Next job

Well, we've finished our needs assessment assignment. This is challenging work emotionally. All day long you are listening to people's sad stories about how Katrina affected them and how they aren't able to get their homes fixed up because they only make $8000 a year and maybe less if they get laid off and they are taking care of their three "grands" because their daughter is on crack.....Oh yes, and they got a little insurance money but they signed it over to a contractor so he could buy materials and fix things up but he skipped town.

In a way this assignment has left us feeling better than the last one because construction teams are following us starting next week, so there ought to be a lot of immediate help for roofs that are still leaking and floors that have rotted so snakes are coming in the house and the bathtub fell through the floor.

Our next assignment is to help us set up the reconstruction site. That means making sure the rooms are all ready, there's enough sheets, blankets, and pillows (thanks to the Red Cross), enough mattresses (thanks to FEMA), groceries are bought (thanks to CRWRC), there is work lined up for the construction teams (thanks to the local long term recovery group and the needs assessment team), case management has been done to qualify families (thanks to the Red Cross again and the Salvation Army) It takes a village....

We've also received our assignment for being Regional Project Managers. We'll have all 6 New England states plus New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. There have not been many disasters there recently--thank God--but our job is to be ready in case there is. Get connected with FEMA staff and other disaster response agencies and just monitor the area. We'll also be project managers, which is more short-term special assignment work. We're being mentored in both these roles--there is so much to learn!

We did find some time to do some biking today. We managed 35 miles to finish the LongLeaf Trace Trail which we have been doing in stages. Today was the last piece. The sun was out but temps were cool with a wind chill of about 35 so we got a little chilly. It was a tough day! But it always feel good to finish a goal. Carrie is now up to 160 miles, more than 10% of my year's goal.