Day 3

LongIsland2Day3 We drove directly to our site and met a wonderful couple Andy and Francine. A story often heard, the insurance company is happy to take the premiums and then do everything possible NOT to pay the claim. A few months later, the new premium notice comes and it has doubled! Francine is a cancer survivor and a labor and delivery nurse. Andy sells siding and windows. He has a bad back. Most of the damage is NOT covered by insurance. We were amazed at how much work Andy had done in gutting the space. They own a split level home and the lower level was under 1 ½ feet of water. Most of our work centered around pulling out sheetrock, sheetrock nail and screws and pulling out insulation and the staples. Andy’s main hobby and learning about Big Foot sightings and relayed many interesting stories to us. Katie found a cross wrapped in a Palm Sunday palm and gave it to Andy saying it was important to keep during the healing process. We asked if he was Catholic (saying that Lutherans are reformed Catholics). He said that he and his wife are “born again Christians”. Andy and Francine were wonderful hosts to us. They had coffee and donuts ready for us when we arrived. They sent around a lunch menu. We had already brought sandwiches, so they ordered salads and drinks. They are kind and warm people that we are proud to call friends. Ryan arrived around 2pm and was able to step right in when the rest of us needed breaks. Left the site around 3:45 and headed back to Brooklyn. The girls made another fantastic dinner of chicken alfredo with broccoli, pineapple and apples. Meanwhile, Mike was still trying to figure out how to get on to a weak Wi-Fi connection he was getting in the cafeteria. After some 15 minutes on the phone talking to Comcast he thought he had it licked. Wrong! Ryan was able to step in and provide his Comcast account information so that we could get online. Now that we knew we could get online we shelved that operation and decided to go for a walk. We took the frisbee and football to a local park with asphalt "grass". All six of us played like young kids! After a short time a 12-year old boy name Dustin started to watch us play. Bob asked if he wanted to play with us. He excitedly agreed and threw the football like a champ. Katie taught him how to throw a frisbee which he really enjoyed. Soon about four more younger boys joined in. This was an unexpected delight to play with these inner-city boys. I hope they enjoyed it as much as we did. Hoping to get some pictures up tomorrow.