ATA staffers aid in flood relief

  • Published
  • By Shawn Jacobs
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  On May 18, a group of Aerospace Testing Alliance (ATA) personnel from the ID2 Investments at AEDC donated a vacation day to participate in the cleanup effort for people affected by the recent flooding in middle Tennessee.

David Milleville, manager for ID2, organized five others in his department and signed the group up to "tear out walls, floors, kitchen cabinets, etc." While planning for the day, Milleville networked with others at AEDC who had previously volunteered a day of labor.

Milleville and his crew chose a Nashville area address where a woman had lived for 40 years. She had already lived through one disaster when her home had to be rebuilt after a fire 20 years earlier. Her insurance paid for the rebuilding then, but like so many other flood victims she did not have flood insurance and is now facing the monumental task of trying to rebuild her home, and life, from scratch.

The volunteer effort was coordinated through Hands on Nashville (www.hon.org). Eleven people were scheduled for this effort, but when the six from ATA showed up they found that only one of the additional five volunteers was going to be there.

Not to be deterred, the group from ID2 drug out their hammers, pry-bars, crow-bars, wheel barrows, shovels and personal protective equipment and went to work.

According to Milleville, the water line from the flood almost reached the top of the doors, slightly more than six feet up the walls, and had remained above the floor line for more than a week.

"Family members and church workers had already cleared out all the furniture, appliances, carpet, clothing and personal items," Milleville said. "All that was left were the walls, floor and kitchen cabinets.

"All the drywall on the walls was covered in mold. It took until noon to pull it all down and haul it, along with the wall insulation, out of the house and to the curb."

After all the walls had been stripped down to the bare studs, it was time to tackle the floor. Milleville said what looked like to be hardwood flooring laid over a subfloor turned out to be installed directly onto the floor joists. The group started in what had been a back bedroom and slowly worked their way through the rest of the house and out the front door, all the time working to keep their balance and not fall between the floor joists.

At the end of the workday, the group was tired and dirty, covered in drywall chalk and river mud, according to Milleville.

"We actually accomplished quite a bit in one day, and the owner was greatly appreciative," Milleville said. "In the light of the struggle that lies ahead for this homeowner, we sort of felt our work was just a drop in the bucket in the journey to rebuild her life."

Those participating, in addition to Milleville, included Steve Brewer, Fred Hutchinson, Brent Morris, Larry O'Neal and Roy Thompson.