Digging ... Digging

At roughly 8 a.m. we left Camp Costal (CC) but did not arrive at the property where we worked until about 8:30. Even though the property lay a mere mile or two from camp, it took us at least 15 minutes to find the site after we pulled off of the main road. When we eventually arrived the property owner Rick courteously greeted us.
“I stayed with my family at my nephews in Biloxi during the storm,” Rick told us during one of many breaks. “On the Monday after when things had settled down, we all went to see my sister’s place and it was gone. We went to my mother’s place and that was gone. We came back here to my place and it was gone.”
We would later learn from an Americorps volunteer that Rick donated the back half of his spacious property to Camp Costal (CC) to build a place for the Americorps volunteers to gather in some privacy from the rest of the campers. Rick’s generosity touched the CA students led by Marco Odiaga as well when he brought us ice cream sandwiches at the end of the day.
Our objective for the day was to connect the new Americorps building to the septic system of Rick’s house. On a day when temperatures reportedly peaked at 105 degrees (plus humidity!!!) most of the work was accomplished before a nearly hour-long lunch break. For relief many students took shelter in the airc-onditioned mini van at regular intervals and downed at least a gallon of water each. At the end of the day, a foot deep and a foot across trench winding for roughly 130 feet connected the two buildings. In addition to the heat, work was hindered during the afternoon due to tree roots that reached up to 5 inches in diameter. Only one major root was conquered—with the addition of a power handsaw—and the rest will await us (and a chainsaw) tomorrow.

-Steven B.