In this, the third of five journal entries from Shirley Showalter, Fetzer Vice President of Programs, she shares her experience volunteering in New Orleans with the Mennonite Disaster Service which cooperates with Catholic Charities and the American Red Cross.

My husband Stuart has been doing a week of post-Katrina volunteering for three straight years. I have been here two years. Last year I we worked in Slidell, Louisiana, with the Northshore Disaster Recovery operation. Word is that Slidell has made major progress in the last year and that new volunteers are being funneled into New Orleans where there will be recovery work to do for at least another five years.

The house we’re working on is beginning to look good! Today Karen and I removed all stickers from the windows and polished each one until it gleamed. We took turns being inside and outside so that both of us sun-deprived Yankees could enjoy winter sunshine. The temperature was perfect, and the wind was gentle, so our spirits were light.

Stuart finished his fifth closet today, exclaiming with delight when his measurements, sawing, and installing resulted in a perfect fit. Roy put crown molding on top of the kitchen cabinets, using a set of skills he honed in his twenties and has not used actively for years.

Mennonite Disaster Service, the agency for whom we are working, began in 1950 and has a long history of expertise in how to rebuild and restore wounded communities. We were told this week that one motto they share with new volunteers is: “Do Your Best and Caulk the Rest.”

We’ve used up three tubes of caulk on this house. Stuart’s mitering on the corners of the baseboard is good, but the walls are not perfectly straight and so careful application of caulk and several coats of paint have worked little miracles.

I think I’ll take these words home with me and hang them over my computer at work. When I look at them, I will remember this one perfect pearl of a day: a brown paper sack lunch shared with two new friends, the words of the morning’s meditation in my heart, muscles that work better in sunshine, and the family whose home we are working on to think of as I wash up the new floor on my hands and knees.

We have done our best, but thank God for caulk!

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 28th, 2008 at 10:36 am and is filed under Practices in Action, Things to Think About. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.