Today I decided to go to High River. I headed out with a group of volunteers coordinated by JH Innovations. The company did our renovations a couple of years ago and they are a class act.
The Sunshine neighborhood is a victim of some serious traffic congestion. Between all the commercial vehicles in to help and all the volunteers and trash, it was a zoo. Faster to walk than to drive.
These guys are awesome. They brought a ton of food and supplies. We setup our home base in a park and donned our lovely coveralls.
Our first assignment was mucking out a basement. Looked pretty much the same as what I did last week, except for one difference. Mould. These basements have been sitting in the water for over two weeks in some cases. The entire town had an odour that smelled not so nice. I made sure that I got a proper respirator rather than a N95 mask.
A couple of us went to the house next door, which wasn’t too bad, as they were mostly done, just taking down the drywall and insulation.
The third house was really bad. Black mould had permeated almost all of the insulation in the basement.
The fourth house was difficult as we did not have lighting and few had headlamps. I couldn’t see the mould.
We went back to house one to disinfect with bleach. What a difference! I am actually liking the smell of bleach.
It was very sobering to see the amount of damage in this community. They truly need all the help that they can get. If you go, please bring proper protective equipment. Safety glasses. Yours truly had bits of dry drywall fall over her eyes. A proper respirator with replaceable filters. Suitable for painting. The smell will get to you after a while and this will give you healthier air to breathe. Long sleeves and long pants. Clothes that you can throw away. And rubber boots! Who knows what is in that water.
I made a few more new friends today, Hopefully we can stay in touch. The generosity of Calgarians and Albertans in general amazes me. As long as there is a need, I will try to help.
