Monday, April 28, 2008; Posted: 06:12 AM
So Galle, known as Rick to close friends -- and that now includes members of the Unitarian Church of New Haven -- boarded a Greyhound and traveled 35 hours from Mississippi to say "thank you" in person this weekend to the congregation.
"When you repair a house, you repair a heart," Galle said. "I came all the way to Connecticut to thank them. It's an important thing for people to come and rebuild a house, but when they rebuild your spirit, maybe you can really do something to make it a home."
Those words flow easily from Galle because rebuilding his spirit is just what volunteers did; Less than two years ago, he was ready to give up.
Galle's one-story brick house in Kiln, Miss., was among the thousands destroyed by flooding and winds of Hurricane Katrina Aug. 28, 2005. Although eight miles from the Gulf Coast, he had four feet of water in the house and half the roof was missing. Volunteers found large seashells embedded in his yard.
Galle, who is single, used most of his savings to have his house gutted and redone in the fall of 2005, only to be devastated a month before move-in time in January 2006 to discover mold had spread quickly and necessitated the house to be gutted and restored again.
He was out of money, a health issue had sapped the rest of his savings, and his job managing computer systems in schools was essentially kaput because the schools weren't operating.
Galle was in denial, he says, living in a FEMA trailer, when the group from the Unitarian Church was sent his way through Camp Coastal Outpost, a hub and host for volunteers from throughout the nation.
Galle and Camp Coastal officials first connected because the organization had asked if they could use a small building on Galle's property for their overflow operations.
When he saw the group of 45 or so from the Unitarian Chuch coming his way, Galle remembers thinking: "There hasn't been this many Yankees in Mississippi since Grant invaded."
But in this case, he welcomed the Yankees with open arms.
The group from the Unitarian Church branch, located in Hamden, got to work fast, dismantling, drilling, screwing, painting and laying shingles.
Skilled volunteers took the lead and others took direction, like the youngest of the Unitarian crew, Arlo Eitzer, now an 11-year old sixth-grader at Bethany Community School.
Arlo never wants to see another container of mold retardant, as part of his job was to get into the hard-to-reach places with the stuff.
But his heart, too, was changed by the one-week trip. Arlo and his family, sister Chloe, 12, dad Brian Eitzer and mom Liz Appel, became favorites of Galle's and he stopped by their house for a special visit Saturday morning.
"I always thought that if something bad happened, every single person would go down and help," but the destruction was still massive a year later, Arlo said, as if surprised. "I felt very good about going and it was sad the last day we were there. ... It's a week I'll never forget."
Chloe said, "You really shouldn't take for granted what you have because it could happen to anyone."
For Brian Eitzer, a scientist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, and Appel, a top administrator for the state's brown fields program, it originally felt like a gamble to take their two youngsters out of school for a week. But they're glad they took the leap.
"I was very proud that they (Arlo and Chloe) pitched in and didn't complain," Appel said. "It was a great experience for everyone to get out of our rut. It makes you feel real."
Brian Eitzer said part of being a good person is helping others and teaching children by example is the best way to convey that.
"Seeing the way they responded to that was great," Brian Eitzer said of the children.
Galle has also forged a lasting bond with Dr. Suzanne Lagarde and her family with whom he stayed during the weekend visit. Lagarde has returned to Mississippi to set up a way she can help by using her skills as a doctor and the church continues to help in Mississippi, using Galle as their "eyes and ears on the ground" to find where the needs are, Lagarde said.
He brought with him a commendation for the group from Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. Among the Unitarians' good deeds long after they left was sending gift certificates at Christmas to displaced foster children.
As he heads back to Mississippi by bus, a mode of transportation he says he took so he could see the many trees along the way, Galle says his Yankee friends "will always have a home in Mississippi," just like he does.
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