Living in a stadium?

I've been in Biloxi, MS for 4 days now and its definitely different than Oak Park. We are currently staying at Yankie Stadium, which is a volunteer shelter. The Salvation Army bought Yankie Stadium 4 days before Hurricane Katrina hit. They were planning on turning it into a community center, but when Katrina hit, they turned it into a shelter. The process wasn't easy. The stadium at one point was under 30 feet of water. After the water had receded and the Salvation Army came to investigate the damage ans they discovered that 10,000 bats had moved in under the bleachers. Bats, being endangered animals, have to be removed and not killed. This was also mating season for bats. Once the bats were removed, the cleaning began. Thats when Habitat for Humanity stepped in and asked if their volunteers could stay at Yankie Stadium. Through the combined efforts of HfH and Salvation Army volunteers, Yankie Stadium was converted into a volunteer shelter. We sleep in cabins next to the bleachers. There are showers and bathrooms in each cabin. Then underneath the bleachers, there is a kitchen, computers, games, puzzles, a TV, laundry facilities, books, ping-pong tables, and pool tables. The Salvation Army cooks all of our meals and they cook delicious food!! This morning for breakfast I has grits for the first time ever!

Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, the Salvation Army has decided to continue with their original plans and make Yankie Stadium into a community center. That means HfH has to move out and they pretty much have. My team is the last group of volunteers to stay at Yankie Stadium. We will be relocated to another volunteer camp called Camp Victor within a week.

During the day, we work with HfH. We are currently working on a site that will be a new subdivision. There are numerous volunteers, including the future homeowners, AmeriCorps State members, and HfH volunteers. Our work site is about 35 minutes away from Yankie Stadium and it will be about 45 minutes away form Camp Victor. Our work week is Tuesday through Saturday. We work from 8 am to about 4 pm. Saturday was our first work day and we took apart 136 walls that were improperly constructed. Each was had anywhere from 30 to 60 nails that had to be removed. I can now say, I have mastered the hammer!! We are maybe 1/5 of the way through all of the walls that need to be taken apart. Fun times!

Cheers from Biloxi,
Catherine