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Last week, twenty-four students and four advisers from Penn State Behrend participated in an Alternative Spring Break service trip to Beaumont, Texas. The group helped residents recover from the catastrophic flooding that occurred as a result of Hurricane Harvey, which hit the greater Houston area in August of 2017, causing at least $125 billion in damages and claiming 108 lives. Behrend’s ASB group was joined by five other Penn State campuses, including Greater Allegheny, Harrisburg, Scranton, University Park, and York.

By Heather Cass

Publications Manager, Office of Strategic Communication, and 2018 ASB participant

On the evening of Thursday, March 8, we were finally able to have an All Penn State gathering, bringing together all of the Penn State students from all six campuses who were at the church working on homes in Texas.

It’s no easy feat to corral more than 100 students, but Kelli Dowd, program coordinator, service and leadership, from University Park, is no stranger to working with hundreds of students.

She started with a WE ARE…chant, then she and an adviser from each of the other campuses tossed Penn State ASB T-shirts to everyone. After the t-shirts were distributed, we all participated in an hour or so of icebreaker activities and group games.

Following the all Penn State meeting, the Penn State Behrend group held their final Reflections meeting and gave strict instructions for all students to be in the meeting room at 6:45 a.m. with luggage in hand, for an 11 a.m. flight.

The drive to Houston is about 90 minutes from Beaumont, though we neglected to figure in much cushion time for traffic. That nearly did us in, but the roads cleared just in time for all of us to make it to the gate with about 5 minutes to spare.

I asked some of the Penn State Behrend students on the trip to share their top takeaway from this year’s ASB experience. Here’s what they had to say:

“Everyone needs realize that everything is not fine in Houston and that even eight months after the hurricane, there are still houses that have not even been touched since the hurricane hit. I learned that even the smallest things we do for these people can still make a huge difference. Putting a smile on these homeowners’ faces is the greatest feeling you can imagine.” — Priya Patel, Nursing major

“My biggest take away from ASB is that there is no act too small when it comes to helping someone. Whether you’re ripping out a sink, taking down some drywall, or just simply taking the time to talk to someone, you are making a difference in their life. And as much as we give to the people we help, we truly get so much more from them.” — Kelly Miller, Mechanical Engineering major

“My biggest takeaway from this trip is how a group of people from various backgrounds came together to accomplish one thing—to serve others. We came together as strangers, and we are now leaving as friends by having this common goal.” — Ashlyn Kelly, Chemistry major

“The homeowners in southeastern Texas still have a long road a head of them and they know that, but it’s just remarkable how thankful they were for the help. I wouldn’t trade these lifelong memories and lessons from this trip for anything.” — Brianna Riley, Accounting and Management Information Systems major

“Alternative Spring Break is the kind of trip that you know will change your life, but you can’t even begin to understand how you will be impacted until you’re experiencing it. It’s the kind of trip that allows us to learn so much about others, but teaches us about ourselves at the same time. In summary, ASB 2018 was a trip of passion, kindness, growth, and success.” — Emily Archer, Elementary and Early Childhood Education major

Twenty-four students and four advisers from Penn State Behrend are participating in an Alternative Spring Break service trip to Beaumont, Texas. The group will be helping residents recover from the catastrophic flooding that occurred as a result of Hurricane Harvey, which hit the greater Houston area in August of 2017, causing at least $125 billion in damages and claiming 108 lives. Behrend’s ASB group is being joined by five other Penn State campuses, including Greater Allegheny, Harrisburg, Scranton, University Park, and York.

By Heather Cass

Publications Manager, Office of Strategic Communication, and 2018 ASB participant

Thursday, March 8 was Penn State Behrend’s last Alternative Spring Break workday. It was bittersweet as we all missed our families and home (and our soft, comfy beds), but we didn’t want the adventure to end.

And, there is still so much work to be done in the Beaumont, Texas, area.

This is Miss Chandra Jones. She is the owner of the final house in Port Arthur, Texas, that my team worked on (Chris Harben’s team had been there earlier in the week). When Miss Jones learned that I was a writer she told me to take her picture and tell her story so that people know the hurricane damage is not all cleaned up and that “folks is still suffering down here.”

Miss Jones was in a catch-22. She couldn’t apply for federal assistance in repairing her home until it was gutted, but couldn’t gut it herself and couldn’t afford to pay anyone to do it.

Enter Operation Blessing and service-minded students on Alternative Spring Break.

Our task at Miss Jones’ house that day was to gut her kitchen. Our goal was to finish that, then turn her electric and water back on and move her appliances back into the kitchen area so she could prepare meals. We did not want to leave her without an operational kitchen.

But, the moment we set foot in the kitchen, stepping on spongy floors, we knew that probably wasn’t going to happen. Whatever was below the linoleum was wet and rotted. It turned out to be particle board and some sort of plastic underlay with more (rotted) wood below.

We gutted the walls and removed the lower cabinets and counter (they had all be under water and had to go), tore up all but the last layer of flooring. There were plumbing and gas issues along the way. There was a brief break while we waited for the gas company to check out a suspected leak.

All the while, team members spent time on the porch, taking turns talking with Miss Jones. She was entertaining and smart. Intuitive and gregarious. She has two grown children: a son who works 16-hour days and was living in the house with her and a daughter who is a school teacher. The daughter has been begging her mom to leave her house and live with her.

Miss Jones did live with her daughter for several months after the flood, but she felt like the landlord didn’t want her there and she just wanted to live in her own home. She had paid her little home off just before Hurricane Harvey blew in and wrecked everything.

Most of the houses across the street from her are still boarded up. She said nobody has ever returned to at least three of them. “They just left,” she said.

It occurred to me that every person my team helped this week (with the exception of the day at the animal shelter), was an elderly person or a single mother. It’s our most vulnerable populations that are left struggling — they can’t fix it alone and they don’t have the ability to flee. So they are living in moldy homes with rotten floors and walls and almost no furniture as that was tossed after the flooding.

At least three times, I had to walk away from the job site to hide tears.

One of those times was late in the day after higher ups at Community Collaborations International had stopped by to check on our progress and told us there was no way we would be able to make the kitchen functional that day and that Miss Jones had to be told her house was inhabitable.

One of the students, Emily Archer, had formed a special bond with Miss Jones that day, and she volunteered to deliver the news to Miss Jones and her son.

Her son understood. He said that he had told his mother she should not be living there, but was that she wouldn’t listen to him.

She listened to Emily, whose strength, kindness, empathy, and compassion brought me to tears (again). Miss Jones agreed to temporarily move to her daughter’s house until her kitchen floor and plumbing issues could be resolved by CCI and Operation Blessing.

“I see what you did,” she said, waggling a finger at all of us. “Sending this one out here to talk to me,” as she pointed to Emily. “You know we had a special bond, me and this one. That’s why you sent her out here to talk to Miss Jones.”

Guilty as charged. But Emily wanted to tell her because she cared. We all did. We all wished we could take Miss Jones home with us.

As we worked throughout the day, Miss Jones sat on the porch and made a point of getting to know each one of us, even the ones like me who tried to sneak by.

“What are you?” she called out to me as I carried part of her kitchen cabinet to the curb.  “Are you a professor at that college?” she asked me.

“No, I’m a writer for the college,” I said.

“You a writer?! You need to write my story then. Tell them people is still living like this down here.”

“I will, Miss Jones. I promise I’ll tell your story to anyone who will listen.”

Before we left, we asked for a photo with her on the porch of her little periwinkle home. She was happy to oblige and stood in the middle wearing a scarf that another Operation Blessing volunteer had knitted for her.

She hugged each one of us tightly, and at one point exclaimed, “OOhh, youu all smell like money. I bet you all living in mansions back home in Pennsylvania.”

We don’t. But compared to her, we do.

As I helped tear out Miss Jones’ kitchen floor that day, my husband was laying a new one in our living room in Pennsylvania. He texted me some photos. I glanced at them as I stood in Miss Jones’ destroyed kitchen, a hole to the dirt ground within my field of vision.  And I teared up again. I have so much, and she has so little and I don’t know what to do about that.

So we did what we could for Miss Jones and we got the job site ready for the professionals to do their part next. There are at least two more weeks of spring break student volunteers arriving to help.  I hope she’ll be back in her home and eligible for assistance in rebuilding by early April. She told us she could reapply with FEMA then.

Here is how the other Penn State Behrend ASB teams spent their final workday in Texas:

• Will Taylor’s team volunteered at the local Salvation Army, helping with organizing and inventory.
• Chris Harben’s team worked on gutting a home and removing debris.
• Chris Fox’s team worked at a home in the morning, but were done early and returned to the church to help cleanup after 200 volunteers (no easy job!)

Tomorrow, in my final ASB trip post, I will tell you about the all Penn State activities/gathering we had on Thursday evening, our travel home, and relay some final reflections from Penn State Behrend students who participated in this year’s ASB trip.

~ Heather

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Twenty-four students and four advisers from Penn State Behrend are participating in an Alternative Spring Break service trip to Beaumont, Texas. The group will be helping residents recover from the catastrophic flooding that occurred as a result of Hurricane Harvey, which hit the greater Houston area in August of 2017, causing at least $125 billion in damages and claiming 108 lives. Behrend’s ASB group is being joined by five other Penn State campuses, including Greater Allegheny, Harrisburg, Scranton, University Park, and York.

By Heather Cass

Publications Manager, Office of Strategic Communication, and 2018 ASB participant

The worst part of the work today? Breathing through this barrier.

Day 3 – Work Day #1

We were all eager to get our assignments and get to work this morning and were among the first in the long line for breakfast. (Did I mention there are about 200 workers here now?).

On the morning menu was biscuits with sausage gravy and yogurt/fruit/granola parfaits for the non-meat option. Our meals are all cooked and served by members of a local Mennonite church and they are delish. The men cook most of the meat on a giant portable grill outdoors.

In the morning, they also set out tables full of lunch and sandwich items and each volunteer packs their own brown bag lunch.

Community Collaborations International, the company Penn State Behrend uses to coordinate it’s annual ASB trips, is working with another organization — Operation Blessing International — that had set up shop in Houston shortly after the storm happened last fall.

The company requires workers to wear Operational Blessing shirts so that residents can easily identify them. So we all changed into our white Operational Blessings shirts before meeting outdoors for an orientation meeting.

After receiving our assignments, picking up our First Aid kit, tool bucket, cooler full of water, and quilts — one queen size and one child size — made by members of the Mennonite community to be delivered to every home we visit, we set off in different directions.

With four vans and advisers, Behrend had four groups of six to seven people to travel to different jobsites.

My crew worked at a home in a neighboring township about 15 minutes away from the church. Ours was a single-story home that belonged to an 80+ year old woman who was currently living in an R.V. behind her home, which had been completely underwater after the flood and had 5-foot deep standing water for about a month.

The home had been cleared of debris and all the drywall was down. Half of the home had new plywood flooring and the other half of the home needed the floors pried up so that new wood could be put down. Tearing up the floors was our job.

It was hard, sweaty, and dirty work made slightly harder by the humidity, lack of light in the house, and annoying, but necessary safety gear (masks, safety glasses). By the time our workday was over at 4 p.m., we had removed the entire subfloor in one room and had taken the first couple layers (there are layers of flooring) off in the two other rooms.

The homeowner’s daughter stopped by a couple of times to chat with us and tell us about her family, Texas, and the flood. Interacting with the residents as we work is not only expected, but encouraged. Operation Blessings says that, for some, we are the first ones to show up and give them a glimmer of hope. They told us to listen and ask not “How are you?” (because we’re all conditioned to automatically respond “good”), but “How are you holding up?”

I can’t imagine answering that question six months after a disaster. Many of the houses that we passed on our way to our jobsite had RVs in front of waterlogged houses and bags of debris and rotten lumber in the yard.

When I got my first look at the house we were working on, I was sad and overwhelmed. The enormity and volume of the work to be done — a half a year after the disaster — was disheartening. And our resident was one of many.

The other Penn State Behrend teams had different, but similar experiences:

• Chris Fox’s team went to a home only to find the homeowner had had a stroke two days before, so they were reassigned to help a young mother with a severely disabled son clean her house out.
• Chris Harben’s team demolished a bathroom in one home. Then, they canvassed the neighborhood, talking with residents to see if they had projects they wanted Operation Blessings to help them with.
• Will Taylor’s team worked on a home, removing walls, insulation, and debris.

We all returned filthy and hungry and hit the showers and dinner line, in that order. Personally, I cared more about shower than dinner.

After dinner, my crew made a Walmart run for supplies, including a cake for Chris Fox who had a birthday yesterday.

Then, more meetings and evening reflections (more about that tomorrow).

Today, Tuesday morning, some of us will receive new assignments, others will continue the work they were doing yesterday.

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Twenty-four students and four advisers from Penn State Behrend are participating in an Alternative Spring Break service trip to Beaumont, Texas. The group will be helping residents recover from the catastrophic flooding that occurred as a result of Hurricane Harvey, which hit the greater Houston area in August of 2017, causing at least $125 billion in damages and claiming 108 lives. Behrend’s ASB group is being joined by five other Penn State campuses, including Greater Allegheny, Harrisburg, Scranton, University Park, and York.

By Heather Cass

Publications Manager, Office of Strategic Communication, and 2018 ASB participant

Day 1 – Travel Day

Most of the students attending this year’s ASB trip met at Reed Wintergarden at 2:30 a.m. to catch a 3 a.m. charter bus to the Pittsburgh airport for a 7:30 a.m. flight to Houston.

We arrived in Houston at 9:30 a.m. (Texas is an hour behind Erie time) and after a few hours at the rental car company (don’t ask), we all headed to Whataburger for lunch.

We had some time before we needed to be at our volunteer location, so the group headed for a local flea market to take in the local culture and enjoy a few churros.

After a few hours at the flea market, we headed to our “home” for the week, Cathedral Church, in Beaumont, Texas.

Those who have been on past ASB trips, say the accommodations are plush compared to previous trips. All of the Behrend women are in one room on cots (think summer camp) and the men are in another building. There are shower trailers outdoors and a tent for outdoor dining when the larger Penn State contingency arrives in the next two days.

After dinner provided by the church members and an orientation meeting, the group did a Walmart run to stock up on hard-to-pack items like pillows and blankets.

Lights out is at 10:30 p.m., which is fine by me as I’ve been up nearly 24 hours now, and we have to be up early for breakfast at 7:15 a.m.

Tomorrow is our cultural day and we have an 11 a.m. tour scheduled at NASA’s Houston Space Center.

Monday, we get to work!

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