OUR FINAL POST - SOME OF THE WORK WE DID

SCENES FROM BRIGANTINE, NEW JERSEY

Center of Town:

The Crab Shack

All the beach supplies you'll ever need

Beach apartments

Evening visit to the ice cream parlor

South business district

Miles of beach

View of the inner bay

Nature preserve at the north end

Typical homes

PHOTOS OF COMMUNITY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Arrival Sunday afternoon

Sanctuary

Sleeping accommodations

Shower trailer

Preparing our lunches in the kitchen

Dinner in Fellowship Hall

We finished up our projects about mid-afternoon and returned to the church to clean up for a dinner at a local restaurant.   Bob and John completed installation of trim and the top panel of the stairs leading to the second floor, and covered the nail holes.  Frank completed sanding the drywall mud on the few remaining sections of the walls and ceilings and Leah primed and painted them.   Leah also applied topcoat to the remaining unpainted door.    The rest of our time was spend doing general clean-up in and around the house and loading un-used lumber and tools into the trailers.

We went to dinner at The Crab Shack, a couple of blocks down the street.   John had sampled a lobster roll a few days ago and was so impressed that he suggested we have our celebration dinner there.    We weren't disappointed.

Early tomorrow we start our journey home to Michigan, bringing back many fond memories of our experience here and the people we met.    Since it hasn't been particularly convenient to include photos with our daily blogs, we'll continue the blog into next week, to show you the work we've done, the church who hosted us and the community where we worked.

Frank Wassilak

This is Bob Rodibaugh, and it is Thursday evening, and a cool breeze from the ocean is appreciated as the day has been warm and sunny.  We have now completed four days of work at our house, which is a new structure that is nearly finished.  We have been given specific tasks by the supervisors and in the process of doing those tasks we tend to discover additional items to work on, such as filing holes,  fixing a door that wasn't working properly, and of course finishing drywall so that it can be painted.   Although I tend to get tired in the hot afternoons, the work has been an opportunity to give back to God, for the gifts that have been given to me, or as it is said, to "pay forward " to another for the unending gifts given by God   I know that all of us have expended extra efforts this week, as if this house that we are working on were our own, and there are at numerous examples of going a little further to give a very appreciative homeowner the quality of work that we all think he deserves and that will make him proud.

Hi Church!  This is John blogging today.

We did a lot of work in HOT and HUMID conditions.  Frank sanded, mudded and mixed concrete.  Bob cut wood and worked on moulding.  Leah sanded and painted.  I worked outside cutting wood and putting up shielding around an outside utility area.

The Team had two sets of notable visitors today.  The first was Lisa Park from "A Future With Hope" (the organization sponsoring our work).  She brought out Team t-shirts and doughnuts!  She thanked us for our work and also told me that the organization was funded through this year.  She was not sure about funding for next year, so they made need even more volunteers in 2018.

The second set of visitors was more important.  They were Ralph Giles (elder) and Ralph Giles (younger), the father and son who are going to be the owners of our house.  The elder Ralph thanked us and all of the previous teams who have come to New Jersey for working on this project.  He said that without us, he and his son didn't know what they would have done.  We asked Ralph how he was selected for support.  He said he didn't know "They (A Future With Hope) found me!"  What a wonderful testament to the United Methodist Church.

Well gotta go now.  A lobster roll with my name is calling.  Another team member will check in tomorrow.  Bye!!

Church members, we apologize for not posting an entry to the blog up until now, because we encountered some unexpected technical issues here in Brigantine.   It turned out that our host church did not have Wifi access.   We found out that the City Hall did have access, and we finally figured out tonight how to access our blog.

We had a safe drive in nice weather from Farmington to Philadelphia on Saturday.   On Sunday we visited the new Museum of the American Revolution, which we highly recommend.   The main attraction of the museum is the actual campaign tent used by George Washington during the Revolutionary War.   We had no idea that this still existed.

We arrived in Brigantine late Sunday evening, where one of the Elders from Community Presbyterian Church met us and helped us get settled in.   Another church member left us dinner.

We have nice accommodations here.   John and Leah sleep in one classroom and Bob and me in another.   They have great double inflatable mattresses, which make for great sleeping.   In back of the church is a shower trailer on loan from the Presbyterian Church.    The kitchen is well-equipped, and Leah has .been feeding us great meals.

We're working on two new houses, which are nearly complete.   They're two blocks apart from each other, sitting on huge wood pilings, about ten feet off the ground.   They're both only a seven minute drive from the church.   To date, a one house we've been mudding and sanding drywall, painting, installing trim and some other minor touch-up work.  At the second house, which we began working on today, we're in the process of replacing a large wooden post supporting a corner of the deck housing the air conditioner.   We had to install a temporary replacement post, dig and knock out the post, dig a hole 30 inches deep, install a form and pour concrete into it.   Once this cures we'll get instructions on how to re-install the post.   We were bushed by the end of the day, but gratified by the work we've accomplished so far, and appreciative of the showers and air conditioning.  

WELCOME TO BRIGANTINE, NEW JERSEY

During the week of July 30 your 2017 Hurricane Sandy mission team, consisting of Kelly Brown, John and Leah Sheppard, Bob Rodibaugh and Frank Wassilak, will be hosted by Community Presbyterian Church, in Brigantine, New Jersey.   Brigantine is an attractive residential community, located on an island just north of Atlantic City.   This introductory blog will give you some background about the community and church and the impact of Super Storm Sandy, as we currently understand it.

Brigantine

This satellite photo, looking approximately southwest, shows Brigantine relative to Atlantic City.      Our host church is located in about the middle of the island, in the center of town. 

According to the Chamber of Commerce web site for the city (http://brigantinechamber.com/), the community is described as “An Island for All Seasons, An Island for All Reasons”.   There are many recreational activities for residents and visitors:  beach bathing, surfing, fishing, biking, bird watching, dune-riding, golf, etc.   Unfortunately, we’ll miss nearly all of this.

The town has an interesting history.   The first recorded evaluation of Brigantine was in the logbook of the mate on Henry Hudson’s Ship in 1608, as they sailed by. He wrote “This is a very good land to fall in with – a pleasant land to see.”   Indians, whalers, and fishermen were early visitors.   It’s rumored that Captain Kidd stopped here and left buried treasure.

During the latter 1800s the community evolved into a resort community.   Building booms in the early 1920s and after WWII helped complete development of the island.

Community Presbyterian Church (web site http://brigchurch.org/home0.aspx)

Their web site shows that they offer three services each week: Meditative, Traditional and Contemporary.   They operate a thrift shop and food pantry and have at least one choir.  We’ll ask more about their history and activities after we arrive, and how their church was impacted by Sandy.

The Effects of Hurricane Sandy

Brigantine received its share of damage from the storm.   Photos from the Internet show massive waves crashing over the seawall, many flooded streets, cars submerged up to their hoods, trees toppled and extensive beach erosion.  In spite of all of this, a newspaper article printed a year later indicated that Brigantine recovered quicker than many other New Jersey communities.  FEMA distributed $4.93 million for individual assistance, and $2.62 million for municipal assistance.  The city received a $5 million Community Disaster Loan and in 2014 the NJ Department of Community Affairs authorized a $24 million grant for storm-related budget issues not addressed by FEMA Community Disaster Loans.

A Future With Hope

A Future With Hope is sponsored by the United Methodist Church of Greater New Jersey and UMCOR.   To date, they have restored or built 250 homes, with the support of 11, 730 volunteers from all over the country.   More information about the great work they have done can be found at http://www.afuturewithhope.org/.

Frank Wassilak