Rotary District 7770
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Little River Beach Bench Project

The following is submitted by Myke Wharff

Adopt-A-Club

Bay St. Louis/Waveland Mississippi (BSL/W)

Beach Beautification Project

 

Purpose:

The area, prior to Katrina, was known for their pristine beaches and recreation areas. The locals, as well as weekenders, swarmed the beaches to fish, play in the water, throw Frisbees or engage in a little competitive beach volleyball.

Hancock County has done a superb job cleaning the beaches, although there are signs posted to keep out of the water due to hurricane debris. A few broken telephone poles have been used to make a couple of makeshift volleyball areas.

The BSL/W Rotary set down several priorities to return the area to pre-Katrina life style normalcy. One of their main projects was to give the remaining residents a place to reflect and revive. Living in  FEMA "tin cans" on slab lots has been very taxing on everyone. The BSL/W Rotary saw many families flocking to the beach area and felt that one way to bring a ray of hope to an otherwise bleak atmosphere was to beautify the beaches and provide an area for recreation.

The main concern was manpower. Those Rotarians remaining in the area are working at jobs during the week and working on rebuilding their homes, businesses and lives on the weekends.

Project:

In conjunction with a $10,000 donation from a California Rotary Club to purchase materials, the Little River, SC Rotary in conjunction with District #7770 Adopt-A-Club, donated the time to design, build and install eight beach benches along with aiding in the planting of eight palm trees.

Little River Rotary - Daily Journal

8/1/2006:

  • Sue and Myke Wharff left Little River, SC for Bay St. Louis/Waveland Mississippi at 6:15 am. The 900 mile trip took 12:45 minutes. When arriving they contacted and met with David Holman, President of the BSL/W Rotary at the proposed camp site located at 407 Main Street, BSL.
  • To the  Wharfs' delight, there was a house that had a new roof and some interior walls. There was also temporary electricity to the building. The inside was in need of trash removal and a good cleaning but would beat sleeping in tents. In addition, next door was a house that had been gutted but had a roof for cover from the sun and was ideal for setting up the bench building project.
  • That evening, the Wharff's went to Wal Mart to procure window fans, a hose for showering and bug spray!

 8/2/2006:

  • The day started at 8:00 am cleaning out both houses, mowing the yards to deter mosquitoes and Black Widow spiders, running electrical to window areas for the fans and basically setting up "camp'. At noon, Myke went to the BSL/W Rotary meeting and spoke about the beach bench project, as well as the 400 dictionaries and book drive for the BSL/W Middle School.
  • A partial delivery of building materials were delivered to the site around 7 pm by Patrick Martinez, Project Chair for the Beach Beatification project.
  • Rev. Charles Randall, along with the Horry County Outreach boys - Andrew and Daniel - arrived around nine, that evening. The boys were given disposable cameras and journals. They spent about a half hour writing down their first day's experience.
  • After settling in, we all crashed for the night, sort of ... the fans were blowing but it never got below about 88 degrees inside the house. Exhaustion set in and everyone was asleep by three in the morning and up by 7 am.

8/3/2006:

  • The cell went off at 7 am. It was a friend wondering how the first night went. When I told him about the heat and lack of sleep he volunteered one of his window air conditioners. David Holman stopped at noon and also volunteered a window unit.
  • We were at work by 8 am, building work horses for legs of a template table. By noon, we had our first three bench tops built.
  • Sue spent the day running to Home Depot for screws and other materials, making sure everyone kept drinking plenty of fluids and as the official photographer. Nurse Sue only had to administer a band aid to her husband and to Rev. Charles. The boys escaped unscathed.
  • Our plan was to go to lunch and tour the BSL ravaged area during the heat of the day. By 2:30 pm, the boys were anxious to get back to work. We returned in time to receive the balance of materials. We knocked out the remaining five bench tops by 5:00 pm, chanting "5 by 5" the entire time.
  • The eight bench tops required 168 - 17.5" 2'X4"-s and 16 - 6' 2"X4"'s to be cut; 740 holes to be pre-drilled and 3" deck screws to be set.
  • While Rev. Charles and the boys cleaned up the construction area, Myke put together a portable grill and Sue prepared baby back ribs, potato salad and banana cake for dinner.
  • At 7:30 pm, BSL/W President David Holman, his wife Liz and kids Houston and Lauren joined us for dinner. Patrick Martinez, Beach Beautification Chair, joined us a bit later to help finish off the ribs and dessert.
  • Around 9:00 pm, Andrew and Daniel spent time writing in their daily journals and asking lots of questions about the devastated area they saw first hand that afternoon.
  • Exhausted, all were in bed by 10 pm - and all had a good night's sleep in the cooler rooms.

 

 

8/4/2006:

  • 8 am, work began on building the legs for the benches. There were 32 legs required for the eight benches. Each was made up of two- 4"x4"X6' treated lumber separated by a nine inch 2"x4" an eight inch space and then a 4' - 2"x4". The 2"x4" required 12 pre-drilled holes, then deck  screwed to a 4"x4". The second 4"x4" then had six predrilled holes with 6" lag bolts. A total of 384 - 3" deck screws and 192 - 6" lag bolts were required for the eight benches.
  • At noon, we broke for a half hour for brats. Neither Andrew nor Daniel had ever had a brat. They ate three a piece! Not sure whether they were starved, loved the brats, or both ...
  • The afternoon, in conjunction with building the legs, included cutting 2" x8"x6' supports. They were then inserted into the 8" gap of two sets of legs to sustain the bench tops.
  • By 4:30 the legs and supports had been completed and five bench tops and leg sets were loaded for the first delivery.
  • The construction area was cleaned up and all tools loaded into the St. Delight van.
  • Everyone showered under the hose, got spiffed-up and we went out to dinner at a local Italian buffet ... to eat gumbo, shrimp etouffe and crawfish! Now that's a twist on Italian cuisine.
  • After dinner, we toured the Waveland area, ending up at the Veteran's Memorial project site to pre-plan Saturday's bench assembly and palm tree planting. 
  • The boys wrote in their journals and we all headed straight to bed.

 

8/5/2006:

  • The day started at 6:30 am with some trepidation. Storm clouds were brewing just off the coast line, we had no idea how many BSL/W Rotarians would be there to help and no idea if they had located a backhoe to dig holes.
  • The first load of benches were delivered to the site by 8 am. There were no BSL/W Rotarians to be seen. The second load was on site by 9 am. Still no BSL/W Rotarians. But, within a few minutes we had four, then five. No backhoe though. No trees, either.  And the storm warnings were being issued.
  • Then, a tall, lanky man and his sons walked up and bear hugged me .. it was Elijah and his sons Clifton and Brandon (the very family we sponsored at Christmas). They were there to help and help they did.
  • Rev. Charles and the boys began to hand dig the 4' deep holes required to set the legs. About three foot down they ran into water. As fast as they could dig the hole would fill in with wet sand. BIG PROBLEM!
  • Tree man to the rescue. Around 9:30, the tree man showed up with eight trees and the "almighty" auger. Teams began assembling the benches while the  trees were planted. Then the 4' holes were augured and the benches dropped in, leveled and trimmed out. By noon we had completed the entire bench and tree project and the clouds and storm warnings had disappeared completely. Guess we scared them off!
  • People walking or driving by yelled "thanks" and "God Bless you" to us the entire time we worked. A few people who were walking the beach and admiring the view even jumped in to help.
  • Rev. Charles led us in a blessing, photos were taken of the group, hand shakes and hugs were everywhere ... and, even a few tears of joy. 
  • Adopt-A-Club Project Beach Beautification Complete! Bring on another ...
  • Rev. Charles, Andrew and Daniel were off to help a man in Ocean Springs, MS drywall the inside of his house. Sunday, they would pick up a U-Haul in Atlanta, full of medical supplies bound for Africa and then, head back to Little River.

SUMMARY:

Little River Rotary and District #7770 set out to make a difference in the Gulf Coast distraught by Hurricane Katrina. Our project seemed very ambitious for a small chapter. Through the volunteer efforts of our club in providing all the camping needs, funds and travelers we provided a "ray of hope" for those survivors of Katrina. We also opened the eyes of two young men of our community to a new world and taught them the emotional value of helping others.

The reception of the local Waveland people and Rotarians was overwhelming, and all we did was build a few benches and plant a few trees. When people would hear that you were there to help they would hug you and add their blessings and tell of how other volunteers had helped. Story after story ended with "we don't know how we would have survived without people like you".

Every time we have been to the BSL/W area we have made new friends. Some Rotarians, but mostly those who somehow enter your world. An example would be the two elderly ladies that lived near where we made camp. They visited us several times and were thrilled that we helped clean up the area where the camp was located. They insisted, the next time we were in town we come to dinner.

We learned about the trials and tribulations of several survivors, as well as there personal life history in the area. We met families torn apart by Katrina ... some divorcing, some who were separated and are just not moving back together, having
started new lives in other parts of the country ... some are our friends. And, then others that were brought together by the catastrophe.

The most disturbing to me was the blank expression on people's faces. It was like they were looking into space. It was an expression of despair. Shoppers, clerks, waitresses and others seemed to be just putting one foot in front of the other and moving through time ... no purpose or direction. The psychological damage may be, no, I am sure that it is more devastating than all the wind and water created. They are past the shock, past the anger, past all of the other emotions and are resigned to their desperate fate. One of their biggest fears is that they will soon be forgotten.

In conclusion, there is plenty of opportunity to make a difference. Our District #7770 Adopt-A-Club Program gives each of our local Rotary Clubs the ability to reach out, on a continuing program, and build a better future in the Gulf Coast. These are people that need our help and support now, and will, for many years to come.