Leaving It Better Than We Found It

It’s the final day in Crisfield and once again we started with a big cooked breakfast but this time we said goodbye to Mr. Rawls.   It felt like Groundhog’s day as almost all of us headed to another roofing job.  We got to work immediately, tearing off the old shingles and sheething the entire roof.  We had felt paper laid and the start of shingles back on by lunch.  The job was complete by 3:00 so that we could return to home base, pack up the tools in the trailer and head for a dinner out.

What an awesome group of people we had this year!  Our new additions, Ms. Zelonis and Mr. Rawls, fit right in.  They both brought unique skills and traits that augmented our current team of leaders.  We cannot thank all the people enough that make this trip so incredible each year.  The first thank yous go to Teresa Carroll; Brian, Veronica and William Deiling; and Megan and Jarret Brightbill for giving us the time to do this.  A big thank you also to the staff, administration and students of Dauphin County Technical School that support our efforts.  If it were not for Mr. Hawke, Mr. Grierson, Mrs. Hoy and Mrs. Custer; Carpentry, Building Construction and the coaching team would suffer in our absence.  To everyone at Keystone Human Services, we appreciate being able to borrow Ms. Connie for a week.  We would also be remiss if we did not thank all the BC Cares alumni who continue to support, talk about and follow all of the projects that we have completed over the years.  And finally, thank you to Joining Hands and the Colonial Park Rotary for their full support in helping us teach the students the very real value of service above self.

Once again, thanks to all,

Bob Brightbill, Tim Carroll, and Sharon Deiling

Lots of Rot and Loads of Love

Good evening everybody! This is Whitney Faust and Clayton Early giving you the latest update from beautiful Crisfield, Maryland. Whitney is going to start us off.

This morning started out a little differently; our advisors actually slept in! So our breakfast was a little later than normal but I don’t think we minded much once we smelled the amazing aroma of McBrightbills. Once we all devoured our yummy breakfast it was off to work, we split into our two teams and we worked our butts off. My team finished half a roof. We tore apart, applied new sheathing, and shingled everything.

Now it’s Clayton’s turn to tell you about the work they did. Our team went hard today. We did a little bit of everything. We installed aluminum trim around all the windows. While we did that Zach fixed some broken bricks. Once we finished all our work for the day we all came back to the church and headed to the marina for showers.

Mrs. Deiling and Mr. Rawls made us a pretty amazing dinner to share with our special guests, the home owners and their family from the house we’ve been working on graced us with their presence. They told us their story and brought tears to all our eyes. Today was an absolutely amazing day ending with a bittersweet dinner.

Well that’s all we have to share for today.

A Big Workday Followed by an Evening Cruise

Today was an outstanding day! We woke up at around 6:00 this morning. Mr. Brightbill and the crew made scrambled eggs and fried potatoes. After we ate, Brightbill broke down what we were going to do today. I (Christian) volunteered myself to work on the roofing for one of our jobs. I was psyched to try something new today.

On our way to Brightbill’s work site, we stopped by yesterday’s job to pick up some supplies. We got to the work site at around 9:00 this morning.  Our job was to work with another small group to help get the roofing underway.  We had already stocked the roof with shingles. We started off by tearing of all the old roofing. Next we replaced some of the plywood. Then we laid down the ice guard and felt paper. After a quick lunch break, we laid the shingles down on the roof.  The other volunteers and the homeowner were very grateful for the help. 

Today at Mr. Carroll’s work site, we cut the hardened spray foam sealant off of the edges of the windows. We also had to cut the window opening so that the window would fit. We then went to a lunch break at 11:00 and went back to work at around 11:30. Then we built a small wall to support the window sill. Finally we cut and installed studs to support the wall and the floor above.

At around 4 today, we headed to the Marina to shower up, eat some dinner and board a vessel. This cruise was best part of the day! We were on the water for about 2 hours. We got to see some bald eagles, which was really cool. We caught a crab and played around with it. The sunset was incredible and it was awesome to be on the water after dark.  Everyone seemed to enjoy their evening.

By,

Patrick McCutcheon and Christian Traynor

Work Day Two and The Crew Keeps Moving

                         Hey, it’s Zach and Jailene. This morning was amazing; we woke up to beautiful fluffy Brightbill pancakes and scrambled eggs. We woke up at six o’clock, ate our bountiful breakfast and were out the door around 7:30. There were two job sites: Mr. Carroll’s and Brightbill’s. At Mr.Carroll’s site, Kody and I (Zach) finished up the parging on the foundation of the house. While we were doing that, Mr. Carroll and the rest of the crew were replacing windows and reframing a giant four window opening. After Kodey and I were done parging, we re-layed block on the foundation and parged over that. Once all the masonry work was done, Kodey and I focused on the windows. So we framed out the four window openings, and we replaced a big window. And that pretty much sums up the day at the Carroll site.

                         Then there was the Brightbill crew. Today we finished the roof that we started the day before. It took a lot of hard work and team effort. Clayton, Cameron, Whitney, Jen, Angelina, Leah, Autumn, and I (Jailene) made an amazing team. When we arrived on site, we had to de-shingle the whole other half of the roof. It was quite a dangerous job. The roof was rotted with plenty of weak spots that could have caved in. None of us wanted a repeat of yesterday, so we started ply wooding as soon as possible. Next was the ice guard which took us until lunch time. After all the hard work we accomplished the first half of the day, it was time to bring out the sandwiches. They tasted pretty amazing. The second half of the day went by a lot slower. The sun was beating down making everyone drown in their own sweat. It was amazingly gross. So capping the roof was the best feeling. We were all ready to take showers and call it a day. I can honestly say the best part of the work today was the assembly line that we created. Angelina and Jen would pick up the bundle of shingles and take it to Leah and I who would then pass it off to Autumn and Whitney. They then lifted with all their might to get it on top of the scaffolding to Cameron and Clayton. They then passed it off to Brightbill and Mrs. Deiling. It could not have been better team work. It was essential to getting the job done.

                         We cleaned up, took a group picture, and headed off to take showers. That’s when we met up with the rest of the crew and had dinner. I have to tell you, burgers and hot dogs never tasted so good. We always have these cute family dinners. We go around the table and say one good thing that happen to us. It’s always fun to sit and talk about all the funny things we did. Such as Brightbill twerking on the roof and his annoyingly funny “all about that bass” solo. Not to mention Autumn’s “she got her own” music videJ

o. The laughs we have are going to be truly memorable.  It was another GREAT day with the crew.

Let the Jobs Begin

This is Autumn Pate and Alex Hain reporting to you live from B.C.C.  Today, we had two groups, a boys’ group that worked with Mr.Carroll and a girls’ group that went with Mr.Brightbill.

      

          In Mr.Carroll’s group, we went to a house and did work on it. I (Alex) worked with Mr. Jesse Rawls, Patrick, and Noah. We were taking out the old windows in the house and replacing them. The glass on the window broke and we cleaned it up so no one got hurt by the glass. We took out the windows on the second floor and the attic. I put the windows into a pile to throw away. We got the windows done in the attic and will be finishing up on them tomorrow. We went back to the church to eat lunch and then we went back to work after we ate. When everyone was done, we came back to the church and ate dinner.

In Mr. Brightbill’s group we had to pack our lunch because our job site is far from the place we are currently staying at. Believe it or not, some of us thought it was best lunch we have ever had … maybe because we were so hungry. On the other hand if we are not eating we were working. Our group worked on rebuilding our roof. We started off by removing all the old shingles, in the process, we started to find weak spots in the roof. We did our best being careful, but Mrs. Deiling’s foot went through the roof and into the ceiling of the house. She is OK EVERYONE! So don’t worry. Then we went back to the church and had dinner and ended the day like the family we are J.

Return to Crisfield

Today, on our first day in the Building Construction Cares trip, we arrived at DCTS around 11:30 and set sail for Crisfield, Maryland at noon. The ride in the vans was long, and many people slept along the way so to wake them all up we stopped about ¾ of the way to get snacks and gas. After we got situated again in the vans we were determined to get there. As we drove the compact streets of Crisfield, we noticed a lot of houses that were under construction. Finally, we arrived at the church, and we all worked together to unpack the vans and set up sleeping quarters. After everyone was situated happily, we ate lovely food from Ms. Connie. Everybody’s stomach full, we played some games to get to know each other better. This included drawing on each other’s backs with our fingers to see what came out in the end, and also the famous game of Psychiatrist that stumped Christian Trainer for a while. To ease into the first night of sleeping on an air mattress, several guys played cards while the girls watched movies and ultimately relaxed.

As I am typing this, I do not know what is ahead of us, but we are all ready to help out the less fortunate. 

By,

Brandon Jordan

Kodey Negrete

Last day on the trip

Hey everyone, this is Kacey and Sofi here to tell you about our last couple of jobs. Friday morning started out with having McBrightbill's for breakfast, they were fab! Soon after we finished breakfast we headed to Ms. Hazel's house on Broadway Street. Ms. Hazel is a champion crab picker and a VERY sweet woman. Our job was to prime and paint her entire kitchen. Kacey and I made sure our cutting edge game was on point! Alexis, Jailene, and Whitney used their rolling skills to roll the ceiling and walls. Kayla took her paint brush and painted the tight spots where we couldn't fit the rollers. Mrs. Deiling was a great instructor, she is our girl, diamonds and pearls! After the paint job was completed, Ms. Hazel was very appreciative of what we did and gave us a million hugs and kisses. I, Sofi, learned to never wear a bun in my hair on top of my head when painting a ceiling. 

Mr. Carroll's crew went to Linda's house on Cove Street. Their job was to demolish the porch ceiling and rebuild it. They also took out the wainscoting, replaced it, and took out the damaged screens. The members of that group were Zach, Clayton, Cameron, Marshall, Autumn, Tyquan, and Shayna. Brightbill invited Linda, the homeowner to dinner with us; she very much enjoyed it.



On Saturday, we were not able to do any work because the monsoons came to Crisfield.  We made our French Toast breakfast and packed up to come home.


Overall, we had a fantastic trip. I, Sofi, was very thankful for the teachers who came with us. Brightbill is like a second dad to me. This will be my last trip and I am very appreciative to be able to have the opportunity to help others who really can't afford anything else. For me, Kacey, I feel like this is a bittersweet moment. I have been on three trips with Brightbill and have formed a long lasting bond with him. As a senior, this is my last trip and I am really going to miss it. I cherish every moment I have spent with Brightbill, Mrs. Dieling, and all the members of this team. Together, we all shared many laughs and smiles and worked together to improve the homes and lives of those affected by these disasters.We just want to say a big thank you to Mr. Brightbill, Mrs. Deiling, Ms. Connie, and Mr. Carroll for teaching us many things and being an amazing influence on us!

A Rocky Start - A Beautiful Ending

Hi - this is Tyquan Reddick reporting from Crisfield.  This morning I woke up with a hole in my bed - due to a pen that I did not know I had.  I helped with breakfast and it was all going good until I dropped the bacon on the outside gravel.  Mr. Carroll saved the day by bringing it inside and washing it off without letting anyone know.

On the job today, we started off by putting a second coat on the walls in the second room of the house. Then we painted our first coat on the ceiling of that room. In the other group we had in the house, they also painted the room they were in but, but they had to move a lot more furniture. While we waited for the paint to dry, we went to get some more equipment. On the way back, we stopped at McDonald's and I got two McChickens. When we got back to the house we got right back to work; we started by putting on the last coat to the second group's walls and ceilings. Next, we left again while the other paint dried; we then returned once again to McDonald's and Mr. Carroll purchased everyone McFlurries which put most of us in  a sleepy mood.There was work to be done and when we got done with our food we went back to the house and cleaned up our mess and got ready for our homeowners to return. Later on we returned to the church and got ready for dinner.


 Hey, hey, hey, this is Jailene Santiago and I just thought I would let you guys all know about all the other excitements of the day. My team started work at the home of a 103 year old woman. You would be very surprised by all the mobility she had. This woman outlived 3 of her 4 children that she raised by herself. She was a cute little African American woman. Can you guys imagine all the historical things that she has lived through, World War I, World War II, the Great Depression, the Civil Rights Movement and just so many other things? I honestly found so much enjoyment just being in her presence. The smile on her face when she saw her newly painted ceilings -  I can't really explain the feeling that it gave me knowing that my team had helped Mrs. Ruth Ella but I can say that this day was just very blessed for us all.

Work Day, Snow Day

Hey guys it's Zach Logan and Hannah Welter here and we are going to talk about our day.To start off we all woke up at about 6:00 to a blanket of snow on the ground... yay. Once we woke up,the other group that was here made us an awesome breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and ham; it was really good. After breakfast we chilled for a little bit until the guy came and told us what we were going to be doing. This is one of the frustrating parts of disaster relief; waiting for assignments.

We ended up splitting into two groups, one with Mr.Carroll, and another one with Mr.Brightbill. Mr.Carroll's group consisted of Autumn, Tyquan, Whitney, Clayton, Cameron, Shayna, and of course myself (Zach Logan). Mr. Brightbill's group consisted of Alexis, Kacey, Sofia, Kayla, Jailene, Marshall, Mrs.Deiling, and of course myself (Hannah). In Mr. Brightbill's group worked outside all day, but for the exception of Sofia. She built a lovely stand for the dryer of the homeowner. The rest of the group worked under the house installing insulation in our wonderful Tyvek suits. It was a long, cold, and muddy day for Mr.Brightbill's group. The temperature was in the 30s, with winds of 25mph. Lets just say once this

group got home they ran for a shower. 

Okay guys its Zach. So I was in Mr.Carroll's group, and we painted did drywall and did some demolition. So I did drywall, and I don't want to brag, but it was perfect. Whitney, Shayna, Cameron, and Clayton tore up sub-floors and put new ones down. It looked really good! Tyquan, Autumn, and  I did some painting, and again I did perfect on that... as always. Robert, the home owner, was an awesome guy and we were all very honored. Oh yeah, and Mr.Carroll was our grateful and dominant leader.

First Post

Welcome to the home of the Building Construction Cares Blog.  From this site, we will share our daily journal from our trips.  Check back on March 26 for the first installment from Crisfield, MD.