Thank you to All Hands Volunteers (AHV) Project Colorado leaders for your passion and dedication. Thank you for the generosity of friends and family who have supported my AHV CO venture either through financial contributions or moral support.

As learned in Haiti and El Salvador, partnerships are the key to helping families recover and communities rebuild.

The success of Project CO is the partnership between AHV and Habitat for Humanity (HFH) CO.

With the close of AHV Project CO, HFH CO will carry forward the rebuilding.

Please visit their website to learn how you can get involved (click icon.)

For those interested learning more about the 2013 CO, below are resources and statistics on the flood damage and the rebuilding efforts.

Thank you for following my blog.

Please stay tuned for updates as I apply lessons learned in CO to our AIA WI disaster assistance and response partnership with Wisconsin Emergency Management.

The Pediment Group has published a book called “A Thousand Year Rain.”

The Daily Camera, the Estes Park Trail Gazette, the Reporter-Herald and the Times-Call are proud to present this hardcover pictorial book that captures the devastation of the massive flooding that swept across Boulder and Larimer counties.

5% of all sales will be donated to the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado & the Foothills Flood Relief Fund for Boulder and Broomfield Counties.

Boulder CO flood 2013: Facts

Deaths:                                                 4

People unaccounted for:                       0

Homes destroyed:                                 345

Homes damaged:                                  557

Commercial properties damaged:           33

Commercial properties destroyed:           3

Total properties assessed:                     5,592

People evacuated by air:                       1,102

People evacuated by road:                    707

Miles of county roads damaged: Approximately 150

Cost to replace damaged county roads: $100 million to $150 million

Source: Boulder County Office of Emergency Management

Thanks to the help of All Hands Volunteers, Patty Bakel, an elderly woman with health problems, is able to stay in her own home.

Last fall’s rains flooded the basement of her Longmont home, requiring the entire level to be gutted, rewired, plumbed, framed, and dry walled.

Heather, our All Hands leader, was the onsite supervisor the days we worked on Patty’s house.

Heather joined All Hands just over a year ago while volunteering on post hurricane Sandy cleanup efforts.

I listened in awe as Heather shared stories about the people she’d helped on both the post Sandy and Colorado projects. She spoke very passionately about her disaster response work.

With great patience, Heather walked me through the “drywall & mud” process. Finishing corners is a challenge, but ceilings are a lot harder.

Heather snapped a photo just as I was making another attempt at “mudding.”

Humbled by the complexity of the art, this experience has taught me a whole new respect for this process.

The Habitat for Humanity /All Hands partnership has been the key to the success of the Colorado rebuild project.

Reuben, the All Hands Volunteer Coordinator (and a very patient and kind man), gave me a tour of the new Longmont Habitat office. This is where the magic started and will keep moving forward after the All Hands team moves on to Project Detroit next week.

The two white boards serve as a most effective tool in tracking both each project’s success and where volunteers will be sent each day.

Wednesday’s work day focused on the restoration of a historic home in Longmont. I worked side by side with Habitat for Humanity and AmeriCorps volunteers and was most impressed by the enthusiasm of the young AmeriCorps candidates. After driving through the heavy snow from Loveland, they arrived smiling and ready to work. As the outside temps read 5 degrees, we were all grateful to work inside.

 All Hands Volunteers and Habitat for Humanity have partnered to renovate this 100 year old home that will serve as a home for AmeriCorps Volunteers who will continue the local rebuilding efforts.   This house, currently owned by the church next door, was not damaged by the floods, but it will serve an important role in providing a place to stay for these key volunteer laborers.

Work responsibilities included drywall hanging/taping, plastering, painting, and floor staining. Here are two vibrant young women having fun doing the drywall work – kudos ladies.

I’d worked side by side with Janette, a regular Habitat volunteer who has traveled the country with her husband to work on these projects. She was wonderful with the young AmeriCorps folks – very patient and encouraging. After Janette asked me to help with scrubbing the wood floors to prep them for staining, she grabbed a bucket and kneeled down right next to me.

Since most volunteers are not seasoned contractors, they often hire local tradesmen to do the technical work, including plumbing, electrical, and tiling work.   The electricians are on site today to run new wiring and install fixtures.

A local architect generously volunteered his time to draw up the plans (elevations, floor layout , electrical placement, and plumbing locations)  for this renovation.   This is another good example of architects giving back to their communitie by helping with the rebuilding efforts.

Thursday’s temperatures are breaking Colorado’s record lows. Unfortunately, this weather is limiting the work that can be accomplished today, but we are hopeful that tomorrows forecasted high of 35 degrees will allow us to make better head way on the rebuilding efforts.

Thank you for your interest in All Hands Volunteers Project Colorado. Stay tuned for more updates from the field. Stay warm!

Today we worked on Joe’s house. This is the home where he raised his 3 children and started a successful chiropractic practice.

Last September, when a year’s worth of rain fell in two days, Lyons was one of the areas hardest hit. Joe’s house and business were literally under water.

Months later, the rebuilding efforts began with partial demolition of his home and then lifting of the main structure.

One year after the floods, Joe’s street is lined with homes that appear to be either condemned or under construction. Two blocks away, I could see where other houses had already been lifted and renovated, much like the work we were doing on Joe’s house.

Greg, a seasoned contractor and our All Hands Site Leader, swiftly organized gear and delegate tasks. Greg has been here since June.

Next week, after All Hands hands off the CO rebuilding efforts to Habitat for Humanity, Greg will transfer to the Detroit post flood rebuilding efforts.

With temps in the 20s, we were grateful for the propane heaters that kept us warm while we painted interior walls.  I worked along two very bright and interesting young students from the San Francisco area.  Kate is studying public health and Naoki – humanities, both are taking a little time away from school to travel and volunteer on cool projects.

The CO build team is comprised of both All Hands and Habitat for Humanity staff who work full time and many volunteers who have been here since August of this year.  There are others, like me, who are only here for one to two weeks.

I’ve met some who have worked in Haiti – we exchanged stories about the villages and kind Haitian people.

Many volunteers here have traveled the world working with All Hands Volunteers or Habitat for Humanity on other disaster response projects. I look forward to hearing their stories.

 The sun was shining brightly over the mountains as my plane landed in Denver – wohoo, sunshine!

However, as I rode the shuttle bus from the terminal, the driver reported, “Enjoy it while it lasts, in just two hours the temperature is going to drop 40 degrees. “  What?

The All Hands Volunteers work week starts on Tuesday at 8:00 am – that’s tomorrow already! I’ve a day to stop in Golden to visit my brother before heading up to base camp in Longmont in the morning.

During a gorgeous afternoon walk along Clear Creek with my brother Ken and Mocha the wonder-dog, the temperature abruptly dropped from 65 to 32 degrees.

And then the snow began to fall…..

The thought of working on a job site in 30 degree temps makes me cringe.

In many ways, this is going to be a different experience than Haiti and El Salvador.

Last thought for the day…..

What do you think of this quote?

“Citizen Architect: The Citizen Architect uses his/her insights, talents, training, and experience to contribute meaningfully, beyond self, to the improvement of the community and human condition.”

My brother said, “That sounds a bit esoteric.” I guess he meant that it sounds vague or cryptic. Perhaps he’s right – the phrase alone doesn’t really say all that much.  Well then, it a mission – to discover what that means in the “real world.”

Thanks big brother – I love you.

In 36 hours, I’ll be en route to Colorado for two weeks of disaster recovery work in Lyons and Longmont, two cities hit hard by last year’s flooding.

Flood Event: 

In mid-September of last year, heavy rains pummeled Colorado’s Front Range for almost a week, falling especially hard in the area ranging from Boulder to Greeley. The result: catastrophic flooding across 200 miles.

Eight people died as a result of the flooding, an estimated 20,000 homes were damaged – close to 2,000 of which were totally destroyed and Colorado declared a disaster emergency in 17 counties.

Thank You:

A heartfelt thank you to friends, family, and colleagues who’ve supported my travels to provide relief efforts and help communities rebuild after a natural disaster. I could not do this work without your donations, moral support, and help with logistics.

Thank you Knothe and Bruce Architects for covering my responsibilities, allowing me the time off for this CO work trip. This work is important, not just in that we can help communities rebuild, but so that we can learn from them. As the AIA WI State Disaster Assistance Coordinator, I hope to gain a better understanding of how architects can help respond to a flood situation in Wisconsin.

Each volunteer is asked to raise $500 to cover job site materials and general supplies. I’ve set up a personal fundraising page at ALL HANDS VOLUNTEERS.  A sincere thank you to those who have contributed as your money is going directly into the CO efforts where I’ll be working.

A little more on our work in CO:

In June of this year, All Hands Volunteers launched Project Colorado: Recovery & Rebuild. Working with our partner, Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley. Thanks to the generous support of many, we have completed repairs or rebuild on 6 homes, are currently working on another 5 homes, and have 3 major projects in the pipeline, including one home that is being rebuilt from the foundation up.

Stay Tuned:

Thank you for reading my blog. Stay tuned from Nov. 11-21^st for daily work site updates and more about the Lyons and Longmont communities.