Dedication Day (Day Five)

Fanstastic.

That's really the only word I have to describe the feeling that comes over you while watching a story like this week unfold.

I have some more thoughts and I will continue to post them as the weekend rolls on, but right now I want to tell you about the dedication at Rosie Chaffold's house this afternoon. I spent a fair amount of time stopping by Miss Rosie's home on my way out of the neighborhood because it was close to the build site and I knew the people involved. This afternoon she was the spotlight for the rehab dedications.

And boy did she shine.
After Millard had spoken and the house captains had presented gifts, Rosie took the stage and spoke. I could not imagine a more articulate, heartfelt and sincere speech from anyone in the city on this day. She talked about a time when living in Allendale made her less than human to those in the rest of the city. She talked about the slow decline of Allendale, down to the depths of it's darkness. She talked about the arrival of the Shreveport/Bossier Community Renewal House and she talked about the rise of the Fuller Center project. She talked about all these things and more as a crowd of several dozen volunteers stood humbled by her grace.

But I had to catch my breath and pause my shooting when she said to the crowd of volunteers: "If I had ten thousand hearts, I couldn't say thank you enough." Books have been based on lesser words.

It's an amazing thing to watch a house (much less nine) go up in a week, but it pales in comparison to watching people start the rest of their lives in a new home.

Back to Work

Today marks my first day back in " the office." It's a shame, but I suppose all good things (like getting paid by my company to volunteer) must come to an end. However, that doesn't mean they could keep me away from the site altogether.

After my morning assignment I stopped by to check out the progress and also shoot a photo for an upcoming feature on the VOA traveling art bazaar. The work has slowed some while the contractors catch up. I mean hey, just cause they are pros doesn't mean they can always keep up with the Army of Ants!

The flooring contractors had gotten a start on House #9 and the drywall contractors were still trying to catch up on Clay Street.

I was going to go in and help the elves this evening, but Glen assures me they have more than enough locals signed up for tonight.

Dedications start tomorrow at 1:30 for the rehab houses and after that are the dedications for the nine new houses. I will be out to cover them and hope to see you guys there!

Reuniting in Allendale

The week's work is almost done and it's time to start the celebrations.

At 6:30 p.m. today a reception will be held for current and former Allendale residents at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, 1558 Buena Vista St.

It was organized by Renee Hooks, an Americorps employee who is working with The Fuller Center and Shreveport-Bossier Community Renewal. She grew up in Allendale, and has memories of one big family of folks that looked out for each other.

That was before the "guns and knives" took over. Now, she looks at the few blocks developed by the Fuller Center and is amazed.

"It's a new and better Allendale, and one I could never have imagined," she said.

If folks come back to the neighborhood, she knows they'll be impressed and hopes it will encourage them to get involved in the rest of the rebuilding efforts.

"I know it's going to work. It's going to be a success."

Another Blog

David Westerfield with Shreveport/Bossier Community Renewal is also writing a blog. You can see it here. www.sbcr.us/

More Photos!

Photo galleries at www.shreveporttimes.com

Here they are! More photos from Day Three.

My Hero

All week as I have labored on the roof of Ruth's house, I looked out over the empty lot next door and saw nothing but a clean slate where rows and rows of shotgun houses once stood, where when I came to Shreveport less than six years ago you could find any vice you wanted. And the only remnants of the block's past life, remained dangling from the power lines.

Regardless of their origin (prostitution, drugs or a remembrance for a fallen gang member) the shoes meant nothing to me but leftover memories of a place long past and all week I had wished that someone would cut them down.

Finally the house captain at House #8, Keith, loaded up on a high lift and cut each of the sneakers down. As I watched from the rooftop I thought about the symbolism of that act. How it was so simple and yet meant so much. In fact, much of what has been done this week is the same way. Simple gestures that as a whole will have a lasting impact.

Hump Day

Today was my last full day of work on the site. Bosses say I gotta... you know... go back to real work.

First thing in the morning, despite objection from my legs, we climbed back up onto the roof and finished the roof. It was a real pleasure to drive that last nail in a roof that will hopefully stand for decades.


Afterwards I grabbed my cameras and walked around the block a few times before lunch
All the houses were making great progress with all the roofs done and siding and drywall going up fast the neighborhood was really starting to look complete. Over on Clay Street is seemed that the Amish had spread themselves out to help their neighbors. And they were even pouring the concrete for the sidewalks and steps as I made my way to the church for lunch.

At lunch I saw that Joe Shyne had come back for another visit and Councilman Monty Walford and Shreveport CAO Tom Dark were with him.

"It's like an army of ants," said Dark. He added that although his kids had done this kind of mission work before, he was amazed to see adults taking the week off to come build a house in Shreveport. As they made their way around the grounds the city contractors continued to bulldoze substandard housing in the neighborhood. I heard that Brian Wooley was coming out later that afternoon as well. Maybe councilmen Michael Long, Ron Webb, Joyce Bowman and Calvin Lester will join us before the week is over.

When I returned to the work site I came to a realization; it seems as though in this world of house-building there are two kinds of people. Painters and non-painters. I thank God for the painters, because I gotta tell ya that I hate it. I can't really place a finger on why, but I do. So after playing around with a roller I left the serious prime/paint work to the pros and started scraping and sweeping floors to get ready for the flooring contractors. Eventually I ran out of time and had to get home to get this blog up, file images to the paper and post a gallery!

Before I left I made one last stop by Rosie's house to see the progress. It seems there was more rot in the front porch roof than anticipated and they had to strip it to the studs.
As I was talking to Tim in the kitchen, which is coming together beautifully, the whole week was wrapped up in a split second when Tim showed Rosie her new kitchen sink. The look on her face when she saw the running water was worth all the sunburn and sore legs the week could possibly dish out.

More Photos

Part of my agreement with my company is that in exchange for the time to work on the project I also produce this blog and a photo gallery each day! There are lots of photos of the project, so I hope you have a second to check it out.

Photo galleries at www.shreveporttimes.com

There is a gallery for today by me, a gallery by Jim Hudelson from yesterday and also a look at the shotgun houses that are being replaced by Val Horvath.

Back For More

Today started much the same as the previous one, a brief meeting with the house captains set everyone up and off we went to finish the roof. Before I went up top, I took a walk through the house. The sheetrock crew had come in either late last night or early this morning and hung the walls and ceiling. Literally overnight the interior of the house had taken shape. It's looking great.
A short walk around the sites this morning showed that everyone was making steady progress on the homes. Almost all of the homes were laying roof decking and shingles or at least done with the walls and started on the trusses.
After lunch we headed back to find that Mark had decided we were enough ahead for the day and reassigned the roof crew (and our more-precious-than-jewels nailguns) to help another house that had gotten a later start. So with one roof under our belt we set out to start on another. Honestly, it's a bit like finishing a race just to realize that you have to run back to where you started. But it had to be done and we made quick work of half the roof and helped House #5 get caught up with the rest of the block.
During my morning rounds I stopped by Tim's rehab project at Miss Rosie's house. The crew there has an ambitious outlook and is replacing most of the windows, gutting the kitchen, adding new plumbing and cabinets and painting the exterior of the entire house. And oh yeah, in their spare time, they are also re-roofing the porch.

Let me also add that the city is hard at work tearing down shotgun and other substandard houses all over the neighborhood. I can't decide if the lack of the old houses or the addition of the new houses is more uplifting for the city, but as a partnership they are really changing the face of the back corner of Allendale... for the better.

As I walked down Clay Street, one of the sites was strangely quiet. I didn't hear the hum of air compressors, nor the distinct whack of a nailgun. Just a constant almost singular thump-thump-thump echoed from the top of the roof.
Let me just say, if you have never watched an Amish man swing a hammer, you are missing out. Glen tells me these guys, I think about ten of them, got a ride down from Indiana because "they heard we needed some help." It's a good thing for House #1 that they did. They are so efficient, so quiet, so dedicated to their work. It's really a blessing just to stand there and watch them for a minute. Imagine what else we could learn from them.

The Fullers' story

I've told some of Millard Fuller's story before, and it's a fascinating tale of love and loss and redemption. A couple of books -- for sale at the work site -- give more details of the story. Even better they feature Shreveport fairly prominently as the first big project of The Fuller Center for Housing.

"The House that Love Built" by Bettie Youngs is a biography of Mr. Fuller and his wife, Linda. It goes through his first career as a lawyer to the founding of Habitat for Humanity to the falling out with the Habitat board and the founding of The Fuller Center for Housing. Shreveport-Bossier Community Renewal founder Mack McCarter wrote an afterword praising the Fullers for their work in Allendale.

Fuller wrote "Building Materials for Life," a series of short essays detailing lessons he learned on various builds. Again, his experiences in Shreveport are discussed. I've read a few of them, and they're pretty inspiring.

Both books are available through the Fuller Center website, www.fullercenter.org.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Who knew that my week would begin with putting a roof on!? Diane and the other volunteers just hammered away at Ruth's house on Saturday and Sunday until it was nearly built. The progress this year compared to last is amazing.

When I showed up this morning I talked with Mark Butler, the house captain from Atlanta, Ga. Turns out that Mark has been doing this "just about 10 minutes longer" than the rest of us. His version of 10 minutes is a little warped. Mark has build more than 200 homes as a volunteer with Habitat and The Fuller Center for Housing and now averages about six homes a year. It shows in his leadership and problem solving and as a result the day went incredibly smooth.
Mark tells the group what the tasks for the day are while Al Cook and Ruth listen.

After Greg Hunt said a prayer, Mark talked about the day and we broke into groupsand got to work.

As the black tar paper went down, the beautiful 60-degree morning quickly turned into a blistering day on the roof. I spent most of my time with a couple of guys from Canada... Montreal to be exact. As we talked about differences in language and culture we hammered away and the next thing you know we had laid down felt paper, put up drip edge and shingled nearly half the roof! Paul, Daniel and Sean may talk a little funny, but they can sure sling shingles... eh?
At lunch Councilman Joe Shyne stopped by to shake some hands and cheer on the volunteers. It was really appreciated and I am glad that the councilman could see the massive project in motion. I asked him to bring some other councilmen with him as the week goes on. I hope he does. I have a number of new friends in Allendale I would love for them to meet.
As the day progressed so did the houses. The others on our block (some of whom started with just bare foundations) were putting up roof decking when I left at 5:30.

Tomorrow is another day and another list of things to be accomplished. I hope to take a little time around lunch and visit with some of the other house crews. Everyone's got a great story and I can't tell all 400 of them, but I will try.

For now I am off to find dinner (ice sounds good) and try to get a little rest before it all starts again.

Sunburned and satisfied

Hammering is harder than it looks.

That's what I learned Saturday as I joined the Fuller Center volunteers in Allendale for the first day of this year's Blitz build. As Shane said last week, it really was a very cool day to work.

We gathered at about 8 a.m. for a short devotion standing on the slab of the house at Alston Street and Allen Avenue (the First Baptist house). After the prayer and a short safety instruction we started carrying walls. By 11:30, the walls were all in place and it was time to wrap the house. When I left at 4, the roof trusses had been put in place and it looked like a house. Amazing what good planning and hard work can do.

Even more amazing were the good hearts of the experienced folks out there. Their patience with me and other inexperienced volunteers was endless and their support and encouragement was genuine and inspiring. It made this ridiculous sunburn I have worth it.

Three houses were started Saturday and the other six will get moving today. In the next hour or so I'll head out there and let y'all know what I see.

6:30

6:30 comes mighty early when you aren't hunting or fishing.

On the upside, its a very cool 61 degrees outside. It should be a beautiful day.

Returning to Allendale

Diane Haag kicked off the week with a great piece.

" Patricia Ardison feels like she has a chance to move home again.

She lived on Clay Street for several years in the 1960s when it was "a very nice neighborhood." Since then, she has avoided the Allendale neighborhood, which was became known for drugs and violence."

Read the rest here.

Trucks from Minnesota

Just got back from the job site where volunteers and supplies are still showing up. I chatted for a minute with Chris Knode from Orlando and watched as he scaled the side of a pile of pre-built walls for House #5. The walls came from Minnesota by truck and were being unloaded by a crane, lifted over power wires and lowered onto the foundations! That's a lot easier than unloading them by hand according to Glen and Co.

Rosie Chaffold

Funny how you have plans to do one thing and end up doing another.

I got a call from Glen while I was running around between assignments to let me know they had started tearing down the rest of the houses on Allen Ave. So I shot over there to make a couple of photos and see how it would change the backdrop for my time-lapse later that week.

When I pulled up I nearly instantly remembered there were still a handful of Crinums that
I had intended to dig up for some of the neighbors. So I looked around for a shovel and finally had to run down to Rosie Chaffold's house to borrow one.

Now I have heard of Miss Rosie before through contacts in the neighborhood and in stories that the paper has done, but I had never met her myself until today. As I expected, she was delightful. She is also one of the five people in the neighborhood who will have their homes updated and refurbished during the blitz build.

I didn't have much time, so I dug up the flowers, left two on Erma's porch, kept two for The Times in-house gardener Kathie Rowell and took the rest back to the Allendale Garden of Hope and Love.Miss Rosie started the garden in 2002 and it has been growing ever since. Made up of volunteer work, donated and salvaged plants and a few interesting decorations, the garden sits on what used to be the absolute drug dealer hotspot in Allendale.

In fact, it still was when she started her garden. They co-existed for a while, she dug weeds at one end; they sold it at the other. But eventually her green thumb just needed the space and she took over the whole lot. To listen to her tell it, getting rid of them was as simple as mowing the grass and planting a few flowers. Of course that was all after they had shot through the windows of her home just down the street on Buena Vista.

Miss Rosie has an interesting take on Allendale, saying that there is plenty of beauty, but that it's masked by all the trash. It just needs to be uncovered.

ATTN: Local Volunteers!

OK, now it's time for the locals to pony up. The Fuller Center is looking for people to work all next week Sept. 17-21 for the Blitz Build. If you can work during the day, that's great, but you can also be an Evening Elf and help get the sites ready for the work crews the next day.

BUT if you can't get off during the week or even if you can, Glen tells me he is desperate for help the Saturday and Sunday BEFORE the blitz. That would be this coming weekend, the 15th and 16th.

They will be trying to get a head start on one of the houses by getting the walls and the trusses up and in place. There is work for anyone who will help, but especially for those willing to lift a bit of weight. Please don't let that scare you off though. I have seen amazing things happen through teamwork.
If you can help, please email Brenda Barton at volunteercoordinatorfch@yahoo.com and they will get you all fixed up!

I am telling you from experience, if you can only volunteer one or two days, these are the days to be there. When you get there, it will be a flat concrete foundation and when you leave you will see the framed skeleton of a brand new house. Nothing will make you feel better.

Well... maybe the shower that night ;)

Fred Blackwell

I had a minute in between assignments today so I stopped by the Fuller Center office to chat with Fred Blackwell who will be moving into one of the homes built during the blitz on Alston Street.

Fred was busy, just like the rest of the staff, going over the final registration paperwork and answering phones as volunteers call in for information.

As he worked Fred shared with me that he was a Vietnam veteran of the U.S. Navy and that although he had been married, he became homeless after his wife passed away in 1988. Starting in 1995, he spent six years living on the streets in Texarkana. Finally in 2001 he came to live at the VA hospital in Shreveport as part of the homeless program there. After a year of working on the program and volunteering in the mailroom, the VA offered Fred a job as a mailman. He jumped at the chance and was soon living in a small apartment in a downtown high rise and working full time.

Just six years removed from the streets, now Fred will own his own home and live in what he calls a good neighborhood, the kind of neighborhood he grew up it. After he gets settled in his new home he plans to travel to New York and move his older sister, who is confined to a wheelchair, to Shreveport so she can live with him.

Even though he had knee surgery less than a week ago and is still on crutches, Fred says he plans to work at the registration or first aid stations during the build. When asked about volunteers leaving their own homes and families to travel across the country and build his home, he simply says "Where else would it happen but America?"

Yvonne Staples

"Those are my doors," says Yvonne Staples as she watches a crew from Allen Millwork unload at the site. "They are beautiful!" Crews have already started to deliver everything from pre-built walls to vinyl siding to doors and windows to the Blitz Build site.

Yvonne currently lives and works at Canaan Towers, a subsidized apartment building in Allendale but says that she can't wait to have a home of her own. As a matter of fact, Glen Barton tells me that Yvonne racked up more than 100 hours in her first month in the program.

Yvonne has already offered her gardening services to her neighbors and decided to have a two bedroom house instead of a three bedroom so that she would have more room to exercise her green thumb.

Tim DuBois

Also out working with Yvonne was Tim DuBois. I met Tim last year after the blitz had come and gone. In fact, so had Tim. After riding down from Minnesota with a group of strangers, Tim got back, packed up his tools and truck and headed back south to finish the work on the houses.

Tim decided to come to work on the project after spending time in Baton Rouge after the storms working in a Red Cross shelter. "I did what I could," he said. "But I wasn't swinging a hammer or mucking houses." So when he heard about the group headed south, he called and asked if there was still space on the bus.

After finishing his work in Shreveport last year Tim headed back to Minnesota, but in the last year has worked on Fuller Center projects in El Salvador and Alabama.

The De(Recon)struction Of Clay Street

Today's post is a little video on the happenings in Allendale. I will let it speak for itself. For those from out of town, these are the final remaining shotgun houses on Clay Street.

BTW, If you think Louis' interview is enthusiastic, that's also him cheering on the backhoe driver!

And forgive the rough cuts... I am off work today, so it's just me and the ol' iMovie. No fancy Avid Express Pro at the office!

Clay Street

Clay Street is at the heart of the Allendale project and I had a couple of emails asking me to post photos of the work that had already been done here in Shreveport.

Here are the beautiful townhomes that were built more than a year ago at the corner of Clay and Pierre.

And across the street are a group of eight row houses. These houses are the last ones standing on Clay Street. Rumors have it that they will be knocked down by the time the blitz builders arrive!
I'd like to end this post with a photo of Erma Flournoy's home and the flower garden in her front yard. This was one of the home built during the blitz build last year.Just look at that porch!

Ruth Jones Stinger

I stopped by the Fuller Center office on the way into work today and was able to catch up with Ruth Jones Stinger, who was working on getting things together for the build.

Ruth is another of the nine future homeowners in the Allendale neighborhood. While we talked she told me about her journey to North Louisiana after riding out Hurricane Katrina on the West Bank of New Orleans with her family. Ruth and her elderly mother were among the many people in New Orleans East that lost their homes to the hurricanes.

She told me when they fled the storm she had planned to go to Houston but ended up in Shreveport instead. "I never thought we would go this far," she said. "God guided us here."

After she got settled here, Ruth got a job at the El Dorado Casino as a security guard, got her and her mother into apartments, started saving money and got into the Fuller Center program a few months ago. Ruth said she is excited about owning her first home and can't wait to start making it her own.

"I gotta start using the word mortgage now instead of rent," she said.

Lisa Sewell

Today I stopped by the Fuller Center site and not surprisingly Glen Barton and his team of workers were out there getting ready for the blitz build, even on a day when most of the rest of us are relaxing at home.

I got a chance to chat with Lisa Sewell who was sorting nails leftover from previous projects. Lisa is a veteran of the US Army, served during the first Gulf War and now works in the mail room for the City of Shreveport.
Although Lisa works full time and cares for six children, she has also found time to go back to school and just two weeks ago graduated with a Bachelor's degree in humanities from Louisiana Tech Universtiy. She hopes to take her certification test soon and become a teacher.

Lisa will be getting a four bedroom house in the 1500 block of Alston St. and says although she has to work during the week, will be taking a few days off to work alongside the volunteers coming to build her family's new home in Allendale.

The Background

So here's a new blog for our readers. This blog is focused on the Fuller Center For Housing Blitz Build project that will be happening here in Shreveport in exactly two weeks! In five days time people from Shreveport and all over the nation will work together to build nine new homes and rehabilitate five more. Last year the group built 10 new homes in the neighborhood during the Blitz.

In the photo above you can already see the work starting on the plumbing and foundations.

A little background to get you started. I am a photojournalist here at The Times and have been for nearly six years. In my time here I have seen a lot of changes in Shreveport, but none have been as drastic and uplifting as the change on "The Hill" in Allendale.

When I got here the back corner of the Allendale neighborhood was filled with dilapidated shotgun houses and was among the worst neighborhoods in the city. Through the efforts of Community Renewal and the Fuller Center the area has done a 180 in many ways and is now becoming a vibrant, beautiful neighborhood full of wonderful people.

In the next two weeks I will be introducing you to the new homeowners. They are already hard at work putting in their 350 "sweat equity" hours on the site and in the Fuller Center office. As the blitz build begins I will swap back and forth from my cameras to my tool belt and at the end of each day will bring you a report from the site as well as photos and at the end of the week a time-lapse video of the project.