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“I have been blessed. I have a really good life and a lot of blessings,” she said of her motivation to join her uncle’s mission trip to the south. She believes it’s time she helped “give somebody else a good life.”
“It’s not the government’s job to take care of us. It’s our job to take care of each other,” she added.
Putting up drywall is nothing new for Lewis. “My husband and I built our own home,” she said. “I will take my own crowbar and hammer with me,” she said.
Her uncle has been involved with missions work for years, taking trips to the Ukraine and other places with the Disciple Ministries of Farmington.
Although she was not scheduled to be on vacation, her boss, Scott Hanaway, agreed to let her take vacation now “even though it’s a busy time right now,” Lewis said. “Scott has been very generous, collecting stuff and getting my job covered while I’m gone, even though we are already short-handed.”
Hanaway said he had no qualms about allowing Lewis take the unscheduled vacation. He sees her work as an opportunity to help people on a one-on-one basis without having to go through an agency.
“Sally has been a loyal employee,” Hanaway said, noting she has reported to work when she was not scheduled during busy times. “She has been there for us. I am glad that we can give something to her.”
The company also will be donating some supplies for Lewis to take with her.
Joining Lewis will be her stepdaughter, Sara, 22. Her stepson, Ben, is already in Louisiana with the National Guard, but she won’t be anywhere near him. He is in Lake Charles near the Texas border. Her crew will be in a suburb of New Orleans.
Four miles from the site where they will be working, some homes are still under water, she said. Her niece lives in the area and told her “don’t come without bug spray,” she said, noting she is taking that advice. She is packing lots of spray and Baby Wipes.
While the crew will be sleeping on air mattresses in St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church in Metairie, she isn’t sure whether there are shower facilities there. The church is large, with a membership of 8,000. Some of the evacuees are being housed there until they can return home or be relocated.
“We will have a kitchen and there is a store nearby where we can buy food to cook,” she said. The crew also had to have tetanus shots.
She knows among the crew there will be a photographer, an electrician and a “62-year-old woman who feels compelled to go, as well as three or four college students.”
Her crew also is taking supplies. Meadville Forging donated face masks and work gloves, she said, adding the company also donated some building supplies and roof shingles. Northwest Specialty of Geneva also donated items.
Fellow employees at Tech Tool and Molded Plastics are also involved, making donations and helping Lewis prepare. She is taking diapers, bottled water, Baby Wipes and other items for the victims of the hurricane. However, she can’t accept clothing right now because there is no distribution center set up to get the clothes to the victims.
“I feel like I’m taking part of each employee with me,” she said, noting it is because of the support of not only management, but her fellow workers that she is able to make the trip. Plans are to leave Wednesday from Farmington, arrive in Louisiana on Thursday and leave there Oct. 15.
Jane Smith can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at jsmith@meadvilletribune.com
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