Today was “The Big Reveal.” As the crowd chanted the famous line, “Move That Bus” and their brand new home was revealed, the moment was truly magical!

It has been a great honor for Operation Blessing to be a part of this project and bless such a special family.

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ABC’s PR person asked us for help in recruiting volunteers with specific trade skills to help get the project finished on time and we did a media blitz that afternoon.

Jolyn, our national volunteer manager was listed as the point of contact and her phone rang continually. I left the site at 9:30 p.m. and we were still receiving calls from experienced trades.

When we passed by people throughout the day we could literally here people talking about OB. The foreman specifically called for our construction guys several times because they saw how universally-skilled and serving our guys are. At one point they pulled all volunteers off the sheetrock installation and had a professional company come in. Then a few hours later, they asked for our guys to help finish the sheetrock.

Tomorrow is the final push before the big reveal on Saturday so it will be a long night. A big thank you to everyone for helping us in this project to bless an extraordinary family!

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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Our guys were a huge help this morning. They arrived at 5 a.m. and were supposed to unload sheetrock at 5:30 and begin installation at 6. The project was behind and about 6:30 a.m. I received a text message from Duane, the builder, stating, “Jody we need framers bad. Can you help?”

It was great because four guys from our construction team were experienced framers. They responded right away and proved to be a blessing to the builder and project during a critical time.

Pete is now serving as the “Material Transporter” for the builder and project. He is dedicated to making runs back and forth to the Home Depot for materials.

Our team is doing what we do best – serving as specialized “Strike Teams” during the greatest times of need.

Our construction team will be back on the job at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow.

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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – There was a lot of progress today…The builder, his team, the local companies, and volunteers are doing an amazing job.

Our construction guys worked from 5 a.m. – 3 p.m. They were responsible for helping install the “Seal Plate” early this morning and continued helping with the framing all day.

Our construction crew will be back on-site tomorrow at 5 a.m. to begin unloading and installing sheetrock.

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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Today was “Demo Day” and it was beyond cold! Tonight they will lay the foundation and tomorrow morning four of our construction guys will help with the framing beginning at 5 a.m.

Demolition crews drive a semi-truck into the front of the house.

Paige Hemmis, one of the On Air Talents, sits in the semi-truck.

Ty Pennington with his iconic “Hand Cam” records a message for the Hill-Burdettes family.

Tonight when we left the site the lot was totally clear of debris and they were leveling the ground for the foundation.

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More to come…

EAST ORANGE, Texas – Today was another great day; however, one house had its challenges. Gerald’s home was built around the 1930s and has been passed on throughout the generations. As teams measured and hung drywall, they quickly realized that the home was not square level or plumbed correctly.

Dealing with the issues of the ceilings and plumbing created a lot more work, but nothing that our seasoned construction team could not handle. By the end of the day, the floors were replaced and half of the sheet-rocked was installed, taped and mudded.

This was day 2 and the Rockford Master’s Commission (RMC) teams demonstrated amazing attitudes and great passion.

To our surprise, a lot of the RMC students have construction and landscaping experience. We expected to see them dragging a bit after a long first day of construction, but today was quite the opposite.

Tomorrow will be a “late nighter” as we have to have both homes completed, closed up with sheet-rock, mud, taped and floated. We will begin painting on Friday and the carpet will be installed on Saturday.

Gerald and Gloria’s neighbor, Renee, showed up on site to pick up the couple’s mail. As we talked I got the opportunity to hear her story. Renee was diagnosed with stomach cancer and told she had 6 months to live. But that was seven years ago! A couple members of our team reached through her car window and prayed for her healing. Renee’s eyes filled with tears…it was a very precious moment. Renee said she is so excited for Gerald and Gloria and promises not to tell them anything about the extreme blessing home makeover that is being planned for them. It is so much fun when the neighbors become part of the surprise.

The RMC Team ended the day and the progress on the homes is unbelievable. We’re looking forward to finishing out the week strong.

BEAUMONT, Texas – Today was an exciting day as we welcomed 108 Rockford Master’s Commission (RMC) students. They arrived at 10:00 AM in 12 vans, excited to take part in our week of “Extreme Blessing” home make-overs.

Over the next 2 weeks, we will be rebuilding 2 homes: the first is for a East Orange, Texas couple in their late 60s who are both disabled and do not have any flood insurance. Without our help they would not be able to return home. The second, is a retired grandmother who lives on a fixed income and has been raising her two grandchildren ages 15 & 17 since their mother died. 
 
Today’s volunteer training was a great success. We set up 9 instruction stations in the parking lot of our volunteer headquarters at Cathedral In The Pines Church which were manned by OB staff along with other partnering organizations such as Billy Graham’s Rapid Response Teams, The Home Depot, and Med Stat, a local ambulance company.
 

Home Depot associates hosted 2 stations training volunteers on how to hang sheetrock as well as mud, tape and float. Our OB foremen hosted several on how to hang doors, use of personal protection equipment (respirator fitting, masks, eye protection, hard hats, boots), house gutting, care and use of tools, and more. Billy Graham representatives were on hand to help train on how to respond compassionately to victims in crisis and a first aid station was hosted by local EMT and Med Stat workers.
 

We divided the RMC team into 9 teams of 12. Each team has some students who have construction experience, landscaping, design (interior), media, demo (gutting) and general labor. There are 16 who have drywall experience which is great! 
 
Tomorrow the teams will head out to the two homes (rebuild projects) and four gutting jobs. The “Extreme Blessing” homes have already been gutted down to the stud and the electrical, HVAC, and plumbing is complete. The teams will rebuild the entire home (except the kitchen) and we’ll do the big “reveal” next Monday.
 

The volunteer camp is buzzing with energy, excitement and passion. We are all looking forward to an amazing week!

OAK ISLAND, Texas – We went to Oak Island on Saturday after hearing that there were several hundred familes in a Vietnamese fishing community that had not received hardly any help.

Oak Island is about an hour from Bridge City in the middle of nowhere. The community is a mix of Vietnamese, American and Hispanic, and the majority of the Vietnamese are hardworking shrimpers, oystermen and fishermen. They said about 500 families lost everything and after seeing the area, I totally believe that.

The area is incredibly devastated. In many places, nothing but the foundations of homes remained with American and Texas flags blowing in the breeze. It never ceases to amaze me to see the deep sense of resilence, patriotism and American pride that rises up in the hearts of these devastated residents in the face of such pain and loss.

We drove down “Main St.” and saw a home that was obliterated. Nailed to the side of what was left of the home was a piece of plywood with the homeowner’s name and address in red spray paint along with a message saying, “If your mom is not buried here, stay out!” What looks like rubble to others is everything to these residents. It is all they have left.

The trees were littered with clothes, closet doors, teddy bears and other personal belongings. Fishing boats were still in trees and beached in areas far from their natural habitat.

Oak Island Baptist Church received 8 feet of water in their church, so they took their pews out and set them on a slab of concerte outside where they have church services. A beverage company donated a tent that serves as their sanctuary and their new disaster store (point of distribution) for the residents.

As I talked with the pastor’s wife, Cindy, she pointed out a Vietanmese lady who appeared to be a volunteer busily sweeping the concrete floor. My heart broke as Cindy shared the lady’s story. The lady’s husband and son drowned while harvesting crabs one night in a storm. She owned her own nail shop and both her home and business were completely destroyed by Hurricane Ike. The lady told me with great pain that she does not know what to do except come to the church and help. She is a widow with no family, no home and now no work.

I talked to the pastors and asked what they needed and they said camping stoves, lanterns and tents. Many of the families do not want to leave the little that is left of their home because they are afraid they will not be allowed back or that someone will take it.

The water has not yet been cleared for them to return to work to fish, crab and shrimp.

We are sending them our shower trailer on Monday to use for several weeks.

Back in Bridge City, last week we had our first meeting with all disaster relief agencies working in Bridge City. It was a beautiful reflection of us coordinating, facilitating and creating synergy with other agencies. We handed out over 80 work orders and will meet with the agencies again next week to hear updates and hand out new work orders.