Day 2 in OK

We began our day with a rushed breakfast in our hotel. Rushed because Jason set the alarm for 6:15 PM, and well, yeah... I attempted to make half of a waffle, but ended up with half of a waffle and a skeleton waffle, which really creeped me out.

Today we worked with the disaster response team to gut a house. We met up with the team at Alameda Church and were given two options: 1) gut a house in the city or 2.) cut down trees in the country. We chose option 1...mainly because one of the coordinators assured me that using a sledgehammer would be involved. That and the fact that I probably could only haul sticks from a tree and I most definitely don't trust myself with a chainsaw (I've seen that terrible OSHA video waaaay too many times.) 

The Camaro even got his own magnet, to give us easier access to the area we'd be working in. 

The house was located in Moore in what was considered the "outskirts" of the storm's path. Driving to the house it was hard to believe that...

We arrived to the house where we'd be working...

And got suited up...complete with masks, per the suggestion of the coordinator, other volunteers and more importantly, my mom! :) Very hard to breathe in those, by the way! 

We removed carpet, flooring, Sheetrock (sledgehammer used here), faceplates, etc.  The eeriest thing about this experience was being in a house where people hunkered down probably praying for their lives to be spared and otherwise scared out of their minds. I pulled up trim in a closet where this family most likely sat together. I tried to imagine, but I can't imagine. While tearing out Sheetrock in the kitchen, we discovered this bit of scariness...

Yes, that would be a shingle that flew in through the back door and lodged itself into the wall!!! 

This picture is of part of a kitchen cabinet--covered in dirt/mud and anything else that came in during the storm.

At noon we took a break to go to lunch. There is a crew from Texas A&M providing lunch for workers. But we were too early (So we ended up eating at Qdoba). While walking to the lunch spot we had a chance to get a walking tour of the neighborhood we were working in. I spotted this little guy in a puddle on the ground...

I wonder if his owner is missing him? :(

This is one of the trucks that takes HOUSES to the landfill. Apparently, if you push your house to the curb, they will haul it off for you. It sounded just as odd to type as it was to hear. But the reality is, is that most of these houses are a total loss, and will be bulldozed and pushed to the curb for that truck to take away. 

After lunch, we went back to the HQ at Alameda. The giant group of volunteers is still enroute, so preparation is still taking place. There was a crew cooking dinner for 200, and then there was a crew preparing the sleeping quarters for the group. Jason and I were in that group. We inflated air mattresses and set up 4 different church classrooms to act as "bedrooms" for the volunteers that would be staying there. This is what part of one of the rooms looked like after we were done...

We put 22 beds in this room, and about 70 between the other 3 rooms. When another group (of teens) arrives, they plan to clear out a small chapel of its pews to add more beds. 

Here's a look at the distribution center/"cafeteria" at Alameda.

This side of the room has toiletries, shoes, water, ziplock bags, etc. Directly behind those doors with the yellow paper is one of the rooms where women volunteers sleep. The other side of the room includes things like mood, brooms, shovels, etc. 

The plan was to go back out with the large group to work more, but they were delayed and wouldn't be arriving until 4:30 for one group and 6:00 for the other. So, we've retired for the day and look forward to having dinner with two of our Oklahoma friends that we met first on our mission trips to Honduras. 

Tomorrow our plan is to go and volunteer with the Moore Public School system at an elementary school. Hey, you can make a teacher go on summer break, but you can't keep her out of a school. :)