The Halloween Party

Apparently the Halloween party was a success. Lots of kids, lots of candy, and lots of fun.

The caption Chris sent with this pic says, "have you heard the one about the pirate,the monk and the vampire ... ask Brian" Hmmm .... I guess we'll find out later.


I had also planned Mummy Races where the kids are set up in teams of 2, one armed with a roll of white crepe paper (streamers) and they race to wrap their partner up like a mummy. Well, apparently the kids didn't get it to that too much but they DID get into putting Rick in the middle of them all and useing ALL of the rolls of crepe paper to wrap him up, and wrap him up some more, and then wrap him up some more. They loved doing that and the parents loved watching it. In the end Rick burst out of the wrapping and scared them all.

Did I mention that Donna has been arrested 3 (that's right THREE) times! For those who don't know the story behind that - on our last trip to Grand Isle we slept in Town Hall just outside of the mayor's office. Donna found an ink pen on one of the desks in the office that said, "This pen has been stolen from Town Hall, Grand Isle, Louisiana". So, Donna took her que and took the pen. We teased her .... a lot, about that and jokingly called her our "looter". It seems that this team has let the Grand Isle police in on the joke and they are "arresting" her every time she turns around.

They also had a hayride around the island that was awesome. Everyone got tons of candy, cookies, shrimp po boy sandwiches, cake, and chili with Fritoes.

Tomorrow is another work day .... look for more updates.

Oct - Nov Grand Isle Trip Update # 3

Here are some pictures from the first day of work in Grand Isle. It looks like there was still a lot of clean up to be done. I can only imagine how it must feel to walk along the beach and find remnants of people's lives. Click on any of the pictures to see a larger version of them.















This was a prayer from a child sent to the Town Hall.















Brian reading a portion of the Wizard of Oz that was found among the rubble. Many personal items were found including someone's wedding pictures, a teddy bear, and a freezer with food in it.















This is a man from Exxon asking our group for help. I'm not sure what kind of help he needed.

Oct. - Nov. Grand Isle Trip Daily Update # 2

Creepy Halloween!

It's Halloween in Grand Isle and apparently, it will be a creepy one since they are staying in the Bates Motel! OK, not really. They are staying in the Sand Dollar Hotel, which is probably pretty nice since Grand Isle is known as the Cajun Bahamas and is, under normal circumstances, a beautiful vacation spot.

BUT, Brain being what he is, put up an electric sign that reads "Bates Motel" just to add some fun?? to the trip. (someone emailed me the pic I've posted here)

Halloween is also known as All Saints Day. In Grand Isle they are a bit concerned because typically on All Saints Day the priest will go around and bless the graves BUT when Katrina hit many of the graves were opened and many coffins are now missing - no joke! That would definately make for a creeeeepy Halloween.

Today they work at the community center and then will have the Halloween party for the children on Grand Isle this evening. Brian is supposed to call with an update after the party so check back later for more ....

And here's one last pic they sent. Cute ain't he??

Oct. - Nov. Grand Isle Trip Daily Updates # 1

I will attempt to post an update daily or at least as often as I hear from Brian so that you can keep up to date with what's going on with the relief team and their efforts there.

All 9 of them got off safely and without incident last night. As they posed for a team pic someone said they looked like they were ready to take off on Apollo 13 or something. And they did! Those orange vests .... I dunno.

This morning (Sunday, Oct. 30th) Brian called at 7:40 to say that they were making good time. They were in Meridian, MS at a Cracker Barrel and were enjoying a good breakfast. They plan to go to Sunday School at the Northpark Church of God (that is where the first and second relief effort was) and to visit briefly with Pastor Earl Wheatley. It must bless the people there to physically see a group from Ohio (or anywhere) coming back on such a regular basis. This will be the third time in MS since Katrina hit although there is no direct relief effort in Meridian this time, just seeing the team back again and knowing that they have not been forgotten will be an encouragement I'm sure.