Foley - Habitat

Sunday, March 26, 2012

We started the trek from Columbia, MO, to Foley, AL, bright and early around 6 am since the trip would take us around thirteen hours to complete. The trip started off with us traveling through Southern Missouri to the boot heel then through Tennessee where we witnessed our first site of “Tennessee Safari” complete with zebras and ostriches. The drive got even more interesting when in Mississippi not one but both vans got pulled over by the same cop. He asked us where we were from and our plans for travel, so after Stephanie, a driver, had a shaking fit and David, the other driver, played it calm and talked his way out of it, the officer let both of us go with a bid to slow down.

We arrived in Foley to our emergency shelter situation, which turned out to be the light of the trip. On Wednesday, our housing site informed us that we did not have place to stay until Sunday at 3 pm, so Sarah, our amazing site leader, called around churches in Foley to see if anyone could house us Saturday night. A saint among humans named Kathy answered the call and gave up her and her husband’s home for the night and housed us. Their hospitality was one that none of us could have imagined, as we arrived late at night and were greeted with open arms, plenty of room, blankets, and had the pleasure of spending time with both of them. In the morning, Kathy provided us with breakfast and we made plans to have dinner later in the week.

On Sunday, our free day, we headed to the beach to relax, get some sun, and continue our family bonding before we could move into our housing at 3 pm. We moved in and met with our Habitat for Humanity coordinator who gave us the sites we would be working at all week. After we met with her, we got to go on a dolphin cruise throughout the Gulf and took many pictures together followed up by dinner at the Mellow Mushroom. We finally returned to our housing exhausted where half of our trip headed to Wal-Mart to finally purchase groceries. After a long day of sun and getting situated with our surroundings, we all ready to work in the morning and cannot wait to see the homes we get to help build and continue to mesh with the surrounding community.