Ringgold Roofing

This past weekend I drove down to Tech to spend the weekend with Cam and all of our friends.  On Saturday, a group of us from Theta Xi drove up to Ringgold, GA, to roof a gentleman's house.  Ringgold was particularly affected (60%) by the recent bout of tornados,  and driving through town was a sobering sight.  An E-4 flattened Ringgold, almost every other building was damaged, or completely pulverized.  It was surreal, like driving through a movie set--but these were people's homes and businesses.  

Click here for more information about this town's story.

It was an incredibly long, hot and strenuous work day, but was worth it to tangibly help someone in need.  I can now add roofing to my bag of tricks, and hope to use the skill to help more people.

I was the only girl there, and the men in charge initially overlooked me.  I was on ground patrol, picking up scraps, nails, etc.  

I was there to work, and thought no job beneath me, but still longed to climb up on the roof rather than make up work for myself.  I was not going to stand around and sip tea while everyone else broke their backs! 

My time came!  Unfortunately I don't have any shots, but when asked, I scrambled up on the roof and snapped line.  I also learned how to arrange shingles and nail them in.  

We stayed up there all morning until lunchtime around one.  It doesn't look it, but it gets hot up on that roof, and you have to wear jeans if you want to keep your knees.  

Sweat pours from every orifice, tar sticks to you, and you get burns when you accidentally brush your bare skin on the roof. 

And it didn't matter.

It's very rough labor, which I love, and involved climbing (which I SUPER love.)

I was so proud of everyone for continuing to work in spite of the fatigue induced from waking up at 5AM and remaining the length of the day in the blistering heat.  

We all got this dirty.  We were instructed to wear clothes that held no sentimental value to us.  Good thing, too, because my white tank will never be white again!

We snapped a group shot after we all rinsed off and put on fresh clothes.  It took a thorough shower upon return to scrub the remaining stubborn gunk off of me.

This is the gentleman we helped, he was very sweet and told me if I wanted a job in heating and air, to let him know!

All the older men in charge were really surprised and complimented me all day. They laughed and took plenty of pictures.  I wasn't trying to prove anything, I just told them that I had come to work, and that was all I did.  But their thanks were a true blessing.  Nothing felt worse than feeling incompetent that first hour.  I was grateful that Tom (in charge) trusted me to lead a team and repair this man's roof!