The wall of donated computers
Other than the technical stuff, I did get to work with a boy who has been hanging out at the house where we work. He has been trouble in the past because he arrives and loves to make his presence known. He was told that the only way he could stay is if he had a mentor there with him at all times. I gave it a try. I found as long as I could keep him busy things went well. I had to remind him every half hour or so when he stopped working that we all have a lot of work to do and if he wants to stick around he's going to have to pull his weight. I think others have been treating him as a "brat," so he has be responding by being a brat. He will be back next Friday after school, and I am going to do my best to keep a list of things that he can do for us as the toughest thing for me today was finding tasks.
I have begun working with the website here. We are going to start by leaving the design alone, but working to update the navigation and the content. The site has aspects that make it look like not much is going on here when of course nothing could be further from the truth.
Volunteers continue to arrive at St. Mary's, and I hear that the count is up to 75. With others across the city, the count must be well over 100. With 3-4 gutting crews going out almost every day, they are finishing about one house each day. To finish means not only pulling out all the wallboard, carpet, and anything else that was flooded, but also scrubbing and rinsing all the remaining parts. Stories are shared at the evening meeting here at the house about how appreciative the homeowners are. One homeowner asked for everyone's name and address to send thank you notes.
The organization though strong in volunteers and accomplishments, is having some trouble with locations. After quatrain, properties were gladly opened up for use by those working to rebuild. Now, it is time for some of the property owners to reclaim the spaces. The building the tech department (and free legal, media, computer lab and drop-in help center) is going to return to it's prior use as a day care center at the first of the year. So now Common Ground Collective is looking for another building. Meanwhile, the Woodlands which is the largest facility (apartment complex with multiple buildings) which was offered by the owner to common ground collective during a time when there were no rents to be had because everyone had evacuated, was foreclosed on by the bank who has found a buyer. They are trying to stall for time with legalities about current occupancy, and repairs that have been made by CGC (not a real strong argument), long enough to find donations for CGC to purchase the property themselves. St. Mary of the Angels School, where I am staying at night seems to be stable for the time being as Father Bart has said that they will eventually want to re-open the school, but not anytime real soon.
Had a good conversation with Nick, who helped with the computers. He is from Vashon Island, Washington. He and his friend Logan raised funds to come down here and are now keeping their own blog called Vashongosouth
So if I go a day or two without writing, you can read their blog because they're tag teaming on it.
I did get permission to move over to the House of Excellence, so I did move a cot over there so I have an option to stay there if I work late, but I must be honest, with the really good meals prepared for us for breakfast and Dinner I think I like staying over here at St. Mary's.
