Video

Thursday, March 8, 2007

We were featured in the Laurel Star!!!!

Saturday, January 20, 2007

We are extremely excited to be home! Thanks to everyone who helped us in this trip and supported us! It is extremely cold to us, for some reason I am wearing shorts and it is freezing.

Kolby Dukes

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Winding Down

Today was another great day. It's 1:02am and a few of us are sitting by the bonfire waiting for our eyes to get heavy. I have to make a confession: This morning, I forgot to wake up. At about 7:58, someone knocked on our camper door and I realized my alarm was off. Welp, Rusty and I jumped up and ran to the bath-house to shower up. We got ready, ate a quick breakfast, and headed off with the rest of the team to our jobsites.

A large group of people spent another day at CeCe's house putting up trim, cleaning, installing more receptacle plates, installing fans and lighting, painting, and lots of other little stuff. I must give a special shout out to Burt Fox who installed a great access door to the whirlpool tub. If I ever get a picture of it, I will post it. It was really awesome. He put a heart knob on the door because CeCe always calls us her little angels. Hopefully she'll never have to use the access door to get to the plumbing for the tub, but if she does, she'll remember us.

Sam Paynter has almost finished up doing his masonry work. The last few pieces of trim need to be cut and nailed up. Pastor Rob will soon paint his last stroke of white paint on the mouldings. It's all wrapping up.

Anyways, another group worked at Katrina's Kitchen, doing yard cleanup. Kyle Brown fell off a log that he was rolling on and hurt his bum, but he is OK. Dennis Davenport cut the grass around the area and had a lot of fun doing it.


When we got home today, everyone gathered in the dining hall for a Wednesday night church service. Members from First Presbyterian Church gathered along with us and the group of Canadians who are staying at Camp Hope. We had a good time of worship, and sharing of the word and testimonies. Delmarva Christian revealed that they were able to raise and donate $10,000 towards Camp Hope. It was a great time of fellowship and thanksgiving.

Now we're all ready to go to bed and wake up bright and early to finish up everything. We're glad to be making our way home soon but we're sad because we make friends and enjoy working to help those who are struggling here.

I keep trying to upload pictures but Google's Blogger never seems to work. So stay tuned and we'll get some up!

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Progress in Gulfport

Today was just another day at work... it rained just a drizzle today, but it was just enough to annoy you. It was also way too cold for mississippi. It is in the 30's here now. Today a crew went to a church which had a huge tree come down, and they called in the city and together they were able to safely bring down the whole tree. Sadly I don't have pictures of the tree, but I did hear someone did. I will work on that. The "Power Team" cooked us dinner tonight, and afterwards P-Rob, B-love, and Quinley led us in a time of worship and prayer. It was a great time of stillness before the Lord. P-Rob is an awesome youth pastor! It is so cold, just a few hours north of where we are staying, they are expecting snow!

Kolby Dukes

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Photo Dump 2





Photo Dump





Productivity in Gulfport

Today we were back to the grindstone. I was very unaware of what was going around in the world around me, so I cannot offer up much detail. Bryan Simon and I put down a laminate flooring system. That required much thinking and concentration, so I didn't pay much attention to what everyone else was doing. The Presbyterian church was on ocean front property and it really to the blunt of the storm. This Sunday that are going to be holding a remembrance service, and afterwards the will begin the demolition of the building, so A group from our team cleaned up some to make it a bit more presentable for Sunday. There was a dead tree in the middle of the courtyard, so Mason Small had the bright idea to carve a cross out of this stump, it turned out awesome! So after everyone came back from work all of the youth got prepared for a time of fellowship and pizza with the Gulfport youthgroup. We got to meet many new friends and learn a bit of their culture. Following that we showed the movie Napoleon Dynomite which many people faded fast from all of the hard work completed today. Well better head on to sleep! Also it is Charity's Birthday today! so everyone at home sing real loud and amybe we can hear you.

Kolby Dukes

Sunday, January 14, 2007

A Great Day...

Well today was a great day in Gulfport. It all started out by us being able to sleep in an extra hour or two, and we went to church where the pastor spoke on resting on the sabbath. And rest we did. After church everyone made some sandwiches and we packed up and some went and talked and ministered to people and another group went out on the beach to relax.

We were blessed by one of the homeowners we are working for, Cece, who blessed us with a seafood feast. There were crabs, shrimp and many other things. I hear it was great, but I am vegetarian so I couldn't give you an expert's opinion. After dinner we had a time of worship and Mark Briley spoke about how even though Paul went through some trying times, he enjoyed it and recognized that is served to better the Gospel.

Currently most of the team is at sonic for some milkshakes. They loaded up on the bus to engage in some team building ice cream eating.

We will soon go to bed as we have had fun today we must get to work tomorrow hard at it!

Kolby Dukes


Reba found a Bible turned to 2 Samuel 8 while cleaning up at Cece's house





Mason and Kent are cutting down some brush and small trees that had grown since Katrina behind Cece's house



Rachel and Thomas are clearing the way for Mr. Sam Paynter and his crew to work on the masonry




A flag hung representing that though we may be tattered and torn we are still flying proudly



I will do anything to get that "perfect shot"
This is Ralph doing what he does best, well nail things up.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Almost Sunday!

Today, Kyle Brown said he jumped on the trampoline. But that's not all. He also installed some sheetrock and also a dryer vent. He also says that during the time he was working outside, he got bit by a bunch of fire ants. He is very chipper though, as we all are to have made it through another wonderful day in Gulfport Mississippi.

A crew worked today at CeCe's again, doing various projects. One group painted trim...another group did siding and installed soffit in a porched area. Yet another group installed the crown moulding. And even yet another group trimmed out windows! Let's not forget another group who installed laminate flooring. Needless to say, it was a very busy day at CeCe's.

A different crew worked at Shannan's house doing yard work...lots of yard work. They collected a whole bunch of logs and brought them back to Camp Hope and we had another bonfire tonight. I will admit that we threw a can of sliced carrots in the fire just for fun. But other than that we enjoyed each other's company.

Towards the end of the day, most of the group went to Katrina's Kitchen, a place to find free meals prepared for those who volunteer. We had barbeque chicken, green beans, and potatoes. Mark Briley, Jason Culver, Rusty Dukes, Burt Fox, Kolby Dukes, Ralph McCutcheon and Tom Perry stayed late into the eve and tried to finish a few extra things before retiring for the weekend. Jason and Mark leave on Monday. We will really be sad to see them go, but they were able to do a great thing with the time they had.

We're really excited about church tomorrow. We're going to First Presbyterian Church of Gulfport, the church Camp Hope is based out of. We'll make sure we load more pictures for your viewing pleasure as soon as we can!



A Day at Work...d

Today was a very productive day. We started the day off with a great home cooked meal of chocolate chip pancakes, sausages, and lots of cereal. This meal was prepared for us by our Power Team, the name we've given to the lovely group of ladies who help give us the physical strength we need to go out and make a difference each day. The Power Team consists of, but is not limited to, Pip Spicer, Patty Fox, Pam McCutcheon, Sharon Brown, and various other wonderful helpers.

So, after a great breakfast, we got together for a quick morning meeting and figured out which job sites we would be assigned to. A group of young ladies stayed behind and did laundry, and cleaned up around the camp, and prepared our lunches which consisted of Peanut Butter & Jelly and Hot Dogs!!!

Jason, Wendy, Dave, Bryan D., Kyle B., and Dennis went to Shannons house and hung a whole bunch of sheetrock. They also were able to get the first coats of mud on the walls, which will eventually be sanded and then the walls will be painted.

At the Olson house, Ralph, Doug, and Quinley trimmed out the inside of the house. They also did some siding work.

At the Tucky house, Burt Fox had a crew consisting of Kyle S, Charity, and Kiri. We knew they had fun because when they got back, each one had a special face painting. Charity, a young woman, looked like she had sprouted a big brown mustache. It was quite humorous.

At CeCe's house, Pastor Rob and Candace painted the interior walls. Soon it will be ready for laminate flooring which should be finished rather quickly.

Sam, Rachel, and Tom did masonry work outside CeCe's house. They cleared and replaced the first row of bricks which had been damaged from the floods of Hurricane Katrina.

The rest of the group did yard work at CeCe's. We started out back of her house and swept over about 60 feet of a ditch that had collected mounds of debris. There was tons of styro-foam and busted boards which we hauled to the front of the road for FEMA to pick up. We had a few guys working chainsaws and clearing out old shrubs. The rest of the group loaded wheelbarrows and dumped all the trash by the road.

We had heard through CeCe that her neighbor was a good Christian man, and didn't have the time to clean up his lot. To give you a visual, his lot was a big concrete slab with all the walls and roof laying on it. It was a mess. We decided that we would sweep all the way over in the ditch and clean up his debris too, and then work our way up to the slab and remove all the debris from it. After eating lunch, we attended to this task and by 5:00 we had the entire slab clean and swept. It was amazing. I can only imagine how that lot owner is going to feel when he sees what we were able to accomplish.

CeCe had been out most of the day picking out tile samples, but when she came home she was astonished. She said she felt like she was on Extreme Makeover, and she was waiting for Ty to come out and say "Move That FEMA Trailer!" She couldn't believe how clean her backyard was, and how quickly we had cleaned her neighbors lot. She said we were a bunch of angels, and she could truly see the love of Jesus in us. She wanted to hug each and every one of us. We willing embraced her and were glad that we could make a difference. The simple task of picking up styro-foam and old boards made this woman's day.\n

When we got back to camp, we were all starving, and the Power Team didn't let us down! We had Chicken and Dumpings, mashed potatoes, and hot rolls. We also had some kind of vegetable medely but I don't eat vegetables so I can't tell you what it was. In any case, it was really good! I wanted to eat more but couldn't fit anymore in my belly. After dinner, we digested and relaxed for a little bit, and then met for a time of worship. We gathered around in a big circle and each one of us shared a quick testimony and was prayed for by another team member. \n

It was really neat to see people share their hearts and pray for others. It's moments like these that you never forget. We eagerly look forward to what the upcoming days bring. It's 1:15am right now as Bryan, Rusty, Kolby, and Chris Mac sit alone in the lunchroom. We're all tired, but so excited to wake up in 5 hours to eat more breakfast and do it all over again! God bless! Keep us in your prayers!\n",1] ); //-->

We had heard through CeCe that her neighbor was a good Christian man, and didn't have the time to clean up his lot. To give you a visual, his lot was a big concrete slab with all the walls and roof laying on it. It was a mess. We decided that we would sweep all the way over in the ditch and clean up his debris too, and then work our way up to the slab and remove all the debris from it. After eating lunch, we attended to this task and by 5:00 we had the entire slab clean and swept. It was amazing. I can only imagine how that lot owner is going to feel when he sees what we were able to accomplish.

CeCe had been out most of the day picking out tile samples, but when she came home she was astonished. She said she felt like she was on Extreme Makeover, and she was waiting for Ty to come out and say "Move That FEMA Trailer!" She couldn't believe how clean her backyard was, and how quickly we had cleaned her neighbors lot. She said we were a bunch of angels, and she could truly see the love of Jesus in us. She wanted to hug each and every one of us. We willing embraced her and were glad that we could make a difference. The simple task of picking up styro-foam and old boards made this woman's day.

When we got back to camp, we were all starving, and the Power Team didn't let us down! We had Chicken and Dumpings, mashed potatoes, and hot rolls. We also had some kind of vegetable medely but I don't eat vegetables so I can't tell you what it was. In any case, it was really good! I wanted to eat more but couldn't fit anymore in my belly. After dinner, we digested and relaxed for a little bit, and then met for a time of worship. We gathered around in a big circle and each one of us shared a quick testimony and was prayed for by another team member.

It was really neat to see people share their hearts and pray for others. It's moments like these that you never forget. We eagerly look forward to what the upcoming days bring. It's 1:15am right now as Bryan, Rusty, Kolby, and Chris Mac sit alone in the lunchroom. We're all tired, but so excited to wake up in 5 hours to eat more breakfast and do it all over again! God bless! Keep us in your prayers!
Bryan Simon
Katrina Relief 07


Bryan Simon
Katrina Relief 07






P.S. Our internet went down tonight, so we are posting this about 3 feet from the road, and we are on someone else's internet connection. So I am unable to put on pictures, but in the morning and we resolve our problems I will post some pictures on, be patient It is 2 am here and we have been trying to get online for about an hour and a half, and it is a tad frustrating

Kolby Dukes

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Greetings From Gulfport

Hello everyone! This is Bryan Simon writing you at 10:14PM Gulfport time, 11:14PM Eastern Shore / DelMarVa time. I am glad to say that we made it safe here with no problems on the road...

Well, that was a lie. Sam Paynter's tire popped and Burt Fox had a problem with his trailer hookup, but other than that, things went well and we made it in about 24 hours. I had the 2:00am-5:00am ride, which thanks to my wonderful new Christmas present (an Ipod) I was able to stay awake and get us through that horrible time.

Enough about me...the team is doing real good. We got here at about 10:00am and got situated into our rooms and trailers. At noon we had dominos pizza and played around with some frisbees and soccer balls. It was probably 59 degrees today, so we enjoyed the sunshine and got used to the wonderful Mississippi air.

Tonight we had burgers fresh off the grill and a time of worship and prayer by the bonfire. The main topic was unity, and how we are all here for one main purpose, and that's helping out the people of Gulfport Mississippi in whatever way we can.

Tommorow morning we wake up bright and early for breakfast and head off to some jobsites. I think I heard that yard cleanup is going to be a big part of tomorow's activities. It's wild...it's been over a year since the hurricane and things are still in pretty bad shape.

Stay tuned for more pictures and trip progress.

Bryan Simon
Katrina Relief Team 07

Pictures




We are here!

We have made it here safely! Prob is speaking right now, so I don't have much time to put stuff on here, but once I get everything organized I will post some pictures on here. It has been an extremely long ride, but it was a great team building experience. More to come later!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Leavin soon

we leave at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning, so in just a few hours we will be pulling out from delmarva christian high school. well I will try to post later if I find internet.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Madatory Meeting

There is a mandatory meeting 6:00 p.m. at Delmarva Christian High School. You must be there! thanks