, fill out job applications, have a shower and do their laundry. Today I met Gary, the so-called “mayor of the Micah Center,” pictured here with Meg.

Formerly a successful sales executive, Gary has lived in a tent behind BBM for the past five years, and is a dedicated advocate for the homeless. One particular concern of his has been getting the public — and local officials — to see beyond their assumptions about what a homeless person looks and acts like. The people we tend to notice are drunk, sleep on park benches, or walk down the street panhandling and/or ranting. Gary’s goal is to help these people understand that their behavior informs the public’s image of all homeless people, perpetuating stereotypes that aren’t helpful to getting public assistance or empathy.

He went on to explain that problems we view as minor speed bumps can be overwhelming: like dealing with Social Security, filling out forms or applying for food stamps. In the aggregate, these challenges create a sense of despair, helplessness and lack of control over their situation, and some simply give up. Gary encourages them to take one step at a time and avoid getting angry or frustrated. He also tries to get them to take responsibility for the addictions to gambling, alcohol or drugs that led to the loss of home, and often, family, in the first place.

Interestingly, he shared that some homeless folks root for  others’ failure: “Oh, he’ll be back, he won’t make it” to describe a person who lands a job. And it’s true, people sometimes get back on their feet and then fall down again. If it happens more than once, they may develop a fear of trying again. In many cases, once a person gets a job they need to hide their homelessness from their employer. How does one get cleaned up to go to work at 8 in the morning when the Micah Center doesn’t open till 9?

What keeps him going are the successes, some small, some temporary, and some large. The latter includes Mr. Jesse, a compulsive gambler and veteran who managed to get into one of BBM’s Homeport apartments, then gambled away his rent money. BBM gave him a second chance — his last — and his experience led them to put him on the BBM board of directors.

Meanwhile, back at the food pantry, Katharyn and Sharon spent the morning helping people shop. The amount of food they can select is based on family size, and instead of the pantry simply handing them a bag of provisions, they use a shopping cart and select what they want under the guidance of a volunteer.

More later…..

…Is what the folks at BBM always remind us, and Lorie, Al and I experienced that today, when we worked at Loaves and Fishes, the local soup kitchen. While it’s not part of the Back Bay Mission campus, they rely heavily on daily volunteers from BBM to help prep and serve.

When we arrived just before 8 a.m., they were nearly finished serving 75 breakfasts. We immediately launched into lunch prep, already underway, and Abe, the “chef de cuisine” put Lorie and me to work making salmon patties.   Before lunch we assembled 55 “Martha’s Meals” (their version of Meals on Wheels) to be delivered to shut-ins before lunchtime.

Then it was full speed ahead to be ready to serve lunch at 11:30. 184 salmon patties later, along with beans and rice, carrots, salad, rolls and donated cupcakes…another 150 were fed. As we were leaving, the regular volunteers were prepping chicken and a couple of sides to be delivered to a “cold shelter” in town later this afternoon so the people there could get a hot meal. The nights are cold here, and there’s no overnight shelter that has the capability to prepare hot meals. So today Abe and his small crew fed 300 people. There’s a special place in heaven for folks who do this work!

Meanwhile, work continued on Porter Street, pictured here “before:”

Siding commenced today. More tomorrow when I will finally visit the worksite to see firsthand what’s going on. Thanks to all my contributing photographers!

Work always seems to pick up steam on Friday, as folks have the natural urge to get things finished. Another chilly day had us working inside, painting trim (three coats on door and window frames and doors)…   

Tiling completed in the kitchen..

 Tiling the tub surround begun in the master bath..

Knees creaking, we started cleaning up just as a light rain began to fall, and returned to the mission house for our final meeting with Craig to reflect on the week. He always asks for positive and negative feedback, and this year it was overwhelmingly positive.

We liked being together at a single job site, as opposed to being split up, even though it got a little crazy when all that was left to do was inside work. Kudos went to Jim for the great job he did as crew leader, making sure everyone had meaningful work, sound instruction, and the chance to learn new skills.  

Those who worked at the Micah Center and the Food Pantry found their experiences to be very meaningful.   

Earl sagely observed that in past years he was very focused on getting as much accomplished as he possibly could; but this year he slowed down to enjoy and reflect on the fellowship. Mission work, by its nature, is never done. You do what you can, the best you can, in the time you have. We thank him for being our inspiring spiritual leader.

We wrapped up the meeting with awards. I was too caught up in the moment to remember to take pictures of the winners wearing their purple medallions emblazoned in gold: Do Justice, Love Kindness, Walk Humbly. Winner of the “Will Try Anything” award was Andy from Newtown, a first-timer who stepped up to try anything from running the chop saw to playing Setback. Connor earned the “Will Do Anything” award for taking on any task, regardless how menial, in spite of being one of our most skilled workers.  And the final honor — the “Beloved Doofus” award — went to Chase, for missing the buses on day one, falling asleep in the attic, licking caulk off his fingers thinking it was powdered sugar, and capping Friday’s cleanup with his creative use of used painters’ tape.

Photo reflections —-

Fun at Slap Ya Mamma’s BBQ on Thursday…

And in NOLA…..    

Dining at the Half Shell…

We had a WIFI outage on Friday at the mission house, so I was unable to wrap up the blog. Stay tuned this weekend for the final post(s).

Thursdays are flexible, and it’s a good thing because it was freezing this morning (yeah, Connecticut folks, they don’t know from freezing here). Had to bring out the salamanders to heat up the job site. The good news was that we didn’t plan to work a full day.

All the baseboard and door molding has been installed, sanded and is ready for painting tomorrow. Tara and Kristen tiled the half bath downstairs,   and Chris and Hannah tackled the laundry room.

Whoever hung the drywall before we arrived here left a mess: big globs of petrified mud on the concrete floors, which have to be scraped up before tile can be laid. It’s an odious job requiring face masks, safety glasses and lots of elbow grease.

After lunch at Slap Ya Mamma’s BBQ, the party crowd decamped for New Orleans, while Steve, Karen and Diana took in a little culture at the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, housed in a cluster of structures designed by the architect Frank Gehry.  This is a real Biloxi treasure.

Back at the mission house, Hal connected with his inner Cajun and made jambalaya for those staying in, while another bunch went off to the Half Shell Oyster House for dinner.

One more day to paint, tile, and whatever else Jim has us do….

I’m not sure what the BBM food pantry is going to do when Karen, Lee and Hal go home, as they spent a third day helping clients shop for their monthly allotment and otherwise supporting the short-staffed operation. Lee observed that the amount of food folks are allowed is pitifully small.

Nagy and Lori spent the morning at the Micah Center, where, in addition to cleaning showers, Nagy was surprised to receive some chess tips from a master. He shared the happy story of a man who, with support from the Center, was able to secure a job in Florida. They provided further assistance by buying him a bus ticket and hotel room.

At the house on 26th & ½ Street, we framed out the master bath closets, prepped concrete floors for tile installation, and caulked around window and door frames and baseboards. Carpet was delivered, so John and Al began laying padding.  We built two decks, one in back and one in front (pictured are three-quarters of the proud front deck team, who completed their project in a single afternoon).

Following longstanding tradition, after dinner we trooped over to the Main Street Missionary Baptist Church for their Wednesday prayer meeting, and Newtown joined us.  As always, we received an extravagant welcome as we joined in singing their hymns. Earl shared a reflection on the parable of the Good Samaritan, asking the important question, “Who is our neighbor?” We entertained them with two hymns, Here I Am, Lord and Go Tell It On the Mountain, ably led by Karen and accompanied on guitar by Chase and Patrick. We’ve never sounded better.

It’s not as rowdy back at the mission house tonight, though there’s a card game that could go on for awhile. The wind has picked up, and some cold weather’s blowing in for morning. Luckily, we should be inside, and we’re not working the entire day. About a dozen are trekking off to New Orleans for the afternoon and evening. Time for me to call it a night.