SABINE PASS - The school's gym floor had to be ripped up and the stage will have to be rebuilt because of damage from Hurricane Rita, school officials said.
It also involves helping students and their families find a place to stay, since a 10-foot wall of water surged through Sabine Pass and damaged practically every structure.
"Everyone is waiting to come home," said Scottie Berg, the principal's secretary and one of the school staffers who was back Monday to help with relief efforts.
Nonetheless, school is reopening Oct. 26 with an extra 40 minutes a day tacked on to make up the time missed during Rita and her aftermath, said Superintendent Walt Fenn.
As to living quarters, 50 tents arrived Tuesday and Huntsman Corp. officials were helping move group mobile homes out to the football field parking lot, said Fenn. The group mobile homes have a kitchen in the middle and sleeping space for 12 people.
Sam and Karen Garrison were hoping for a FEMA trailer to put on their driveway while their house is rebuilt. For now, the Garrisons are staying at her parents' home in Port Arthur.
The couple wants to have the home fixed by the holidays - Sam is keeping his fingers crossed for Thanksgiving and Karen is wishing for Christmas.
"I'm remodeling," she said as she sorted through boxes of belongings in the garage. "I'm getting rid of the dining room and making the kitchen bigger."
But her face broke into a smile as she carefully unwrapped the damp paper around the blown-glass palm tree Christmas ornament from a soaked box from her shed.
An empty seat was hard to find in front of the Sabine Pass school's shop area at lunchtime as Salvation Army volunteers from Fort Worth served up beef stew, applesauce, chips and drinks Tuesday.
Next to the cafeteria-style dining along the front, workers manned tables representing FEMA's blue roof program, the Small Business Administration and a phone bank.
The ExxonMobil barbecue pit sat on the grassy lawn and with the meat the Salvation Army brought in, there will be community barbecues for dinner.
Recently unloaded pallets of supplies from the Salvation Army lined the entrance to the former classroom, now a temporary store. Tables are filled with water, Gatorade, peanut butter and other non-perishable food. A back table has toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap and other personal hygiene products.
Detergent, both for clothes and dishes, keeps running short, said Donna Ferchak, a volunteer with Jefferson County office of emergency management. People keep asking for dog and cat food, too.
Across the street in the school's ground-level parking area, teachers were sorting through mountains of donated clothes and shoes and arranging them neatly on tarps.
Sorting clothes wasn't exactly what theater teacher Tammy Reed expected to be doing this time of year. Pre-Rita, her students had started rehearsals for "Grease."
She had three feet of water surge through the rental house she moved into right before school started. Reed came back last week to check on the house and moved in with another teacher in Nederland so she could be close for work.
On one corner of the town's four-way stop, a 30-foot trailer with "Showers of Blessings" written on two doors was parked. Behind each of those doors were three clean showers.
At the end of the trailer, provided by the Texas Baptist Association, two stacked washers and dryers were available. There, Eldon and Melba Tupin, both 74, of Comanche were sorting laundry that a worker had dropped off.
Most people shower in the evening after working, Eldon said. The Tupins and two other volunteers are in Sabine Pass for a week; another crew takes over shower/laundry duties after that.
On Tuesday, Bruce Maddox, 45, and Paul Gilchrist, 67, of Lubbock were two of the three-person crew sweeping out the last of the mud in the hall next to St. Paul's Catholic Church.
Other workers, including members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have been in town to help clean houses, remove trees and other debris and help where needed, Fenn said.
The Taiwan Buddhist Tzu-Chi Foundation has committed to donate first-aid kits and debit cards, Fenn said. Sempra Energy, Motiva Enterprises and Chevron-Philips had donated food and supplies to the community, said Verna Rutherford, president of the Greater Port Arthur Chamber of Commerce.
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