God bless those Yankee Plumbers!!

You will remember my week working in NOLA the week after Christmas 2008. I met Mrs. Gladys Philip and began to see and understand the continued devastation and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I knew then that the plumbing in her house would need work, but did not know how much work would be needed. Upon my return to the city and the work in January, Louis and I spent two weeks working in the house. We wanted to get the master bath working so a trip was made under the house to make a plumbing survey.

I spent at least an hour looking at the mess left behind by the plumber Mrs. Philip hired and paid to fix her plumbing. He took her money, but did not fix her plumbing. He basically cut the waste lines off of her master bath and rerouted the waste line to make it easier for him, but left the work undone.

Steve from Forward Edge was working next door, I asked him to take a look. He spent 30 minutes under the master bath and returned with the same confused look on his face. We knew we could fix the mess and get the plumbing working, we also knew it would take us three to four times longer than a real live/experienced plumber. I was concerned as a good plumber is a hard thing to come through volunteer rebuild organizations.

Last week, Brian and Joe came from NY to help rebuild NOLA. They are plumbers who work in and around NY City all the time. They have seen and fixed all kinds of crazy plumbing challenges in The Big Apple. On Tuesday of last week I stopped by 1914 Law St. to see if any volunteers were working. It was then I realized the Yankee plumbers were hard at work for Mrs. Philip. Joe and Brian were both under the house cutting old waste line, adding new waste line and turning fittings in every way possible to get the master bath working. I cannot tell you how happy I was as I laid there watching them work. This was one BIG problem that had just been eliminated from the TO DO list.

On Wednesday they worked at the home of Yolanda and Larry Searls. They were able to get bubbles working for Yolanda's bath spa tub. In two days Brian and Joe used their skills to help two families I had been working for/with.

On Thursday afternoon they returned to Law St. and went through the entire plumbing system fixing any and all problems found. On Friday they were going to install a new water heater, dish washer and kitchen sink. That plan was changed when they checked the natural gas lines. They spent all day Friday finding and repairing leaks in the gas system. Friday night they told me the gas lines were leaking badly everywhere. These yankee plumbers were so determined to help Mrs. Philip they decided to stay over on Saturday and work until ALL the plumbing work was done in the entire house. The concern they had for Mrs. Philip and her house was a sign of how these two men were full of the love of God.

Gladys Philip showing pictures of Katrina's destruction to Andrew Chalmers Jan 2009.