Hello All,
I can hardly believe that it is already Thursday and that tomorrow we are done. It has been such a wonderful week! Camp Victor and Ocean Springs are both wonderful places, and I have greatly enjoyed our time here. But working with the Collin’s family has also been an amazing experience.
I have worked at Steve and CoCo’s house all week, doing odd jobs including putting up ply wood, dry walling, and moving dirt. They live right on the water, so we have been able to have lunch on the dock a few days. As soon as we pulled up to the house the first day, I was amazed by the house and wondered why they really needed our help. Steve has done most of the work on the house, and it is just gorgeous. But the more time that I spend with Steve and CoCo at their house, I realize why they needed us there.
They have had many contractors take their money, and not be able to finish the work. Thus, they have been left with an unfinished house, sometimes for over a year. So Steve started to work on the house himself, while CoCo is gone during the week teaching and taking classes to become a mental health therapist. So Steve often gets lonely working alone, and many of the jobs needed to get done is too large for him.
Steve and CoCo need us at their house to lift up their spirits, and give them hope that they will get back into their house. They need our positive spirit to keep them going. Every morning when we get out of the van, Steve and Coco are standing there waiting to greet us and get smiles on their faces. And after a lunch on the dock on Tuesday of us asking about his crab trap, at lunch on Wednesday he excitedly pulled up the trap that he had put in the water that morning to see what had been caught. And he got as excited as we did when we discovered a crab in the trap.
This week has made me realize that although people still need their houses rebuilt, they also need their spirits rebuilt and to gain a sense of hope that they will be able to live again.
-Sarah Stadie
