Southwest FL – ERT – Nov. 6-12, 2022

We welcomed a number of long-term volunteers who will serve out the remaining weeks until this project office “hibernates” until after the new year.  Along with these 4 recent long-termers from New York state and Pennsylvania,  and the 3 long-termers from who have been on site since the middle of October, we also welcomed 2 gentlemen from Ohio and New York state for the week.

We continued to work on drywalling a home in North Port.  This has been a longer, on-going job than the tree cutting jobs, and is an especially nice one to return to when the weather takes a turn.  We had a couple of emergency calls on Wednesday to tarp roofs before Hurricane Nicole made landfall that night.  The one homeowner blessed the volunteers before the Lord over and over again and prayed for them  the whole time they were working on her roof.  We continue to help those who need trees cut up and moved to the roadside, those who need damaged drywall and insulation taken out of their houses, along with other smaller repairs and various-sized cleanups.  Lots of trees and debris are being picked up at the roadsides, and now progress is starting on picking up the piles of trash at the roadsides.

Many schools, businesses and government agencies closed for the second half of the day on Wednesday, and all day Thursday with the storm approaching.  We noticed much less traffic around on Thursday.  This was a good day to do those indoor jobs and try to keep dry.  We are thankful that the storm here was not more severe than it was, but it caused significant damage in other areas and we think of those who are in the aftermath of it.

Submitted by Linda Wideman, Office Manaager