We boarded the vans and headed to Breezy Point. We drove through Queens to Brooklyn, to a little finger of land that juts out into the ocean:
Breezy Point Map
Today, my little group worked with a very interesting lady named MaryLou, I don't think there is a way I will ever forget her.
Her home was 80+ years old, built by her Grandfather right on Rockaway point Blvd. It wasn't a majestic home, but rather looked like a cottage you might see at Nanoose Bay or a vacation spot by a lake. It had a small living, dining and kitchen area. A small bathroom with 1 small bedroom. It was on stilts, the high water line in her bathroom was about 10' high.
Our job was to empty her home of contents that couldn't be salvaged and then move all her furniture to the front porch that could be saved.
MaryLou and I had something in common. We both love antiques. As we were going through her home she was ditching a silver tea service, an ancient Singer sewing machine and a silver alcohol decanter that would fetch a very high price. It looked like a castle with doors that dropped and had a cigar humidor on top.
I agonized over this for her, but there was either cloth or wood that had been water damaged and it all had to go. I asked her if we could save it -- then she told me. Everything had been hit with sewer, there were no septic tanks, no sewer lines, they had cesspools, so due to the high water line, everything below that line had to be trashed.
She was pretty brave during the beginning of the day, but as the day wore on, you could see how the emptying of her home was causing her some distress.
At one point she asked the girls to shovel off her front walk, about 18" of sand, then looked at the boys and asked them to pack up her room. A little backwards.
I packed up her bathroom, which was the worst smell ever, the girls were packing up records that had a 1/2" of mold on them, some were cracked and broken, but she was sure she could salvage them, I think the stress made her think not so clearly.
She was thrilled with the job we accomplished, her back yard full of garbage bags to be taken by the garbage men in the morning, her house completely empty and swept, ready for an interior inspection--(I didn't think she would pass...she had passed the exterior inspection)
She asked the kids to take something to remember her by--she held a little raffle on her front walk. She gave away a depression era glass cup, a coin collection, when it came to me I said all I wanted was a hug and a photo to remember her by.
She then hugged me and handed me a ratty old American flag--still on it's pole. She said it had survived the hurricane, so I took it with pride.
We finished work at her home about 2.30 and headed back to help the other group get rid of a pile about 4' high of stuff from behind a house it took a pile of us, but we did it. I looked in the basement and there had to be about 3-4" of ice.
We ended the day, frozen to the core, satisfied with a job well done. The teens, didn't complain even a little bit.
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