East to West

This week at Olive Tree we are hosting two large groups from opposite sides of the country. We have a group from a Presbytery that covers parts of both Oregon and Washington as well as a group from Virginia. We are excited to see what kind of relationships develop and what kind of work gets done.

Every Thursday at Olive Tree we host what we call Neighbor Night. This is an opportunity for the volunteer groups to invite their homeowners to celebrate in fellowship with us. Our groups cook a large meal and have devotions (worship) afterward. We also invite all of the long term volunteers and staff from Project Homecoming who organizes our work projects. This includes people serving in the Young Adult Volunteer program with PCUSA, Louisiana Delta Service Corps members, and Project Homecoming staff. Last week we hosted an additional 15 people which made a total of about 60 people. Neighbor Night is a very important part of our week here. It is a chance to sit down and share a meal in community with one another. It reminds us that we are not merely "helping" a person or "fixing" a house but we are building relationships and serving a cause greater than we could ever imagine. We are looking forward to another great party this Thursday.

Pictures will be posted soon.

Peace be with you.

Kentucky and Florida at play

The week of September 28 brought two groups, two guitars and a tamborine. How could it get any better?

By Your Side I Will Seek Other Seas

The Greenville, North Carolina and Sewickley,Pennsylvania teams finished their week out with one final singing of Hymn #377, the "Lakeshore" song. We sang it all week and it fit our work. The version we sang at camp was a little different due to translation from the original but has the same meaning. For many volunteers who come to the coast to help rebuild after a hurricane, their lives change. Their boat has been left on the shoreline and they follow Christ to "seek other seas."

Our Musical Camp

Olive Tree is the only camp to have our own piano..
Our dining room is located in the former sanctuary of the Eastminster Presbyterian Church in New Orleans.
So we have the perfect area for devotions after breakfast and dinner.

This week we've been blessed with an accomplished musician, Allen Amos, a Junior High band director from North Carolina. Here's Allen in the kitchen:

We've also been gifted with two ladies who who "cooked" instead of "caulked."
Mary Helen Stasavich and Chris Riddle from First Presbyterian in Greenville, North Carolina cooked breakfast and dinner every day, most of it "from scratch."

Olive Tree in Great Shape After Gustav

Our camp came through Gustav without a scratch. The Shower Trailer folks at St Andrews called to check on it so I thought I'd update any of you planning a trip to our camp.

We should be ready for us on schedule without much effort. Certainly there will be plenty of work for you. Right now the Olive Tree camp manager is helping clean up and rebuild some of the other camps that weren't as lucky. Our Houma camp took the brunt of Gustav. That camp's manager, Kevin Henry, also lost his home. The entire PDA staff is going to Houma tomorrow morning to see what we can do to bring this camp back. The Pearlington camp also lost a tent or two but not as serious as the Houma camp.

I have a video of the last night in New Orleans. It was really a very surreal experience. The night we evacuated the camp was also the third anniversary and the Project Homecoming people gave a big party for the homeowners to celebrate their rebuilding. So while I was packing up for Gustav and carrying boxes out the building, the Project Homecoming people were celebrating their victory over Katrina and bringing in helium balloons and food through the same door.

Introducing Olive Tree Fall 2008

Welcome to Olive Tree, the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Volunteer Village in New Orleans, Louisiana. Right now things are fairly quiet but it won't stay that way long. We're expecting 18 volunteers the week of September 21 and between 80-90 volunteers every week after that.

Let me take you on a little tour of our camp. We're located in northeast New Orleans in a quiet and nice neighborhood.


This is what our camp looks like as you drive up from the Chef Mentuer highway.



Here is the neighbor across the street from us


This is our TV room where volunteers can gather to watch TV or videos,play games or read.

We have a commercial kitchen. This is the stove and grill

Our commercial dishwasher will enable us to use real dinnerware and stop using paper or plastic.

We are housed in the former Eastminster Presbyterian Church. The old Sunday School classrooms have been converted to dorm rooms. Each room will sleep 15 people in either a bunk bed or single twin bed. We have three of these rooms for women and three for the men.


We will eat our meals in the old sanctuary. It will easily convert to a worship space for devotions.

What you don't see here are the faces and houses that are the whole reason for us to be here in the first place. I've had conversations with the folks who work at the Winn-Dixie down the street or the True Value Hardware store and can assure you that you'll enojy getting to know these people. Come on down!!!

New Shower Trailer!!

Our big news is that we just finished the installation of a brand new shower trailer. This comes to us from many different hands and hearts in Virginia led by the fine folks at St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Kilmanock, Virginia.


The idea for the trailer came as a result of two previous PDA trips this church made. Paul Ryan, a contractor, got ideas from facilities he found. The first PDA trip he went on offered a shower tent that blew down during a storm. The next trip he found a shower trailer. He says he is always on the lookout to how things are built and how he could build them better. So he started designing a way to make a shower trailer even better.

Paul had the honor of the first shower

St Andrews went home and invited other churches to help. Together they raised $15,000 to buy a used trailer and install six shower stalls(wider than average). Each shower has a private dressing area so it's the next best thing to home. Actually, it's probably better than home. At home you can't talk to your friends while you shower.

It also has a central washroom with mirrors, electric outlets and sinks. A "slop sink" outside is for those really dirty hands from drywall mud or paint. This way you can clean off before you even come into our shower.

This is the very latest in shower design and we're proud to have it here at Olive Tree.
Judy Thomson helped with the final painting

Putting up the step rails finished the job. This is Jim Myers, Tony Stanley and Tom Coye putting the step railing to finish the job.

You can find more information and pictures at their church's website:
www.saintandrewspc.org