Thursday July 23, 2009

Our fourth day in Mississippi has been both full and fullfilling. This morning everyone woke up satisfied from our late night run to Waffle House, a Southern staple whose abundance rivals that of Starbucks in California. Since both groups finished their projects yesterday, they were sent to new sites today. We were again working at two different sites. One was in west Long Beach, Mississippi where the group began to build a new wheelchair ramp for a couple whose existing ramp wasn't serving its intended purpose. There were a few bumps along the way, but they were able to begin building the new ramp and hope to finish tomorrow. The second group headed to D'Iberville to level gravel in order to provide a firmer foundation against water erosion. We were told that it would be signficantly hotter there than it is where Grace House is located, and found it to be not only warmer but much more humid. Tomorrow this group will be moving to a home down the road to carefully take down a house that was built by the owner's great-grandfather. This job requires more care and patience as we intend to save most of the materials. Another small group will go back to today's landscaping site to finish off a staircase, a job that sounds more simple than it actually is. Though we will be leaving at the early hour of 6:45 tomorrow, we are all excited for our work and what we hope to accomplish.