What a trip...

It's day 10 but it seems like day 2. We're leaving for home. Thanks for DCHS for a program like JTerm, which provides us the opportunity to come to the gulfport area. The people of Gulfport, Mississippi have made a huge impact in our lives. We met the Ladner family, who rode out the hurricane in a 2 story apartment above the garage, behind their house. They watched out the window as water rose to 8'' level. Now they are waiting for their house to be dozed. What a joy it was to see their expressions today because of the book caes Mike Dukes built, and the painting Pastor Rob, Hannah, Megan, Kyle, and Brandon did.

Then there was Mrs. Verla Degges, an 86 year old widow whose home was damaged by water when her shingles blew off her roof. She was so excited to see our DCHS bus pull up and unload 30 plus people to do extensive yard work. Jon & Mr. Milton remodeled 3 rooms with the help of Kolby, Wendy, Bryan, and Mason. Tonight at our final get together, she told our group "There's no possible way I can ever pay you all back for what you've done for me, I'll never forget you all." she's the sweetest old lady and we wanted to bring her home on the bus with us.

My crew insulated, hung and finished sheetrock in the "Broomes" 2000 sq ft home. their home, is 1 1/2 blocks from the gulf, was flooded with over 6' of water. I promised our insulation crew if we finished this house in 1 day, milkshakes were on me. By 3:00 we were done and enjoyed those milk shakes.

It was so awesome to see our DCHS students as they branched out and started measure, cutting, and hanging sheet rock on their own. Justin D, Jordan, Yonnie, Luke, Cole, Chris, Kolby and others worked beyond my expectations. Jasmine & Kate under Wendy's direction, did a fantastic job with the mud coats. One afternoon, Chris Dancer, a neighbor cmae over, saw our guys and gals insulating and thought we were professionals. I shared with him that we were volunteers and about our J-TERM program. He started talking to me about how volunteers like us were such a blessing to this area and...he stopped in the middle of a sentence, tears streaming down his face, he walked away because his emotions had overwhelmed him. We told him we had an extra hour at the end of our day and would do yard work for him. What an awesome experience for 10 of us to serve and be a blessing to a total stranger. But he was only a stranger for a short time, we became friends that we will never forget.

The rest of our group worked at Don's house. Don recently injured his neck, and his wife is recovering from a car accident over a year ago. Don's family was planning on moving in by Summer, but because of the hard work of the mission team, he will be able to move in by February. Don was so very appreciative of all the work that was done, and didn't know how he could ever repay us. Of course, we weren't looking for anything.

I asked for a show of hands as to how many want to come back in February. It was unanimous. this trip has allowed God to stretch us. We have grown in our faith, and we have felt compassion for those in need.

This Gulfport trip has allowed us to have a servant heart and to share God's love through work.
-Rusty Dukes

Today we started bright and early, since we are all aware that we will be leaving soon and we want to make a great impact in our last few days.

Let me first tell you that we had a great breakfast this morning. Pancakes (both regular and chocolate chip) and Canadian Bacon were the main entrees. Our hats go off to the cooking team, led by Marcia Dukes. We never have to worry about going hungry because we know that they will take care of us!

One team started off finishing up priming and painting Mrs. Verla's house. Another team started installing drywall in the home which they also insulated the day before. They had 40 sheets of drywall and finished installing the last piece at 5:00. Be sure to chcek out the pictures below to see some of the impressive work done by the DCHS students.

Another crew started sanding the drywall at Mr. Don's house. I don't know if you've ever sanded drywall before, but it is a daunting task! The students finished around noon and a paint crew arrived to start the priming and painting of the new walls.

The one and only Mike Dukes went to Lisa's house to customize some shelving. He also had a small list of odds and ends that needed to be completed. Mike is a good man, and he does a good job!

We all got home and showered up around 6:00pm. Afterwards, we once again joined the kitchen food crew and ate barbque chicken, corn on the cob, macaroni & cheese, and had assorted pies for desert!

After dinner we had a worship service. Bryan Simon and Thomas Perry shared their testimonies, as well as various other students.

Only one more day of work to go. Some of us are sad, some of us are happy, but overall we are glad to have made a difference down here. Each day that passes helps us to realize how thankful we should be for life and love, friends and family.

We'll be seeing you soon!

Sorry for not updating the site, but we were all so tired, and you can guess what came next. Sleep! We have continued our Work and the director of the work down here said that we are the fastest working crew here. He also said that we accomplish tasks in 2 days that have taken the other crews a week. The Youth Group from First Presbyterian came to visit our youth for a time of worship and Bible study, and afterwards he treated us to a pizza dinner to reward us for all of our hard work. Once again the destruction down here is just unbelieveable. Navagation around here is very difficult due to the dibris in the roads, road signs down, and just being unfamiliar with the area.

Today we took a day of sight-seeing and some history of New Orleans. We drove over to Pass Christian, where the eye of the storm hit, and New Orleans. We saw some of the local land marks and alot of destruction. For snack time we went to Cafe`du Monde, the world famous french donuts and coffee shop. Then we went to see a guy that could play three guitars at once. He played one behind his back, one in the front, and the bass was played with his toes. We ate out for the first time this week, we went to Shoney's. When we first got here there was another group of about sixty, now they are all gone and that gives us a little room to spread out and relax some.

Hello again from Gulfport Mississippi. It is currently 1:15 am. We had an incredible day today. Each day it seems like we are accomplishing more and more.

We decided to wake up early this morning to tackle some big projects before the weeks end. Pastor Rob Brown, Hannah, Meghan, Sabina, Chris, and Kyle all continued their day painting at our Camp Hope Director's house, Lisa. They started this project yesterday. The day ended in a paint fight by the way, and each had yellow paint in their hair (which with enough shampoo did come out!) They have almost finished painting the temporary residence that Lisa is staying in.

Our second crew, Jon, Milton, Bryan and Mason, continued owrk on 86-year-old Widow, Mrs. Verla's house. Her house was the only house on the street that did not have standing water inside. It did however, have water damage inside from shingles that had blown off. The crew installed paneling in 2 rooms which they also had previously gutted, and finished sheetrock. They also decided to remove some moldy kitchen ceiling tiles and install sheetrock.

Our third crew spent the day at Mr. Don's house, a Gulfport Police Officer on medical leave from neck surgery. His house is about 1 mile in off of the Gulf Coast. His family rode the storm out when the storm surge came, and they were walking in water up to their knees inside of the house. All of the sheetrock was replaced by a massive team of students who in 2 days installed over 1500 square feet of sheetrock. Mr. Don has been living in a FEMA provided trailer directly next to his residence. It is quite remarkable to see all the progress made in the house.

The training provided at Delmarva Christian High School during the weeks in advance by Todd East with Double Diamond Builders, and Rusty Dukes of Dukes Lumber Company, has proved to be a great help as we have accomplished the same projects down here.

Mr. Don said, "Words can't describe how I feel about this group coming down and doing this, since I am physically not able to. We don't know how else to thank the people of First Presbyterian Church of Gulfport, or the students from DCHS. We are forever grateful."


After our day of work came to an halt, we returned back to Camp Hope and were treated to a great surprise! Spaghetti and Meatballs for everyone! The lovely ladies whom you see pictured below cooked us ANOTHER great meal. They keep us strong and healthy!

We concluded the evening with a gathering around the fire. Bryan led us in a few worship songs and Pastor Rob encouraged us to show God's amazing love, because His love is what would bring people in Gulfport (not to mention the whole world) closer together.

Tommorow, or actually Today, since it is 1:34 am now, we are going to New Orleans to continue learning how Hurricane Katrina affected the region. The eye of the hurricane hit a location called Pass Christian, Mississippi, which is close to New Orleans.

Please continue to stay tuned for more updates and pictures as they become availble. We also encourage you to foward this link to any friends / family members who may find it of interest. Also, if you feel led to help Camp Hope and the Katrina Relief Effort, follow the link on the right hand side of the page titled "How You Can Help."

One Love,
The DCHS Katrina Relief Team

Today there was three teams working on different job sites. Painting, Paneling and Drywall were our main tasks. One team painted the garage/apartment of Lisa Ladner, who is the leader of Camp Hope at which we are staying. Her home which is one block off of the Gulf, was flooded by six feet of water and is waiting to be bull dozed. One of the other jobs was for Miss Verla, who lives a couple of blocks off of the coast. Her home was flooded and there was some mold growing. We had to strip a couple of rooms and replace paneling and drywall. The third job site was flooded when the bayou flooded their neighborhood. We insulated and drywalled the entire house. Not even pictures can bring clarity of the magnitude of the destruction by Katrina. We ate dinner tonight at God's Katrina Kitchen which is a big tent that serves fifteen-hundred meals a day to volunteers. After seeing the thankfulness of these people's faces it is all the worth while. Tonight we had a time of worship and devotions.

Good evening from Gulfport Mississippi. We just got back from our second day of work. Today we put up panel and drywall in that nice ladies house I told you about yesterday. It is so much fun learning new things and hanging out with people.

Last night alot of us played cards, capture the flag, and played a little bit of music. We woke up this morning and had scrambled eggs, sausage, and pancakes. Then everyone got sent out to their jobsites.

We are very excited about being a help to all the residents down here. We realize just how fortunate we are, and though we are not able to help everyone down here, it is a good feeling to help all who we can.

Stay tuned for more pictures and updates. And thanks for your prayers and support. We thank you and the people of Mississippi thank you too.

-Bryan Simon

Well we all made it here ok! The total time was 24 hours on a bus. We got to camp about 10:00 on Tuesday night. All of the women are sleeping in campers and the men are in tents and some are sleeping in the trucks. Yesterday we helped out a older lady from the church, her house was still standing but hade some water damage in two rooms. She also needed alot of yard work. There is another team of 60 in camp with us now. All of us total, there is over 100. The tents are 3-4 person tents. There isn't a whole lot to talk about yet besides that it was a long bus ride and that we made it. The devastation down here is unbelievable! Well that is all for now but will probaly update tonight. It is somewhat difficult to update, because the computer is setting on the ground in a tent and it is hard to find time to do this when people aren't sleeping or changing clothes.

Just a few more hours until the buss leaves the parking lot! Keep us in your prayers.

Well the day is almost near... We leave Monday night at 9:30ish
Stop by and see us off at Delmarva Christian High School!