Bridge built by neighbors forges bonds

[Kat Kanning]

I wish I'd known about this before, I'd have gone to help.  It shows how little things like FEMA are needed in this area.




Bridge built by neighbors forges bonds
Surry woman can drive home again

Jake Berry
Sentinel Staff


SURRY ? Cathy A. Jacobs used to drive Joshua D. Brooks to school. Now, years later, he?s helping her drive home.

The bridge connecting Jacobs? Surry house to Route 12A, which runs adjacent to the residence, was destroyed by the floods that hit parts of the Monadnock Region the weekend of Oct. 8.

For several days, Jacobs had to walk nearly a mile through the woods to get to the main road by her house ? and, now, nearly a month later, she still can?t get her car across the brook to her home.

To remedy the situation, Brooks and his fellow members of the Surry all-volunteer fire department, along with several other Surry residents, have spent the last several weekends working to replace the bridge.


      


?(Cathy) used to drive me to school when I was a kid,? Brooks said of Jacobs, a former bus driver in the Keene and Surry school systems. ?Now I?m able to help her a little bit. It?s nice to have a connection like that.?

Brooks and his fellow workers ? Roger Bienvenue, Bill Bigelow, David Brooks, Tom Dutton, and David Everett, among others ? have spent their last three Saturdays clearing debris from Thompson Brook that runs by the house, securing the cement supports that hold up the bridge, and setting the wood beams that make up the decking, among other jobs ? all for no pay or compensation.

By the time the sun set Saturday, the bridge was almost completed.

?It?s really amazing, everything they?ve been doing,? said Jacobs, now a paraprofessional working in the special education department of Keene High School. ?They?ve all gone out of their way to help. I can?t thank them enough.?

Before the firemen came to her rescue, Jacobs was having to navigate through the woods by her house, or do a balance routine across an iron beam that was angled over the brook.

In the first days after the flood, the workers set up a temporary walk-bridge, so she could cross safely, but she still had to keep her car at a neighbor?s home across the road.

Now that the bridge is nearly complete, she?ll be able to drive to her house as in the days before the floods.

?By the time it?s done, we?ll be able to get a fire truck over this thing,? said Bienvenu, deputy chief of the fire department.

It?s actually one of the main objectives.

?That?s really our interest in this whole thing,? Bienvenu said. ?We wanted to make sure (the fire department) can get across safely if we have to go over there for any issue.?

But the human-interest piece concerns them even more.

?More than anything, we?re here helping (Jacobs),? Bienvenu said. ?These guys really feel good at the end of the day because they?re able to help somebody.?

And they?re helping in more ways than one.

Jacobs has began the process of applying to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for federal aid in the recovery process, she said. But no matter what funding she gets, she won?t have to pay much of anything, Bienvenue said.

?We?ve talked to people around town, and we?ve said that, no matter what happens, we?ll come up with alternative financing,? he said. ?It won?t cost her a thing.?

Jacobs appreciates this show of generosity, but it?s not unexpected, she said.

?It?s really incredible, but it?s not a surprise,? Jacobs said. ?This is just the kind of people they are, kind and unselfish.?

And dedicated to their own.

?This is our town,? Brooks said, ?and these people are our neighbors. It?s just as fulfilling to help one person this way as it is to be out there doing the big-scale stuff. I?m just glad we can help.?

Jake Berry can be reached at 352-1234, ext. 1433 and jberry@keenesentinel.com.

[Lloyd Danforth]

I wonder how one would go about creating a clearing house for statewide volunteer projects?

[Kat Kanning]

http://www.volunteermatch.org/

http://www.idealist.org/

[Lloyd Danforth]

I plan to start a group to build wheelchair ramps for people who need them, but, can't afford them. Need to find existing orgs who will fund the material and my group will build them.

I'm thinking we need to start a thing where on the same day, every month, we all give blood.

Should we do all this using the FSP name?

[Dreepa]

I plan to start a group to build wheelchair ramps for people who need them, but, can't afford them. Need to find existing orgs who will fund the material and my group will build them.

I'm thinking we need to start a thing where on the same day, every month, we all give blood.

Should we do all this using the FSP name?

Couple of things about blood.  You can only give blood every 60 days.  So maybe a quarterly thing would be better.
Also they usually want to get about 50-100 pints to make it worth their time to come out.
They ask for your SSN. So the organizer should tell the red cross (or whoever is getting the blood) that this is a group that wants privacy and can some other number be used?

I am giving on Friday at a local church.. ( I missed it last week when my wife's church had a drive.

I think the wheelchair ramp is a great idea!

[KBCraig]

I don't have to worry about SSN, because they won't accept my blood.

I lived in Germany for three years (16 years ago!), so I could be a Mad Cow timebomb. 

[Michael Fisher]

GREAT ideas, Lloyd!   

Unfortunately, I weight about 110-115 pounds.  If I give blood, it takes about an hour, then I basically pass out for another hour or so.

[Fluff and Stuff]

GREAT ideas, Lloyd!? ?

Unfortunately, I weight about 110-115 pounds.? If I give blood, it takes about an hour, then I basically pass out for another hour or so.

OMG, that's what I weighed in 5th grade.  Yeah, I was a little chubby    Anyway, you weigh less than Ian and are the lightest 20 something male of normal height that I've ever heard of.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Things vary from state to state.  In CT we have a Red Cross building where the collect every day.  Plus the RC shows up somewhere almost every day to collect blood.  I'm sure the 60 day thing is universal, so, you're right about not doing it every month.

Mike, Scott, Kevin.  I expect you at every ramp building!

[cathleeninnh]

I'll pass the lemonade and provide encouragment. And there's always the extra runs to Home Depot. And if anyone is motherless, I'll tell you you're not doing it right.

Cathleen

[Kat Kanning]

LOL Cathleen!

[Dreepa]

Things vary from state to state.? In CT we have a Red Cross building where the collect every day.? Plus the RC shows up somewhere almost every day to collect blood.? I'm sure the 60 day thing is universal, so, you're right about not doing it every month.

Mike, Scott, Kevin.? I expect you at every ramp building!

I will give two pints to make up for them.

[Kat Kanning]

OK Lloyd, I've written to the NH AARP and Granite State Independent Living with your proposal, to see if anyone can provide the materials or the $$ for materials.  I'd certainly wield a hammer to help, and I'd even try and remember to not choke up on it so much 

[Lloyd Danforth]

  Chris

Cathline, I expect you to swing a hammer with the rest of us. ?Ain't ya never heard of Womyn's Lib?

Thats right Kat, always hold your hammer at the end of the handle!

[Kat Kanning]

Oh, I found a group called Elderstrength also:

Elderstrength is an innovative, home-based program providing a flexible array of services and supports to help New Hampshire elders remain comfortably and safely at home for as long as possible. The program was created to fill a critical void in the service options for elders in New Hampshire.