Cleanup at Larry's home

Sunday morning, the fifteen of us helped ‘gut’ Larry’s home. His house had had 3 to 4 feet of standing water. Black mold had grown from the floor to the ceiling. Everything was destroyed. We helped Larry remove it all. When we arrived, the smell was bad enough that we wanted to wear masks. After working in the house, we would often retreat to the outside for ‘fresh air’ (air that we previously thought was so foul that we should use masks). The big problem came when the refrigerator was removed and the door swung open and a gallon jug of milk (that was six weeks old) fell out and spewed its contents. The smell was so bad that we had to coat the inside of our masks with Vick’s vapor rub to mask the smell.

I spent the first couple of hours wheelbarrowing Play Station games, clothes, text books, computer equipment, magazines, football equipment, beds, mattresses, etc. from the 15 year old son’s room. The latter part of the day I spent hauling clothes from the closets. Some of the clothes and many of the shoes were stored in plastic boxes that still held the six week old flood water. The plastic boxes of clothes and shoes were ripe and the smell would choke you.

Larry and his family are currently being housed in Huntsville, Alabama. He came back on this weekend to see what he could do begin the effort of restoration. The task was daunting. We were helping hands that just slightly lightened the burden from this tragedy. His unlimited gratitude was well accepted by our group.

I have include a link of an article written by Jared in group who also went two weeks before. It gives more insight into the our volunteering efforts. http://www.meridianmagazine.com/articles/051020helpinghands.html