It Just Keeps Getting Better ....

Hi everyone! This is our last blog from good old Bay St Louis! Our last day here began with a very simple yet delicious breakfast consisting of fruits, danishes, and cereal. Soon after we had all eaten as much as our stomachs could handle, all of us applied loads of sunblock to prepare to head out to New Orleans. We all piled into Humperdink, our fifteen passenger van (dinky for short), for an hour car ride, not really sure what to expect when we got there. In order to get there, we crossed over Lake Pontchartrain by means of a bridge which was completely destroyed after Katrina. Upon entering New Orleans, or as they say in the south N'awlins, we began to see all of the destruction that took place four years ago. All of the houses had been almost completely submerged in water when the levys broke; some were left with water lines and many had Xs painted on their exteriors. These Xs were used by the National Guard during the storm search. They would show how many people, if any, were found within the house, how many pets were found, or what sector of the National Guard had searched it. On the other hand, upon driving into the garden district, we saw multiple big, beautiful houses (we may have even seen where Anne Rice supposedly lives). Seeing the Garden District made it seem like we were in a completely different place than the houses that we had seen before.
After driving around sightseeing and experiencing Mrs Donnelly's superb driving abilities (Ms Tyrell you know what we're talking about!), we made our way over to the French Quarters to begin our day of shopping. After parking the van, we walked along the Mississippi River in order to go into the city. Our first stop was the St. Louis Cathedral, which is absolutely breathtaking. We walked through the church and took multiple pictures before saying a few prayers as a group. We left the cathedral and walked along the edge of Jackson Square, where local artists display their artwork for others to see and purchase. The artwork ranged from paintings to prints and from flowers to portraits of cartoon-like cats and dogs. It was truly amazing work. Having worked up an appetite, we decided to grab lunch at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. The whole restaurant was decorated as if we had walked into a tropical paradise. We sat up on the balcony and enjoyed our nachos and Cheeseburgers in Paradise. After lunch, we crossed the street to the French Market. The French Market is almost like a flea market with vendors selling everything from harmonicas to t-shirts to Mardi Gras masks. We spent almost four hours browsing through all of the merchandise. Most of us bought bags, Mardi Gras masks, and jewelry along with presents for y'all back home. Tired and somewhat hungry, we walked down the street to Cafe Du Monde, a large outdoor cafe that only serves coffee and beignets. We enjoyed our tasty treats and finally started our journey to the car. On the way, we saw a huge steamboat on the Mississippi River as it was about to depart from its dock. We got to the van and piled in for the ride home. The ride wasn't exactly quiet, but it was peaceful enough, if you consider it peaceful to hear thirteen highschool girls singing along to "Amazed" by Lonestar. Now everyone is sitting in the cafeteria playing games and chowing down on brownies, gold fish, and much more. The perfect way to spend our last night at Lagniappe!

It's almost scary to think that we're all leaving tomorrow! Going back to Scranton is bittersweet. It's not that we don't love y'all, but we've grown to love this place and all the people here. As a group, we've become somewhat of a family, although a bit disfunctional. It's going to be a big change going from somewhere where we think 85 degrees is cool to a place where that is extremely hot; going from listening to people singing in the shower and waking up to fifteen different faces everyday and to Mrs Donnelly calling us her little chickens to sleeping in and not having to hold a chain while showering; going from being constantly questioned about where we're from and what we're doing to angry drivers honking at you on the Casey Highway; and going from not having a cell phone or ipod to having every appliance known to man at our fingertips! Although it may sound like coming home is a bad thing or a disappointment to us, it's not that at all! We love all of you and can't wait to see you again, and every day we would rush to the "blog machine" to see who made a comment, but the thing is, the Bay has become part of us and in return we are part of it. Hopefully, someday, we can all return to Bay St. Louis, whether it be to volunteer or to just check up on everyone that we have met along our journeys here this past week.

For our last day, we are planning on attending mass at what is supposed to be the best Catholic church in the area, and we are hoping to get some breakfast at the waffle house. After that, we're heading to downtown Bay St Louis for the last time to do some last minute shopping. We also have to find time to make a sign which we will leave at Lagniappe, and, around three o'clock, we will arive at the airport in Gulf Port and say good-bye to our beloved Humperdink. We will then be on our way home! =) Until then......
Good-bye! We love you all and we can't wait to see you!

This beautiful and heartfelt message was composed by Katie and Samarah, with a little help from Steph! =] A special shoutout to all our families! We miss you all dearly and we cannot wait to see you! Hope you don't mind us saying y'all all the time after we get home. After hearing it for eight days, it catches on!

Pictures Last Day

Before our last day begins with the homeowners

Prepping for next week's blitz

A hammer is also useful for removing mud from boots

Waiting for the house dedication to start

Picture with Ryan (no braids today)

Why we needed boots..

In front of the house with the homeowners and contractors

Last Day of Work!

Greetings and salutations from your favorite Mississippi girls! It's hard to believe today was our last day of work. This week flew by without any of us realizing it! After all our staple gun wounds, broken legs from falling off scaffolding, and nails in the head, we really are proud that we made it through the week. Today we moved back over to Creekside where we began the week. Our main priority was to prep the site for the team that will be coming this following Monday. We took a break from the painting, caulking, and varnishing, and went back to hand cramping, sweat building, sun burning hammering of nails into wood. We got so much done and really worked hard; our burn lines can prove it.
At four, we got to experience the dedication of the house that was built that week. It was presented to the Dardar family who were more than appreciative. It is something that neither Mrs. Donnelly nor Ms. Loyden ever got to see, so it really moved us all. Every volunteer signed a bible that was given to them. We took pictures in front of the house with them and the construction workers whom we have come to love more and more every day. Precious Julip (one of the many puppies we have encountered and wanted to steal) did not get to appear in the photo shoot.
We all went back to the bunk house and vegged out for quite some time until.......SOOONNNIIICCC!!!!!! Yes it is true, the commercials are not fake, it was amazing! It could have tasted so good because of our ravenous stomachs that have been so deprived of such deliciousness for a week.

We are looking forward to a fun trip to New Orleans tomorrow!

Thiss is Ellen and Anne signing off- Stay classy Scranton! (shoutout to the Fitzetti crews!)

Say My Name (obviously Julia's favorite song)

Heyyy y'alllll from PENNNNNSYLVANIAAAAAA !!!!!!!!! Today was our fourth day going to work. In the wee hours of the early morning all of us, "Krazy Katz," were dragged out from our cots. It was a rough morning, everyone was tired from a wild night out ;) ... we just went to eat at Shaggy's. After breakfast all of us piled in the van to go to the worksite. At the worksite, we were all split up... and I cried. Six of us including Ellen, Ms. Loyden, Julia, Vivi, Abigail, and Cara stayed at the original site called "Sycamore St." The rest of the girls followed Ryan, who had his hair done in frenchbraids by Anne and Vivi, to "Forrest St." They were split into two groups. Steph, Gabby, and Kristiana went to paint doors and walls, while Sam, Mrs. Donnelly, Katie, Marie, Anne, and Erin varnished cabinets. The day moved so quickly that many could not believe it was already lunch. More of the same continued after lunch and finally we were finished and were able to rest our tired feet. Before dinner Vivi, Cara, and Julia did the "Big Six" (ab workout) instead of running. To our embarassment, the three of us did this workout in front of most Chicago kids leaving the bathroom. A cafeteria worker told Ms. Loyden that we all eat an awful lot, yet at dinner, another cafeteria worker tried to force us to eat tons of meatloaf. Now we are off to the Mocking Bird Cafe to hear some live local music and drink some delicious frozen beverages.

A special shoutout to Kristiana's and Julia's families. We love and miss you soo much!!!

Pictures soon to come! (:

Go Coast or Go Home!

Greetings from the "blog machine"!

Today we experimented with heights. We took turns bungie jumping off the roof, most of us had harnesses, don't worry. We got into a nail gun fight, which, to our surprise, was not as fun as a water gun fight. And, Mrs. Donnelly and Ms. Loyden met some new friends at a bar, I guess it was 5:00 somewhere.

JUST KIDDING!!!!!

This is what really happened today.
Getting up this morning was quite difficult (Maybe because of our late night chat, about grade school drama). We headed off to our third day on the work site and joined the Habitat for Humanity crew that we've been spending a lot of time with this week. Our two head contractors are Ryan (who looks like Owen Wilson) and Steven who patiently guide us and answer all of our questions no matter how annoying we get. Today was the toughest day so far, we think everyone's exhaustion is starting to hit them (Marie fell asleep in one of the chairs on the site). We did a large amount of painting and a lot of tedious cut ins. Gabby, Stephanie, Abby, and Cara spent a good amount on the roof covering the shakers with primer. Power tools were used today often, after being well-trained and supervised. After returning home after our hard day, most of the girls relaxed, but Julia did manage to get Cara and Vivi to run with her. Everyone showered and cleaned themselves up for our night out on the town. We ate dinner at a place called Shaggy's, outside on high deck, which overlooked the piers. It was so nice to watch the sunset over the Gulf. We enjoyed Po-Boys, Gumbo, and Nachos (we were very hungry). When we were finished with our meals we went out on the piers and had a photoshoot. Many locals were fishing and a young boy caught an eel. We were surprised when all the sudden he quickly chopped his head off right in front of our eyes (apparently, it was shark bait). We are back at Lagniappe now and everyone is relaxing and getting ready for bed. We miss everyone back home, we will see you soon!

A special hello to the Jones and Notarianni families! This blog was written by Gabby and Cara.

Pictures Day 3

Getting instructions for the day from Ryan

Twin Day

Look Mom, no hands!!

Working hard in the Mississippi heat

Break time

Annie installed all the door knobs!

More caulking

Miter saw

Erin spent the whole day painting the front of the house

On the pier after dinner

Day 2 Pictures

Our living quarters...

Lots of Painting!!

Our View from the Front Door

And Caulking!

Dance Party!

Today's Worksite

Who Knew Blisters (and sunburns and bug bites) Could Feel So Good?

Greetings from Mississippi! Soo after a late start (we were dead tired) and a rushed breakfast, we headed off to Sycamore Street where we had to do some finishing work on a five bedroom house for a woman named KiKi. Our work involved a lot of painting, caulking, and cleaning. The painting brought some of our girls to high heights on scaffolding and it was a funny sight to see their boots hanging whenever you walked out the front door (which Marie proudly painted). We had a grand old time calling out the names of songs we knew that came on an i-pod. This quickly became a battle to see who could name the artists and the song title. Then, our new theme song 'Single Ladies' came on and of course a dance party erupted, leaving the Habitat people stunned. The morning passed very quickly, and before we knew it we were driving back to Lagniappe for lunch. Then, suddenly, we heard what sounded like a lion's roar and then witnessed our strongest rainstorm yet! Thank goodness we were inside and not outside. The storm ended just in time for us to go back to work. We then worked until a little after four when we wrapped it up to head back home for dinner. While some our girls opted to go back to the cool, air conditioned bunk house, our more devoted ladies went out for a run (a blisteringly hot and sweaty run at that). Then we all sat down at dinner and stared at eachother. I meeeann... then we all had dinner. (inside joke, you guys wouldn't understand until you had a conversation with Julia). Spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, salad, and BROWNIES were on the menu for tonight's dinner. And we also lucked out majorly when we discovered the milk cleverly hidden in the fridge which we all assumed was off limits until we read the sign. Who knew how milk deprived we were? So once we had strong bones again we returned back to the bunk house and reflected (in a very humorous manner). After we shared many laughs, Mrs. Donnelly suggested we go out and get some Sno Balls. Sno Balls are not as simple as one might think. They are not just a ball of snow, but rather they consist ice,ice cream, and also there are a variety of gorgeous flavors! Sounds great, right? Too bad the place was closed. But don't worry.. we'll get some eventually. So now we are all just chillin like villians in the T.V room watching a movie until we finally can no longer keep our eyes open. And even though we're all a bit itchy from the bug bites we got today, I'm sure we'll still sleep like rocks. Okay, stay classy NEPA and stay tuned!
This positively radiant blog was produced by Marie and Stephanie Inc. Special shout out to the Philbins and the Gleasons!! We miss you guys!!

Some Pictures...

Building some walls..

The house at 9 am.



Putting walls up.

Sporting our work gloves from Mrs. Donnelly's dad!

Putting the roof up.


Hammering walls together, awaiting the nail inspector!


Samarah learns how to use a nail gun!


The house at 4 pm!

Getting Our Hands Dirty.. Boo yah!!!

Hi! :) ... so our morning was an early one. We arose from our cozy bunk beds at 6:45 to the sound of Mrs. Donnelly's singing.... "wake up my little chickens" (yeah.. we don't know either). We got our handy dandy men's cargo shorts on for the first time. WE WERE PRETTY STOKED!!!!!! After supplying our bodies with a nutricious breakfast, we had a meeting with a guy from Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He was not directing the meeting towards us... but we did not realize this until later. Following the meeting all of us piled in to the 15 passenger van. Our friend, Jim, showed us the way. He is a math teacher and put our cooler in his car... that was nice.

We FINALLY arrived at the work site, geared up our workbelts, and started hammering away. Anne and Stephanie have found their secret talent of hammering nails. Wow. We worked on a house which we saw as a concrete foundation rise to form a magnificent skeleton of a house. While we worked we were sweating like beasts. It was ridiculously hot, but we did not mind that much. LUNCH BREAK. We ate sandwiches that we made in the morning in the van. We went to a gas station to get powerade. Powerade was a delightful treat.

Back at the work site, we got our hands dirty. A group helped put the ceiling on, some helped painted, and others got the nails ready for the 3:30 inspection. We were very nervous, but we passed...Yeaahhh!!! Sometime later, the Mississippi rain drenched us (don't worry we tied ourselves to every electrical wire we could find... just kidding). We finished up at 4:30... and raced the chicago kids to the showers. Let me tell y'all back home... they are fast ones. After cleaning up, we ate a supper consisting of rice, sauages and beans in a sauce, broccoli, corn bread, salad (mom not like the salads at home- julia), PEACH COBBLER. DELICOUS PEACH COBBLER!!!!!!!!!!!! At dinner we sat next to our friend, zach also known as "zacharous prime." Scranton has to clean the bathrooms tonight, we are not to pumped about it...

A special "Hey y'all!!!" to the lovely Cognetti and Blaskiewicz families back at home! The wonderful relatives of the two cutest girls who wrote this message (Anne and Julia-although I would like to say that all the crazy stuff in this message was composed by little Julia)

WE MISS YOUUUUUU <33333333333333

From two redheads!

Hello everyone! Just finishing up our second day here at Lagniappe. We began our day with the cross country girls (Erin Marie Vivi and Julia, Cara didnt join!) heading out for a run at nice and early 7 AM. The heat was AWFUL! There was a thick haze but it was a beautiful run nonetheless. The rest of the girls woke up at 8 when the brave runners returned. We got ready for church which began at 9:30. Breakfast was served for us around 8:30, with some pastries and fruit. The service was here at Lagniappe Prebyterian Church. It was a new experience for all of us girls but we all enjoyed the unique service and powerful sermon given by the pastor. After a little relaxation, we packed up and headed to Pass Christian for some lunch and a swim! But not before our trip to KMart for some beach towels and a bathing suit for Marie! We had lunch at a place called Lizzy's. Its the sister restaurant to the Mockingbird Cafe here in Bay St. Louis. After lunch we headed to the beach around 2:30. The water was SOOOOOO warm. It felt like a bath. All the girls but Julia, and Ms. Loyden, enjoyed the water for a long time. Once our hands were pruney, we sat on the beach reading, relaxing, and soaking up the sun! A few of the girls collected seashells, or barnacles as Marie called them. We all wore sunscreen, so no one worry! After our relaxing afternoon we packed back into the van around 5 to head back to Lagniappe. We got all the sand out of our nooks and crannies in the showers and just hung out around the bunks and wrote in our journals. We just finished up our meeting with Erica from Habitat to get and understanding of our work for the week. Tomorrow we are going about 30 minutes away from here to lay the framework on a house. This week is a blitz, which is when a bunch of houses go up in a quick period. Also we will do some finishing work on some local houses. Staying here and working with us is a public high school from Chicago. Its a co-ed group of about 20, who has sent groups here in the past as well. Dinner tonight will be some delicious pizza that we have yet to devour, but believe me it will go fast! All of us send our love to you guys back home, but we need some rest tonight because we are getting in the vans at about 7:45 tomorrow. Goodbye for now!

This blog would especially like to say hello to the Grogan and Helbig families, because Erin and Abby composed this lovely message. Get the two redheads reference now? Haha we don't have nicknames yet but we are sure they are coming! Thanks for reading!

Hey Ya'll, Welcome to Bay-St. Louis!

Greetings from Langniappe! We arrived here around 10:30 a.m.; that is 11:30 a.m. in Scranton. We took two tiny, cramped, and cozy planes to get here. One of which, the famous Scrantonian Rich Banick was aboard (yes, he had his man-bag with him)! Our first plane landed in Atlanta, Georgia and from there, we took a plane to Gulfport, Mississippi. We hope you are enjoying the overcast and high 60s weather in Scranton, while we are basking in the sunny, high 80s climate of Bay-St. Louis. Upon arrival we discovered our beautiful cabin with many bunkbeds. We have the whole thing to ourselves, which is nice because we wrote in our journals, relaxed, and Christiana, Ellen, and Vivi enjoyed splendid nap time in our air-conditioned accomidations. After nap-time, we finally listened to our stomachs rumble and went to the wonderful town blockparty known as Second Saturday. We stimulated the local economy with some shopping in the stores along the main street while we waited for the Mockingbird Cafe to begin serving dinner. In the vintage shop we came across, we listened to the story of the store owner; a Hurricane Katrina surviver. Her story was eye-opening. She and her son lost everything they had except for the clothes on their backs. She no longer has pictures from when her son was a baby or her priceless Grandmother's quilts. She told us of how she first had to live in her car and then was fortunate enough to be given a FEMA trailer. However, this trailor lacked electrical services from August until April. She told us of how difficult it was to just get a bag of ice. She had to walk miles just to obtain it, where all we have to do is open our freezer doors. After listening to her story, we finally got to feed our hungry stomachs with some burgers from the Mockingbird Cafe, named after the novel (their meals are named after certain characters, including Scout, Boo Radley, etc.). Our first taste of Mississippi was delicious. While we digested, we spent the rest of the evening walking around the town. We visited a tree that served as a refuge for seven people and a dog of unknown size during the hurricane. It is now carved into the shapes of angles as a tribute to the lives it saved. We continued walking around, soaking up the lively music, art, and people of this area. Every person we have talked to so far has been beyond friendly and are so thankful and excited to have us here. Tonight was extremely beautiful and the weather could not have been more perfect, with a light, comfortable breeze. We are looking forward to the rest of our trip here. We start working on Monday and tomorrow we will be going to mass and then have the rest of the day to do whatever. So long for now, we will be in touch tomorrow! A special shoutout to the FitzPatrick and McGregor families!

This wonderful, spectacular, and exceptional blog post was created by Vivi McGregor and Ellen FitzPatrick (Velle is our new nickname).

Who We Are and What We're Doing

One might ask why we are traveling to Mississippi to build houses in the middle of July when it is a constant 95 degrees during the day, relief of only about 78 degrees each night, thunderstorms happen often, and oh yeah, we have to pull a chain in the shower to keep the water running (no complaining). Well, to answer that.. SERVICE! We are a group of thirteen soon-to-be seniors in high school and two teachers from Scranton Prep School in Scranton, PA. Our school has service requirements, consistent with the Jesuit ideals and values, for students each year throughout their high school experience which culminates in a service trip (for most students) the summer between their junior and senior years. We are just one of 16 service trips this summer. Teachers volunteer their time to chaperone these amazing trips.

We are excited to be staying at Lagniappe http://www.lagniappechurch.com/ , and be working with Habitat for Humanity Bay-Waveland http://www.habitatbaywaveland.org/ . The work that we plan to do and what we intend to accomplish on this trip far outweigh any worries about heat or the tight bunkhouses where we will be staying. We have been fortunate in our lives and are looking forward to helping to build houses for those who have lost their homes in the tragic event of Hurrican Katrina. Even though it happened four years ago, the coast still needs help. And we are more than happy to volunteer our time for others.

We will be posting updates here as we progress through the week so be sure to check back often and see what's going on! Also, please leave us any comments you have, we would love to read them!


Check out our school here: www.scrantonprep.com

Register with Habitat

Go to the website and click on register now to fill out the info before we leave on Saturday!!
http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=700222