April 7th 2014 Daily Report
The team of 21 arived in Norman at the McFarlin Methodist church just two blocks from the University of Oklahoma campus. Mcfarlin is a beautiful church with a congregation of about five thousand with many members coming from the university faculty and student body. They have opened their doors to volunteers from the very first days of the May 2013 tornado. Norman is about a ten minute drive south of Moore and suffered very little damage. We are very comfortable in these beautiful surroundings.
The Team
Monday morning we woke early to a hearty breakfast prepared by our cooking team, and then had a devotional led by one of the devotional team. About 8:00 we departed for the Oklahoma Disaster Recovery Project headquarters located in Moore where we met other teams from California and a small group from Tulsa. Following the informative orientation by the project managers we divided into three work teams: The barn raisers, fence builders and debris cleanup crew. While these crews were on site the kitchen crew spent the day grocery shopping and preparing Monday night dinner, Tuesday breakfast and lunch.
Report from the fence builder crew:
The homeowner lost her home, but survived the storm by covering herself and her daughter with matresses. Her daughter is now suffering from PTSD. While her neighbors lost all their livestock, hers all survived but three. For several months the vet came and removed splinters from the mare. She lost all her outbuildings and fences. Because she and her husband were delinquent in real estate taxes, they do not qualify for assistance rebuilding her their home. She and her husband are now living in a fifth wheel trailer. It was very obvious to the team that it was equally important to listen to her tell her story and share her grief as to rebuild the fences.
Fence Team with Homeowner
Stay tuned this week for stories from other crews.