This weekend marked a historical time . . . the time of our last scheduled team and the last of the food boxes! A team of 5 men and 5 ladies came from Cleveland Park Bible Church in Spartanburg, SC. Six of them arrived Thursday night and were up early Friday to go down to Faith Baptist in Abbeville. The ladies focused on cleanup and mowing the lawn while the men hung siding.

The other four arrived around 1:30 pm on Friday and helped us hand out our last 76 food boxes. Jeremy and I put boxes in 31 trailers that Jim, our FEMA contact, told us would be occupied within a few weeks. We also got to meet a new FEMA worker, Jeanne. Then after the team got here, we loaded up the van with the last 45 boxes and went to the Plantation Inn where evacuees are still living. We’re so thankful for the four that helped us . . . the job got done quickly and well, and we got a really good contact out of it.

On Saturday, all of us went down to Abbeville. The men continued with the siding and started putting up crown molding. All of us ladies painted all the trim that wasn’t being put up. Then, after lunch, all the ladies went to a mobile park in Lafayette and went door to door to hand out the last of the children’s coloring books and toiletry items. The five ladies were troopers, not letting the occasional rain (both mist and downpour) dampen their spirits.

While at the mobile home park, we noticed one trailer that was pretty much surrounded by a moat of water. Knowing we had pallets at the storage unit, we decided to get into the “bridge building” business. We returned to the storage unit, loaded up the van with a dozen pallets and headed back to the mobile park. Jeremy was quite a site with his rolled up pants and running away quickly so as not to get splashed when he dropped the pallets. What a sight! ☺ Finally, the bridge was built and the people were very thankful to not have to wade through water to get out of their mobile home. (Sorry the pictures are a little fuzzy).

The team was such a big help and blessing. They were not afraid of hard work and were very flexible as plans sometimes changed (the rain was one factor). So thank you all (Harry, Phil, Mike, Robert, Shaun, Pam, Brandy, Mandy, Miriam, and Victoria) – you were a huge help and blessing!