The Big Day!!

Day 7 March 12th

Today is the big day. Last minute touches are happening all around inside and out, landscaping, trim and painting.

Around 11:00 we handed the keys over to the designers and they started moving in the furniture. We have made up most of our time deficit and are only running a few hours behind. Not bad for a construction project scheduled for 106 hours.

There were so many people lining the street today for the festivities. There were volunteers, friends and family of the builders, members of the church congregation, media and spectators. It was so wonderful to see so many gathered to celebrate the fruit of many hours of labor by hundreds of volunteers.

Finally, around 3 p.m. the Walker family arrived at the church. Of course, their view of the building was blocked by that famous bus until the crowd roared, "Move that bus!" and away it went!

After the Walkers had a chance to tour the new church, the builders joined them inside for a celebration. We got to hear Erma Thomas “the Queen of New Orleans” sing a couple of spiritual songs. It was quite moving.

Later in the evening many of us headed over to Westwego where crews are finishing up the Usea's house for another round of "Move that bus!" tomorrow. What and amazing project they have going on there.

I was very excited that we ran into Pastor Walker while we were on site in Westwego. We were able to talk to him ourselves. He was so grateful and already has many plans for his new building. The services he will provide to the community are needed more than ever before. Now, he has an awesome new facility from which to continue his service to the community. He was already working on turning the gift he received just a few hours before into a gift for the whole community.

Thank you all who have read this blog for sharing in this wonderful journey with us. Thank you also to our friends and families and for their love and support during this project. Thank you to the hundreds of volunteers who made this possible. Thank you to all of our sponsors. Thank you to all of our co-workers who stayed at home and keep our businesses running while we were in New Orleans.

Don't forget to tune in to ABC at 8/7c on May 18 for the airing of the show!!


One Down, One to Go

Day 5 March 10th

A lot of progress has been made the last 24 hours. The Deltec shell is complete with most of the wiring and plumbing also done. We are now almost on schedule and looking to complete the church by Wednesday morning.

This includes paved driveway and landscaping too. It is still hard to imagine a finished building by then but with this crew anything is possible.

John Rutledge of Rutledge Builders out of Benton LA is one of the lead builders. Also on the lead build team are Ben Poss, Structural Engineer for Deltec Homes, Greg Simmons of Simmons Homes out of Tulsa OK, Jeff Junkert of Jeff Junkert Construction out of Billings MT, Craig Gallagher of Gallagher Family Homes of Tampa FL, Dana Dugas of Dana Dugas Affordable Homes of Iberia LA. Also on site were a large crew from Sunrise Homes out of Slidell LA and Don Mead and his crew from Atreus Homes out of Raleigh NC. I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone.

What is amazing is that anytime of day or night someone from each of these companies is on site helping do the impossible. John Rutledge and Dana Dugas are the only builders on this team that have built a Deltec Home before but you would never know it. Representatives and volunteers from all the other companies are working round the clock to make it happen. I came through about 3:00 am to find some guys from Sunrise and Simmons Homes working on solution to some issue involving the HVAC and electrical. You would think these guys and gals knew each other well they way they all work together.

The insulation went in last night. It is spray applied vegetable oil based foam from Demilec. It expands within seconds to 120 times its volume to fill every nook and cranny providing superior energy efficiency and improved indoor air quality by eliminating air movement through walls. This church will be built with some of the latest high wind and eco friendly technology. The vents in the foundation are provided by a company call Smart Vent. The vents help eliminate a lot of problems caused by high water and flooding by allowing the water to flow through more efficiently. They also can reduce a homeowner’s flood Insurance by as much as 90%. Smart Vent also donated 10 years worth of flood insurance premiums to the church and the house.

By this evening, they were hanging sheetrock. They are hoping to have the house dried out and ready for trim and paint in morning. They will be working on shingles and siding tonight.

More to follow-

Joe Schlenk Deltec Homes

Video Blog From Paige

The Church is beginning to take shape, the foundation and wall panels, subfloor and trusses, it is coming to life like Lazarus. The days and nights are beginning to run into each other, fatigue being the most common element between everyone. We go until someone tells us to quit. The sound of generators and compressors hum as the smell of diesel fuel lingers down the street. Give me this, I need more nails, Where's the plumber? Does the j channel face up or down? All immediate questions that need anserwed right now. Beep beep, another load of something is being delivered. It seems as if a symphony of nail guns, drills and compressors are tapping out rythms similar to Japan's kodo drums. Keeping time and never missing a beat. I guess that's how is should always go on a construction project of this magnitude, problem is, this is not an ordinary project. Still 10 hours behind schedule.
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Russ Klintworth
Simmons Homes

Video Blog from Paige

Amazing Progress!

Day 3 March 8th

We drove pilings all through the night for the base of the church’s foundation. A concrete footer was poured and pre-cast concrete walls from Superior Walls of Tennessee were set in place this morning. Construction of the Deltec shell started in the afternoon. By 6:00 pm all of the floors were set and the wall panels were well underway. We are placing the roof trusses tonight and expect to have the entire building dried in by morning. It is astonishing to see something that usually takes days occur in just a few hours. An army of blue shirted volunteers are making it happen. All I can say is amazing. Long days and short nights are the norm. Our lead crews are working around the clock. Maybe tomorrow they can get some rest when the Deltec shell is complete.

Joseph Schlenk
Deltec Homes

First Day of Construction

Construction started around 6 am. Large pile drivers were pounding 30 foot telephone poles in the ground. By looking at the blueprint, there were 32 pilings that need to be into the ground before our footings could be poured.
Long, long day. People standing around anticipating the frenzy of constuction about to begin. How appropriate that the church we are building stands right across from Lafeyette #2 cemetary. As the church's dream of a new beginning becomes apparent, it is almost as if the parishoners of the cemetary lie in wait of the rebirth as well.
Walking into the old church gave you a sense of excitment, there was an old
tamborine with rusted clackers. A glass chaliss set nearby the tamborine,
the glass filled half full with a very discolored water. Maybe from many rainstorms that had filtered through the dilapidated roof. The iron bars on the front door were swung wide open, still inviting all to come. The heavy equipment approached, very prehistoric like. Take down that church screamed Ty. In a few minutes in was over, a pile of dusty molded walls that once was God's house.
Work continued all through the night, a cold night, as a matter of fact, the coldest night of the year. Our drinks were slushies, it began to snow at one point, but the workers carry on unaffected by the elements, the sun came out bright and early, a much welcomed sight, just seeing the sun makes you feel warm even though the temperature is the same.

Russ Klintworth
Simmons Homes