Saturday had us welcoming one more couple, Cliff and Ann, to our team and no one departed. Great team, all experienced in DR work. We all attended church at Covenant Community Church and again we were warmly welcomed. We use one of the upstairs rooms of the church for our Sunday afternoon meetings and with eight of us we also had our morning meetings in that room. Monday we all headed back to Sandy’s house to continue work. By Wednesday afternoon, we had completed the walls, ceiling, baseboards, and flooring in both the living room and office. We had also installed baseboards in two other bedrooms. Now with the addition of Ann and Cliff, we had two Anne’s, one Ann and one Angela. Sandy named us the “A” team. She liked it because she just needed to remember the guys names. Anyone who called out for Anne got a lot of responses, or maybe no answer at all. We completed our work for Sandy Wednesday afternoon and had her Bible presentation.
Week 2 team picture
Anne M preparing walls for paint
Dale and Anne A painting the living room
Cliff painting trim
Jake cutting trim
Cliff making custom trim
Jake and Angela had to do a lot of custom detail work installing the flooring
Ann W and Max painting the living room ceiling
Anne A painting and Angela caulking the living room
Office finished
Living room finished
Bible presentation for Sandy
Thursday, we split into two teams with Cliff and Ann and Dale and Anne going to Jessica’s home that is close to completion. It needed DryLock painted in the basement, basement steps replaced, trim installed in one bathroom. They got the steps and most of the painting completed Thursday.
Steps before
Ann W painting waterproofing on the basement wall
The crew testing the new steps
MIldred the emu lives at Jessica’s house.
Max and Anne and Jake and Angela went to Kim’s home. We will be taking care of all the drywall, and flooring in the front of the house and demolition and rebuild in the back portion of the house. We will probably be working there for another week.
Anne A sanding drywall
Jake starting flooring in bedroom
Jake and Angela did a great job on the bedroom floor.
Angela and Jake installing bathroom flooring
The weather was beautiful with near perfect temperatures for working and we are hoping that continues. It’s peak leaf peeping season and driving the Blue Ridge Parkway is a great way to leaf peep.
When we last posted, we had just arrived at the Covenant Community Church RV Village in Asheville, NC. Due to tremendous shortage of affordable housing after Hurricane Helene struck, the church has installed 36 RV sites on their property. Six of the sites were designated for volunteer relief workers such as NOMADS. The remainder of the sites are for displaced residents. Most of the people in the village lost everything, home, cars, and often their land. It all washed away. We were very impressed by the loving assistance the church has showered on the community. The RVs, mostly travel trailers have been donated to the church or furnished by the UMC conference. Some of the sites saved for volunteers had electrical problems when we first arrived so we spent the next two days running our generator when needed. The site manager was a great help and we determined the problem but then had to wait for the electrician to come change out the GFCI breakers in those sites. After that was done, all has been great.
The RV Village at Covenant Community Church
Sunday service the Covenant Community Church. There were no seats that Sunday because the local high school had their homecoming dance the night before. Also, it was a special “the church has left the building” Sunday where the pastor holds a brief worship service and then sends the congregation out to do service projects in the community;
Most of you have probably seen news stories of all the damage that has occurred in North Carolina as a result of Hurricane Helene in September of 2024. It was and is worse than we saw on TV. There was over 14 inches of rain which caused catastrophic flooding and loss of life. It will take many more years for this part of NC to recover. Hopefully NOMADS will be able to help with the healing process for some of the people.
Saturday, we welcomed Anne and Dale to the RV Village at the Covenant Community Church. Angela and Jake arrived Sunday afternoon. The six of us began work on Sandy’s home in the Waynesville area on Monday morning. Sandy had a lot of roof damage which was repaired prior to our arrival. We are now working to repair the interior of her home – drywall work, and flooring. We returned to work on her house on Thursday. It will take several more days to complete all of the work. We have enjoyed getting to know Sandy. She has chickens in her backyard and has given the team two dozen eggs this week.
The living room before
The living room at the end of the week
The office at the end of the week
Jake, Anne and Angela installing flooring in the living room.
There were several transition strips required
It’s nice to have taller NOMADS that can finish the ceiling drywall without a ladder.
Some of the drywall had been partially mudded, but it all needed a second coat.
Annette, and most of the rest of the team, did a lot of drywall sanding.
Tuesday and part of Wednesday we were tasked with installing the insulation in a home in the Swannanoa area. A number of homes in this area have interesting patches in the roofs. We were told that the families in these homes climbed into their attic, cut their way out, and climbed onto their roof to await a water rescue. There are visible water lines above the tops of windows on numerous homes. There is so very much work to be done. We are just beginning.
Week 1 team in Swannanoa
Our first job at Swannanoa was to move some bundles of siding for one of the affected residents.
The duplex before we started
The duple after we finished
Dale cutting insulation
Annette dressed for work
We are very grateful that Jake handled the insulation of the firewall in the attic.
In one area of the ceiling Angela and Jake had to add some extra framing for the insulation and drywall.
The patch on this roof was to repair the hole made to rescue the people trapped in the attic.
Our team is great! We are accomplishing a lot of work. Covenant Community Church could not have been more welcoming and helpful. Our teams will enjoy their time here at the RV Village. In our off time some are enjoying the sites around Asheville, fly fishing, and the beautiful fall leaves on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Please remember our teams and all the families struggling to recover from the storm in your prayers.
RVing With a Purpose 