October 5, 2017

Today’s project was a (very) large single story house that backed up to the Bayou. Need I say more? This family, (mom, dad & 2 kids), was gone when the storm hit, and when they finally returned, they found the house under 4 feet of water. By the time the water receded, the flooring had heaved up 4-6 inches making it impossible to open any of the doors. The dad described peering through the windows feeling totally locked out. The good news is that they have flood insurance which should help, hopefully a lot.

I learned today that if homeowners contract with paid providers to muck & gut their homes, it can often cost $7,500 to $12,000 – and they refuse to sort or pack personal possessions which is often the help the elderly need most. The volunteer teams do it all. Today’s home was empty – they’d already dealt with the contents (likely a total loss?) before we arrived. We arrived TWENTY strong today – Nechama, an Americorps team from Louisiana, and a team from Orthodox Christian Disaster Response. We divided up into groups of 4, and each took a room. I can now add the skill of “carpet pulling” to my deconstruction (we try to avoid saying demolition) resume. It was soaked, nasty, and we were happy to show it to the curb. Along with everything else you can see in the attached pictures.

This house was far “wetter” than the prior homes I’ve worked, and the wall board crumbled to nothing as we tried to pull it down. Up til now, we’d pulled the wallboard to 4 feet, but, here we pulled 8-10 feet up, and in some cases to the vaulted ceilings. I have discovered that I LOVE using a manual pry-bar! Oh, for the squeamish among you – skip these next sentences….. The bugs and cockroaches had moved in and taken up residence. And yes, they crawled across our shoes, and worse…. UGH.

We disconnect most electrical and all water in the houses while we work – so, there are no bathrooms and besides the toilets are typically yanked anyway. This sets up an interesting paradox as we are urged to drink water, but, have no facilities to use. After lunch, we did take the vans to a local grocery store and all trooped in, trying (yeah right) to be inconspicuous while we luxuriated in the only air conditioning we’d experienced all day.

I’d expected the work to be reasonably social, but, it really isn’t. You definitely cooperate, since many of the tasks take several sets of hands, but, there’s little if any small talk while you work – and everyone’s masked up, which doesn’t help. While help is readily available, there’s almost no supervision. Deconstruction consists of 10 different tasks (at the very most) executed repetitively, and everyone moves between them with virtually no hierarchy. (Is hacking down wall-board better or worse than carting out debris?) The only exception is that power tools are handled by people with experience. Though they did hand me a power screw driver today, so I could pull screws. I found it totally un-fun to use, and went back to my manual pry-bar at the earliest opportunity.

If it is possible, we were dirtier today, than we were last week. And so, once again, at the end of the day, (after allowing time for the Volunteer vans to depart!), I stripped out of my dirty clothes before driving back. At some point I may need one or more of you on this email to post bail, so please stay tuned.

I have not become a Houston Astro fan, (oh, our poor hapless Mariners), but, I am happy to celebrate their win today, cheer them on in the series against Boston, and root for them in their hunt for a Series win! Go Astros!

Looks like I will be extending my stay in Houston into early November, (with a quick trip back to Seattle to collect my mail at the end of next week…) I’ll share those details next week when I know more, but, as a sneak preview, it appears to involve creating a furniture distribution program for Houston JFS, and our clients who have experienced total loss. And for those of you who KNOW that I lack decorating taste of any kind, I can assure you that I am NOT going to be in charge of selecting the stuff, just working through the operations and logistics of the program. But, will they let me use a pry-bar?!

I love hearing from all of you! And miss you!

Oct 1, 2017

If you’ve already checked out the pictures, you’ve probably guessed that I’ve just completed my first day of volunteer work known as “muck & gut”. But, I want to set that aside for a minute and catch you up on Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur with Beth Yeshurun, held at Lakewood Church. The facilities are freaking magnificent. Can you imagine taking an old Basketball arena and renovating it so that resembles Benaroya Hall only 12.5 times larger? With the ability to project live images throughout the entire hall…which seats 15,000 congregants. It would either be a Rabbi’s dream or worst nightmare…. We’ll have to ask Rabbi Rosenbaum to weigh in here.

Until Kol Nidre, I was not aware of the total destruction of BY’s campus and buildings. It is totally and completely destroyed – every square foot of their campus, (the largest conservative congregation in the US!) flooded – with much of the space taking on 4 feet of water. This, despite an extensive remodeling mitigation with high technology drainage intended to prevent such a disaster. Now the facilities sit open and gutted. (Thankfully, the Torah scrolls were rescued – every single one!) The Rabbi spoke frankly about his fear that rebuilding is going to create a near impossible hurdle for their community. Many of their largest benefactors lost homes in the flooding. The Rabbi, and I suspect many of the congregants, had total or near total losses.

So, it turns out that Joel Osteen provided his Lakewood Church facilities as a GIFT to the Beth Yeshurun congregation – as in everything was covered. EVERYTHING. It enabled BY to hold holiday services. PERIOD. No where else was prepared to seat 2,000+ people, with 2 weeks’ notice. Of course everyone is extremely grateful for this generosity! At the same time, (and here I speak ONLY for myself), I find it more than a little disturbing that Lakewood Church was completely welcoming to the needs of an (upper) middle class community, when during the flooding, Lakewood stood by silent and closed for the neediest of the community, only ultimately and reluctantly succumbing to pressure. There is a moral dilemma here that is above my paygrade to adequately parse, but, at the most basic level can be described as disturbing and awkward. Thoughts? I’d love to hear!

Today was my introduction to the art of “muck and gut”. It is neither art nor science – it’s just a long day of heavy, hot, dirty, manual labor. It’s exactly what I expected and what I wanted to be doing. It provides a different kind of satisfaction than the work at JFS. Today I joined a team that was nearly finished gutting a house – and we completed it by noon, and then moved on to start another one. Within 30 minutes, I had a handle on the work: If the wallboard is still hanging, take a crow-bar to it and pull it off. If the wallboard is on the floor, cart it to the curb in a wheelbarrow. And sweep and sweep and sweep. Nechama is an incredible organization. https://www.nechama.org/ They are capable, organized and drove down vans from Minneapolis with all of the tools and equipment to do the work! The residential volunteers are staying at a local church – 20 in one room, on cots, with showers down the street, eating donated meals, and doing their laundry at a laundromat. I left the worksite this afternoon feeling more than a bit awkward, heading back to Tina’s where I dumped my nasty work clothes in the Condo’s commercial washers, headed upstairs for a hot shower, opened a refrigerator full of food, and now I write this email in Tina’s spare bedroom on a very comfy bed. I have completely acquired a version of “non-flooded” guilt which is rampant throughout Houston – and is discussed extensively. People nearly apologize for not being flooded. Bizarre but, true – this city has been traumatized.

I *can* report that I most certainly provided a good laugh to the neighborhood after we finished work today. As you know, Tina’s loaned me her lovely BMW convertible, and there was NO way I was driving it home in my totally legit but, vile Carhartts. So, I crouched behind the sportscar and proceeded to strip off my clothes and change into clean attire before driving back. It evoked memories of our kids changing clothes in the car as they went from school to sports. Only they were INSIDE the car. I can unequivocally state that Houston’s gotten to see the back of me, and I haven’t even left yet!

If you’ve already clicked on the pictures, you’ve probably guessed that I’ve just completed my first day of volunteer work known as “muck & gut”. But, I want to set that aside for a minute and catch you up on Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur with Beth Yeshurun, held at Lakewood Church. The facilities are freaking magnificent. Can you imagine taking an old Basketball arena and renovating it so that resembles Benaroya Hall only 12.5 times larger? With the ability to project live images throughout the entire hall…which seats 15,000 congregants. It would either be a Rabbi’s dream or worst nightmare…. We’ll have to ask Rabbi Rosenbaum to weigh in here.

Until Kol Nidre, I was not aware of the total destruction of BY’s campus and buildings. It is totally and completely destroyed – every square foot of their campus, (the largest conservative congregation in the US!) flooded – with much of the space taking on 4 feet of water. This, despite an extensive remodeling mitigation with high technology drainage intended to prevent such a disaster. Now the facilities sit open and gutted. (Thankfully, the Torah scrolls were rescued – every single one!) The Rabbi spoke frankly about his fear that rebuilding is going to create a near impossible hurdle for their community. Many of their largest benefactors lost homes in the flooding. The Rabbi, and I suspect many of the congregants, had total or near total losses.

So, it turns out that Joel Osteen provided his Lakewood Church facilities as a GIFT to the Beth Yeshurun congregation – as in everything was covered. EVERYTHING. It enabled BY to hold holiday services. PERIOD. No where else was prepared to seat 2,000+ people, with 2 weeks’ notice. Of course everyone is extremely grateful for this generosity! At the same time, (and here I speak ONLY for myself), I find it more than a little disturbing that Lakewood Church was completely welcoming to the needs of an (upper) middle class community, when during the flooding, Lakewood stood by silent and closed for the neediest of the community, only ultimately and reluctantly succumbing to pressure. There is a moral dilemma here that is above my paygrade to adequately parse, but, at the most basic level can be described as disturbing and awkward. Thoughts? I’d love to hear!

Today was my introduction to the art of “muck and gut”. It is neither art nor science – it’s just a long day of heavy, hot, dirty, manual labor. It’s exactly what I expected and what I wanted to be doing. It provides a different kind of satisfaction than the work at JFS. Today I joined a team that was nearly finished gutting a house – and we completed it by noon, and then moved on to start another one. Within 30 minutes, I had a handle on the work: If the wallboard is still hanging, take a crow-bar to it and pull it off. If the wallboard is on the floor, cart it to the curb in a wheelbarrow. And sweep and sweep and sweep. Nechama is an incredible organization. https://www.nechama.org/ They are capable, organized and drove down vans from Minneapolis with all of the tools and equipment to do the work! The residential volunteers are staying at a local church – 20 in one room, on cots, with showers down the street, eating donated meals, and doing their laundry at a laundromat. I left the worksite this afternoon feeling more than a bit awkward, heading back to Tina’s where I dumped my nasty work clothes in the Condo’s commercial washers, headed upstairs for a hot shower, opened a refrigerator full of food, and now I write this email in Tina’s spare bedroom on a very comfy bed. I have completely acquired a version of “non-flooded” guilt which is rampant throughout Houston – and is discussed extensively. People nearly apologize for not being flooded. Bizarre but, true – this city has been traumatized.

I *can* report that I most certainly provided a good laugh to the neighborhood after we finished work today. As you know, Tina’s loaned me her lovely BMW convertible, and there was NO way I was driving it home in my totally legit but, vile Carhartts. So, I crouched behind the sportscar and proceeded to strip off my clothes and change into clean attire before driving back. It evoked memories of our kids changing clothes in the car as they went from school to sports. Only they were INSIDE the car. I can unequivocally state that Houston’s gotten to see the back of me, and I haven’t even left yet!

 

Sept 29, 2017

Jewish Family Service closed today at 1 p.m. in advance of Kol Nidre, this evening. I watched and listened as friends and colleagues wished each other a (much) better year ahead, with fierce hugs and a fair share of tears. These are caregivers who truly need a break, but, rarely show their personal pain. It was hard to watch and I felt a bit like an intruder.

It’s been a whirl-wind week. The bike has turned out to be wonderful! I’d like to credit the Dara family (friends of Hannah’s) for the loan – they opened their garage and heart and told me to pick any of their family bikes! (But, made me promise to ride carefully – which I am .) Monday found me very tentative – riding the sidewalks and avoiding the roadways at all costs. I quickly realized that the roadways are both safer and faster, (along with actually being legal). Houston hasn’t quite mastered the art of “curb cuts” making sidewalks a real hazard. By today – I am RIDING up the ramps in Tina’s parking garage, and trying to time my ride to beat the traffic lights, (I swear it was YELLOW.) But the real story of my bike ride is this: Last week I drove past the debris piles, in a car, and found them heart wrenching. Now, seeing them at eye level, as I ride past on a bike, adds a whole new dimension of pain. From the vantage point and speed of a biker, (yes I am slow), the debris transforms from meaningless trash to unique, often irreplaceable, personal possessions, now destroyed, lost forever, and sitting curb side waiting to be hauled away.

We made real progress on Case Management this week! I feel totally guilty even saying that. Yes – we made progress at JFS creating order out of monstrous paperwork stacks, getting people entered into the system, and figuring out what’s next for most clients. But, our progress doesn’t represent adequate progress for people who need (honest) contractors, access to low-cost furniture, clothes, mold-mitigation, and for heaven’s sake a positive ANSWER from FEMA! On the brighter side – according to Tina, the relief organizations here have enough diapers to cover every man, woman, and child in the city of Houston for the next two years.

Today was actually a good day. We made 45 calls letting clients know that their $1,000 grant checks were ready. One woman insisted that I give her a name at JFS so she could write us a thank you note. (Who actually writes thank you notes anymore??) We have been rushing to process over 600 applications, but, it takes time.

Here’s the details of the grant – truly wonderful, huh?!

Well, friends, I am off to Kol Nidre services for Beth Yeshurun at Lakewood Church – which was an ARENA in a past life. I am told it is an experience not to be missed, so there you have it.

I miss all of you and Seattle more than I can describe. When I ride my bike to JFS in the morning, I am drenched – and that is BEFORE I even start. Humidity was invented here in Houston . I swear I will stop complaining about Seattle’s weather, though no promises about traffic.

May you all be inscribed for a good and sweet New Year!

Sept 24, 2017

It is a beautiful, sunny Sunday morning and I am enjoying the early quiet at Tina’s family farm in Shiner, Texas. We head back to Houston today, and tomorrow I’ll be joining JFS to meet and help families from West Houston who were flooded by the Reservoir release. We’ll arrive with grants, counseling, and volunteer legal assistance, but, I have no illusion that it will be sufficient. I expect it to be a long and sad day.

During this morning’s calm, I read a beautiful article from the Houston Chronicle, shared with me by several people. (All of you know I don’t do newspapers)

It begins:

One of the central prayers of the High Holy Days, known as Unetaneh Tokef, dramatizes these themes through stark poetry. It depicts God as a judge enthroned on high, recording all our deeds and assessing our lives accordingly. “On Rosh Hashanah it is written,” goes the prayer, “and on Yom Kippur it is sealed: How many shall pass away and how many shall be born; who shall live and who shall die; who in good time and who before his time; who by water and who by fire … .”

That last one – who by water – is raising eyebrows and questions this year, as so many families and institutions in the greater Houston’s Jewish community have suffered from floodwaters. Are we really supposed to believe that God sends floods to punish people?

The remainder of the article is an extremely thoughtful response by local Houston Rabbis, to this difficult text in this even more difficult time. Here is the link: For Houston Rabbis, Harvey was a reminder we are here to serve

As I send you emails on what I am finding and learning here, I am struggling a bit on whether it is fair or right to ask for donations. For the most part, I think not – but, this morning I am going to share one opportunity. There is a specific need right now, and if you are interested, your support would powerfully multiply and echo the Rabbis of Houston.

This is the scoop:

The vast majority of donated relief funds have, (and should have), specific parameters for disbursements – such as food and housing. However, we are also finding very pressing needs for items that may not meet these parameters, and unless they are granted specifically, the needs cannot be met. It is a very powerless and haunting feeling.

JFS is hoping to set up a “wish-list registry” for individual donors to visit, so they can donate to a specific need, for a specific person. A very generous congregant at Herzl did just that last week after I explained that a young woman who used her bike for transportation had her bike damaged in the flood, and needed funds to either repair or replace it. From ask to need answered! And in less than 15 minutes! It was overwhelming and heart-warming.

Until Houston JFS has the time/breathing room to set up the “wish-list registry”, I have arranged with Linda Burger, the JFS CEO, that people can donate directly to Houston JFS, and earmark it for her “Discretionary Fund”. She will ensure that these funds meet Hurricane Relief needs that are important and would otherwise go unfunded.
Here’s the link to donate: http://www.jfshouston.org/giveonline.php / Please mark it to the: Linda L Burger CEO Discretionary Fund
And, if other people ask you how they can make an immediate and tangible difference, feel free to share this!

Thinking of all of you! And sending my wishes for an easy fast.

Sept 21, 2017

Shana Tova to all of you!

I am spending the holidays in Austin with my brother and sister-in-law who are taking care of me to the max. Just slightly short of force-feeding me…..

Looking back on my first week, I am so totally where I want to be. It’s hard to explain that this gives me such satisfaction despite the amount of time I’ve spent in tears. But, it feels like what I am doing matters. I get to talk to people who are in true pain and help them understand that our community really cares and is here to help. But, the most amazing thing is that my words to our clients are NOT hollow, because they are backed up by the resources, (yes, in many case, cash grants!), we can offer these folks. These are resources totally made possible because our community is fully funding these efforts. We can’t do everything, but, we are certainly making a dent. It is a wonderful feeling.

THIS will make you laugh: Every time I get off the phone and breakdown like a baby, everyone else in the room, (who are experienced social workers), rush my aid. Ha! Ha! IF I have to be a baby, I guess it’s good to do it in the midst of the largest collection of social workers I will ever meet. While this is exactly what I want to be doing, no way could I have done this for a living…. (Go hug a social worker today.)

Also, I am so very excited!! I got loan of a bike today, so I can now ride it to work and not borrow Tina’s car every day. Besides which, (and I haven’t said in my emails….), it was getting hard to keep making it into the office FIRST, and leaving LAST so no one would realize I was the one driving a BMW convertible sportscar into a Disaster Relief site……

I took the loaned bike to a local shop and they gave it a full safety check, (it passed), they filled the tires and helped me buy a helmet and a bike lock. I figure it will be a 20/30 minute bike ride each way – and since I haven’t been getting out much during the week, the exercise, (90 degree heat + 80% humidity, right), will be quite welcome.

Last night I took the bus to Austin. You guys would love it…. It’s called the MegaBus, costs $16 each way, and did we have an INTERESTING crowd. But, unlike my high school experience, (where the Tennessee State Troopers stopped our Greyhound bus from Knoxville to Chattanooga, and arrested the guy across the aisle from me), this trip was uneventful. The alternative to MegaBus is called VonLane – and at $82, offers the true upscale ride to Austin. I figured I’d pass….

I start my demolition volunteering on October 1st, and can’t wait to see what safety / hazmat equipment we have to suit up in. The remaining mess is pretty gawd-awful. After work each day, I will probably strip downstairs and throw my clothes into the commercial washers they have in Tina’s building. Nechama has made it very clear that our clothes and shoes will need to be tossed as garbage once we’re done volunteering. (Dang…. My Carhartt work pants give me total street cred, and took freaking forever to find!)

Please do me this last favor: As you see friends and family, PLEASE thank everyone for their amazing generosity. Every dollar that they have given is making Houston relief work possible and is providing hope in a way that is indescribable!

I really miss you guys and would love to catch up by phone if you have time! Hugs!

Sept 18, 2017

I came back to Tina’s house tonight, where she poured me two large glasses of wine….and yes, I drank them both. It was not an easy day. I am beginning to understand the guilt being felt by the Houstonians who were not impacted – how can we say our day was difficult in the midst of so much loss?

The Staff at the Houston JFS is doing an amazing job. The Staff is clearly overworked after multiple weeks of very long and difficult days. Many have significant car and housing losses of their own . And yet, when we were given our Case Management orientation this morning, the staff didn’t focus solely on the tasks at hand, (which were incredibly organized and totally prepared in advance for us), everyone spent time helping us understand the community pain and depth of loss which people here have faced. In short – they prioritized compassion.

When I sat down to the phones this morning to make Case Management phone calls, it was totally and eerily similar to our (semi/totally-dreaded) Annual Federation Donor Phonathons: stacks of unfamiliar/semi-complete paperwork, dialing unknown phone numbers, working to establish rapport, listening, and then probing for relevant information… in advance of making the Ask. It is not lost on me that it is just those Asks which are making these Relief Services phone calls possible. (Oh, the Irony!)

The needs are heart wrenching. I talked to many people today who described losing every possession they’ve owned, and of course both cars. They then proceed to tell me that they don’t need to be helped first, that we should help others who need it more. I have to pry their needs out of them…. And then encourage them to accept the available services and support. (For gawd sake plz let us offer you grocery money….)

I’ve learned that non-profits divide up Houston both culturally and geographically. (I believe the same is true in Seattle.) So Catholic Charities support not only all Catholics, but, also a geographic section of Houston. Likewise, the JFS, supports Jewish clients across the city, and all clients in the Southwest part of town. So, tomorrow I am joining a case worker and we are headed to West Houston. For context, West Houston did not flood with the rains, instead, it flooded when Houston released water from the Reservoirs when they appeared to be at risk of breaching. While the water in other parts of Houston drained in several days, the homes in West Houston sat submerged in water to their ceilings for up to 12 days. People in West Houston are angry and feel sacrificed, and abandoned by the City. As one JFS client told a case worker, “My parents sacrificed their home so mine could be saved.”

Tomorrow we are going there to meet clients, assess needs, and make initial cash grants on the spot. The case worker said with a heavy sigh – all you have to do is drive through West Houston, and you want to immediately open your wallet. I have been told that JFS is one of only two charities that meet client needs with cash grants – and consistently does so quickly and with minimal red tape. It makes me proud to see our Jewish community in action! What a loving and beautiful gift to give to the Houston community!

Sept 17, 2017

It’s Sunday evening in Houston, and I’m more than a bit nervous about tomorrow. I start with Houston JFS at 9 a.m.

I arrived in Houston yesterday afternoon and settled in with my high school friend Tina, who lives only 15 minutes from JFS – and you don’t have to drive ANY freeways to get there! Even better, you only have to make ONE (count them) turn. (And yes, Peggy, I will still likely use my GPS…. Oh well.)

Tina has been wonderful! We drove to JFS today to scout the route, and then we toured the local community – which she hadn’t driven through yet. I’ve attached a photo from a single house demoltion. This is representative of the debris – from EVERY house on an impacted street. Multiply this by entire neighborhoods, as you turn the corner and look down the length of the street. Seeing this while the sun is shining and the bayous are back within their banks is indescribably eerie. Some of Houston is totally untouched, up and running, and so much of it will not recover for many many months. According to Tina, in the past, one of a home’s selling points was that it “did not flood during Hurricane Alicia”. Clearly – Harvey resets that benchmark.

A local mega-church whose Pastor, Joel Osteen, was nationally catisgated for being unwelcoming to hurricane refugees, (first refusing to shelter them, and then passing a collection plate?!), seems to be working on its public image. They are providing their space to Congregation Beth Yeshurun, (huge conservative congregation here), for the High Holidays. Bummer – had I known, I would have definitely stayed in Houston for the holidays (instead of going to my brother’s in Austin). Do you know how LONG my childhood friends in Tennessee tried to get me in a church? I could have been church-going and holiday-attending simultaneously. Besides I have it on very good authority that churches offer UNLIMITED parking!