Work Team Updates

It is Saturday. The team from East White Oak Bible Church in Carlock, IL left yesterday. They were a great help to us and to Fellowship Bible Church in Metairie. One fun thing they did was to keep a online journal of their trip. You can check it out here.

The team from SAYSF Bible Church in Lexington Park, MD has been here all week. Part of their team left this morning and the rest will leave tomorrow. They have worked on a number of homes as well as finishing the roofing of our front building.

The Cedarville University team has been working at Ben Franklin High School for the past two days. Today is their last day. You would not believe how much work they have gotten done! The faculty and parents who have dropped by the school over the past couple of days have been astounded by how hard the students have worked and how much progress has been made. If you know me (Doug), then you know that one of my deepest passions is for the church to be involved in the community. We are doing it folks! Hopefully there will be an article in the Times-Picayune tomorrow on this project. How cool is that? Also, Cedarville has a diaster relief page on their site. They have been posting photos of the group working at Franklin. Also, a student named Evan posted his photo album from the trip here.

Finally, the group from New Hope Community Church in New Hope, PA arrived last night. Great drive...dinner at Bennigan's. Today is their first work day.

I'll keep you posted on the happenings here in the Crescent City!

Work Team Wish List

Hello all. We have been asked by a number of people for a "wish list" of items that we still need to help work teams minister to people here in New Orleans. Our leadership put together a list today. Some of the items are big...some are small. We would appreciate any help you can provide.

Click here for the list.

facility renovations

I just wanted to take a moment to update you all on what has been going on with our church facility. We have had many updates and repairs over the past couple of weeks. If you need a reminder of some of our damage, here is the link to the post with pictures of some of our damage.

Here are a couple of updates...

Two trucks...a U-Haul from Henderson Bible Church and an 18-wheeler from Gospel Literature filled our gym with supplies. We have everything from clothing, toiletries and food for New Orleanians to cots, tools and cleaning supplies for work teams. Good stuff.



Matt Tayloe called me a couple of weeks ago. Calvary Chapel New Orleans is an active and vibrant church that is fairly new to the New Orleans area. They wanted to help us out by purchasing some of the items needed for our kitchen. They bought a fridge, new shelving , a new gas grill and a couple of mini-refrigerators for members to use. You can see the fridge and the shelving above.



Grace Fellowship Church in Johnson City, TN also bought some new appliances for our kitchen. They brought down a double oven, a full fridge, a full freezer, an ice maker and a couple of other miscellaneous items. These new kitchen appliances have been wonderful as we house work teams.


On to the repairs....

Remember the holes in our gym? Well, the first makeshift work team of members of our church and Community Bible Church in Baton Rouge were able to pop the siding back into place. No more holes...and much easier to fix than we expected.



Grace Fellowship also sent down a small work team this past week...and they got a lot done on our facility...including a new fence on one side.


Pleasant Valley Evangelical Church in Niles, OH took on a number of projects. They got some of they guys from Grace Fellowship Church as well as some of the teens from Calvary Church in St. Louis to help them. Here they are...

Our tractor shed is now a full-fledged work shed. It was cleared out two weeks ago by David's Church in Millersburg, PA. The three work teams teamed up to put down a concrete floor and fill it with tools. Now we only need to build in some shelving...


The old portable building is also being used to house supplies. It now has a new roof, a new front door, a new window AC unit and some new exterior walls. Slap some paint on that baby and it'll look good!


The big project that the boys tackled was cutting down the peaks on our main building. The storm blew many of the shingles off of these peaks. We knew that we did not want to reroof unless we did the whole job. Well...it's almost done! The peaks are cut off...new decking...new felt paper...we only need to shingle it now. Wow.


On the inside of the main building...the missing shingles caused some water damage in our nursery. The teams worked to repair the nursery. We could sure use that room on Sunday morning ASAP.

So that is what is going on! We'll keep you posted...

busy, busy, busy

I must apologize that we haven't updated the blog lately. The truth is...we are so busy we just haven't had the time! This week we have had three different groups (about 45 people) stay in our building: Pleasant Valley Evangelical Church (Youngstown, OH), Calvary Church (St. Louis, MO), and Grace Fellowship Church (Johnson City, TN). Boy, have they gotten some work done! Anyway, if your church is planning on sending a work team anytime soon, here are some things we have learned:

• We are assigning jobs a day at a time. Your team will be given enough jobs to fill the day. Your leader will meet with someone from our church each day to discuss your jobs for the following day.
• As you are planning your teams, try to focus on splitting up into teams to handle different types of jobs. For example, if you bring a team of 15, you could have an exterior team (chainsaw work, lawncare, etc.), an interior deconstruction team (tearing out floors, sheetrock, ceilings, etc.), and a specialized team (depends on your skills...roofing, carpentry, floating sheetrock, etc.). Of course, your teams might shift a bit each day depending on the jobs.
• A SBC church right down the road, Calvary Baptist Church, is hosting a Red Cross feeding center. Right now, the plan is for this feeding center to stay open for the next couple of weeks. They are providing hot lunches and dinners for free. You can walk right up and get as many to-go boxes as needed. Your group is more than welcome to take advantage of this opportunity if needed.
• If your group is driving in from the East, then I'm sure you are aware of the section of I-10 that has been closed due to Hurricane damage. Detouring around this route has added 45-60 minutes to the drive. Good news. It partially reopened today. Click here to read a news article about it.
• Flexibility is the key!

We have had some amazing opportunities to reach out to the community this week. We have helped neighbors, family members, friends, small businesses and church members. Also, a door open for us to play a role in rebuilding a public high school. Wow. I have been amazed at how God has worked...and this is only the first week!

Feel free to contact me (Doug) if you have any questions. My cell number is 504-975-7570 and my email is doug@bereannola.com. I am busy, but I want to talk to you!

Keep praying. God is working to heal New Orleans. I can't believe that we get to play a role.

Please come by and get some stuff

Hello all. Just wanted to let you know that we just unpacked an 18 wheeler full of stuff from the Baptist Children's Home and Gospel Literature Services. It had lots and lots of stuff. We have:

• tools (circular saws, reciprocating saws, drills, shovels, wheelbarrows, ladders)
• tarps & roofing nails
• cleaning supplies (bleach, windex, mops, bug sprayers, gloves, masks, etc.)
• hygiene items
• food
• bottled water
• clothing
• baby diapers

And we have lots of it...and lots of other stuff. If you or anyone you know would like anything (although you can only borrow the tools), please come by the church office. We are here during the day (9am-5pm). You can call us first at 504-362-3254. Please come by and we will fill you car with stuff.