I spent the first week building a picture Evelyn's spreadsheet couldn't show.
The official occupancy report counted overnight stays. It didn't count the families who came to Cedar House for a hot meal and left before dark. It didn't count the volunteers trained in emergency response, the kids who used the study room after school, or the people who came back months after a flood to ask for help replacing the documents they'd lost.
I pulled six years of intake records. I called former volunteers. I asked the county emergency office for its numbers. I talked to the local school district about the students who'd used the lodge after the storms.
I also made mistakes. I misread a grant deadline and lost two days. I printed one report with the wrong date range. When I realized it, I called the
