The Reality of the Situation

The entire time that I was in New Orleans I felt like something was missing.  I couldn't figure out what that something was until I returned home.  Besides the people and the normal way of life, I realized that there was very little things green.  Green things provide oxygen and keep us safe from ozone.  Yet, for the people in New Orleans the only thing green is this Levee.  A levee that was breached and destroyed so many lives is the only thing truly green that these people see.  The warm feeling of summer can be felt in the freshly cut green grass and flowering plants in NJ, yet when we saw these rarities in NO we commented on how odd they looked.  This may have been because they were so normal. Yet, there was nothing normal about the daily operations of St. Bernards Parish.  Laborers lined the highway daily waiting to be picked up for odd jobs, shopping centers and drive thrus were either gutted or just bare concrete slabs.  Three years later some apartments and houses remained untouched.  Our group has now come back and returned to our daily routines and yet these people still live in anything but normalcy. The government will take away the FEMA trailers in July and will leave these people to return to lives where relatives are now hundreds of miles away and they struggle to pay the bills even more than they did before.  I often panic at paying my bills as I don't have a salary or career yet and yet there are these people who have been living like this for years and sometimes don't even see any end in sight.  The work that I performed was just the beginning of the process to transition to normalcy.  This is so powerful.  I would hope that if I was faced with the same situation, that I would be helped in the same way.  It is so important to me that I continue to help these people that I have grown to love in any way that I can.  And I ask that if you are able to help, to do so. It is an experience that will change your life.  May God Bless the people of St. Bernards Parish.

Chip and the Oyster fisherman schucking oysters for the first barbq

This is the house on Guerra that had all of the termite damage.  

Two people died in the house that once stood on this concrete slap.  The lady's sister could only take her and not her son.  This cross was to memorialize them.  

Our mission is complete in the parish. We worked at a house that was beautiful on the outside but a mess on the inside today. The house was about 10 houses from the levee and was totally covered in water. We installed three walls, some window headers and demolished five walls. It was a little slow moving but we got a lot accomplished this morning. Luckily because the heat and humidity set in after lunch. We had a fabulous meal at Todays Catch along with some of our other teammates. It was a popular joint that was cheap and the seafood was amazing. Before leaving the Ross house on Angelique we got to play with the puppy next door. It was a lab, pitbull and something else mix and he was the color of smoke, his name was Smokey. He was both loveable and playful. After finishing up for the day we headed down to the lower ninth ward. Eric took his picture by the levee. Up close they are huge. This was a concrete one, unlike the grassy berms near the houses we worked at. The destruction and vastness was even worse then the war zone that i discussed the other day. I don't have enough time to upload my pictures now as i have to pack up my bag and get ready for dinner at Rocky and Carlos's tonight. It is very well known in the parish for mac and cheese and veal parm. We will see how it lives up to its reputation.

I cant believe that the week is over and I am really hoping that I will have the opportunity to come back with the group. They are all really awesome and we are all here for the same person which makes it even better. I definitely would work with St. Bernards Project again!!

As I reflect on all that I have seen and experienced this week I will definitely keep the blog updated. Look for pictures either tomorrow or Sunday. I cant wait to put them all up!

Stickinesss!

Well we worked late yesterday so I didn't have time to update our adventures and I am a little blurry eyed as I got up early to update so I hope that this makes sense

My crew led by eric returned to the original house they were working on which was on Ivy place. Much of the floor had rotted out so we had to pull up the hardwoods and replace it with plywood. A relatively easy task at hand was made very complicated by the fact that the humidity was almost 100% all day. By 10 oclock we felt like we had taken showers with our clothes on. It was gross but we were determined to be finished by lunchtime. Things were moving along until Mia Toshi gave us a visit. She is the embedded reporter with our entire team. She took both still photos for articles she was writing and movies for a news story she is putting together for News Channel 12 NJ. In reflection time on Wednesday night I had talked about how I woudl someday like to be the director of FEMA and so that is what she interviewed me about. I was looking pretty rough in all of my stickiness but I at least looked like I had been working hard. It was godo to have her there and be looking for my pictures and story. I dont know when they will be published/air. So after we were slowed down by her we ended finsihing up on the slow note. We thought we were done for the day and gladly but we were reassigned to a house on nancy dr that was owned by a young couple. There we were supposed to participate in sheetrocking. It was miserable. There were too many cooks in the kitchen and most of the sheetrock was cracked which made it very difficult to be productive. I think it took us two hours to hang one ceiling in a small room. I am hoping today that I will have task involving carpentry again. I know that these are tasks that need to be completed be we were being counterproductive instead of producative because there were so many people in the house. I also kept cutting myself which wasnt good.

Last night we had a Louisiana cookout with a local fisherman whose house the church had worked on in the past. He made fried oysters that were not prepared in batter, speckled trout, local shrimp, gumbo and oyster pasta. It was all so delicious and wholesome. He also shared his story with us and some of the ways that he tries to survive and make a living since so much of the population is still missing . It was incredible to see some of his footage. He was also featured on Storm Stories with Jim Cantore which was really cool. The fisherman got no support from the government and this caused Captain George to lose all faith in our government. Another motivating factor for me!

With my fingers crossed that the stickiness has been swept away by the rain, I have to go and get ready for the day. We have been running all over the place and I hope to upload some of my pictures this afternoon when i have a little time. That is all going to depend on how late I work though.

I also decided when I was falling asleep last night that I will continue the blog throughout my disaster adventures to come. My career path originated with a hammer and nails and a whole lotta love and it will continue. I hope that this will not be my last time to St. Bernard Parish as they still need so much help. So we will see where God takes me!!

Hope all is well in the AVL and the NJ! I can't believe today is our last day of work. I am definitely going to miss my team (and the chop saw too)!

The Warzone

Today we got to meet the homeowners niece, Neisha. She had lots of stories to share with us. Including why there was a cross in front of the tree across the street next to a concrete slab where a house once stood. The Mother and Son were supposed to be picked up by the ladies sister and when she came to pick them up she only had room for the lady. And the mother didnt want to leave her son so they both perished. Now all that is left is a concrete slab. Neisha and her family evacuated to Georgia and are slowly but surely coming back as there houses get finished. Two of her aunts already have houses that were finished by St. Bernard Project and she turned in her application today to get her house finished. She had enough money to buy the materials for her house but is unable to pay for the labor. She told us about a lady three streets down who had evacuated to higher ground close by and after the storm was over went home to pack a few extra things to stay longer on higher ground and then the levee broke and she too perished. One other story she shared with us was a man who fought off an alligator while standing on the roof of his house waiting to get rescued. Story after story, they all just touch your heart. We ventured down to the levee that Neisha told us about at the end of our work day and we saw how high the water came. She informed us that only the peaks of the houses were exposed. It looked like an absolute warzone. Especially with the abandoned chemical plant.

Being here two times before I would have thought that nothing would blow me a way. And yet the destruction is just so rampid. I cant imagine having to live through the experience and then trying to rebuild your life without the people you love around you. I guess it could also be more motivation. The story that Joycelynn told us at orientation on monday gave me even more motivation to work towards FEMA top positions because a differenece has to be made. We are making a difference but there is so much more that needs to be done. Teams need to keep returning and helping out. There is so much satisfaction in the homeowners faces when they see progress even though it is small.

I have lots of pictures to post of the levee and our work which we completed at the house on Guerra today but we have reflection shortly and then we are hitting up the town. I will try and post them as soon as possible.

Love to all from the hot and sticky south!!

With the roar of the saw!

Today was another productive day. We returned to the house that we worked at yesterday where we continued to work on the floor. The homeowner Carmelite Sievers (no not from growing pains) stopped by to check on our progress. Her face lit up when she saw that the wood flooring was almost complete. After lunch and a little nap in the middle of the new laid floor, I moved over to a house on Guerra St. Owned by the Williams, we worked on repairing the termite damage. With some spots still live we were able to get the studs around one window replaced in under 2 hours. It was pure A team work. We will return tomorrow to finish up the job for the electricians to then move in and do there job. I dont know what we will do when that job is complete.

It is very helpful to have some professionals as team mates and since I moved teams I am no longer the only female. Which is a nice little treat for me. The Americorp members at the first house were females and we definitely bonded a little bit ...they were my age but they arent people that we hang out with when we are back at camp. Anyways, Eric the master, gave me the job on the chop saw at our house. So you know that I was in heaven. I think I finally have my own little system that I can follow and be efficient. It made me feel like a master today. There is a high quality of respect among team members which makes the experience awesome.

We had oysters made by John Wilkes Booth last night and they were incredible. Some kind of garlic butter sauce was placed on top of them after they were grilled for a short period. They were amazing. The bar-b-Q really allowed us to all bond. We have another bonding experience at Tony's an authentic mexican restaurant tonight. The amount of work and planning tha has gone into this trip is incredible. With all the connections we have gotten into restaurants and bonded with locals. We are having a huge Louisiana barbq tomorrow night. There are handful of locals invited to come and share their stories. It is just so awesome to hear about and to know that while it may be frustrating at times it is so rewarding.

Well I thought I didnt have that much to say and now I have typed a lot. There is definitely going to be a lot of different processing going on from this trip. I need to make a concerted effort to make more pictures. Everyone else has taken a ton but I feel like i have exhausted my camera the last two times.

Hope everyone is doing well!!

Day One complete!

Well our first day of work is complete. Although it was filled with chaos at times it was eventually productive. At orientation for St Bernard Project we got to meet Jocelyn who is the homeowner of the 100th house that St. Bernard Project built. She has a very interesting story that made some of us choke up a bit. We then went to our first location to try and repair termite damage. After inspecting the task at hand we realized that we would have to take almost the whole house apart and that was too much for us to handle. We headed back to the office and got a reassignment. We worked on Palmetto Ct with three other volunteers who were professors from different places who had come to work with the project. Three of my teammates worked on siding while I worked on installing locflooring. It involved power tools!! The pictures below show the house and room I worked on. I realized while I was working that I really was working on a lot more than just flooring. I was working on my patience. The flooring was finicky and some of my male teammates are a little stubborn. There is something still so gratifying when you finally get that peace in. There is still so much be done here and they really need our teams help.


I forgot to metion last night that I got a chance to go by the house that I worked on in March. Almost two months later the siding still is not finished and I dont know about progress on the inside. I just thought foresure that it would have been complete by now. I think Team UNCA needs to come back and show them where its at once again.

We have a bar b q tonight as an entire team with hamburgers, hot dogs and oysters. Im excited! Look for more exciting adventures tomorrow!!

Uncle Bruce always taught me that you cant have all work and no fun. So here are some pictures from our fun adventures on Bourbon Street yesterday afternoon.

The eagle has landed!

The team arrived safely in New Orleans at 9:30 central time. It was quite the operation going and getting the rental vans and cars and then caravaning to camp. Everything is so laid back and I wish that I could have come on the trip before leading a group to have a model. Although sometimes the inorganization drives me a little crazy..i will have to admit but it might be my anul leadership skills kicking in. Although we have been up since 3:30 or so many of us headed downtown for the afternoon. We hung out on bourbon street for a while, something i havent done the past few times I have been here and then dined at Felixs. There is something amazing about having dinner with 19 other people in which many I didnt know this morning. It is so fun. I have made some fast friends, but I often feel very old as I am the only female who hasnt come attached to someone and who has graduated. yes, i feel like i have to be an adult and be responsible. But I know how to have some fun too. I know that if this was a group of high school students things would be a lot different. Anyways, I am exhausted so i will be heading to bed. Me and my fire obsession led me to take a picture with a new orleans fireman...i will upload it in the morning. I can't mess with it now. They even have fireman mardi gras beads. I thought of my father, he would be proud. Look for our first work experiences tomorrow!!

The Reality of the situation

So, I haven't yet left new jersey and my wheels are already turning.  A totally new situation for me, I am excited yet nervous.  The team was blessed at mass and i got to meet some of my fellow team mates.  It is going to really be a great week and I really felt like an adult who was respected by my peers.  Sometimes being a female it is hard to gauge how the older/more intelligent males will respect a person who has done this kind stuff before.  Anyways, when Father Bob blessed us tonight he talked about a team of nurses who will be joining us mid week to set up a clinic.  This intrigued me and I have been thinking about it ever since.  4 women are going to a city in the UNITED STATES to set up a clinic because there it is a necessity.  Now I hate politics and I know that universal health care has been in the news but if you took the city name you would have thought that these women were going to another country. While I am the one who lives to help others, I think that sometimes we get so busy helping other countries that we forget our own people.  Just a few years after hurricane Katrina and these people still don't have access to healthcare.  I am a little disgusted.  At the mention of this and after some pondering I think that there is a little spark in my heart.  This spark is going to be the booster that will push me even harder this week to make a difference.  While the connections I will make and relationships formed are so important,  I think that making a difference is of equal or more importance.  I decided the other day that as impractical as it is...i would love to be a professional volunteer.  I guess I will just have to find a rich man.   Well, those are my final thoughts before my adventure begins and I need to head to bed before my alarm awakens me early for journey.   A journey that is bound to be with me for a lifetime.  

It is important for me to also thank you all once again for keeping track of me and thinking about me.  I am reminded once again that there really is no "I" in team and that without teams you can't accomplish anything.  so Thank you!

I got my assignment!!

I can't believe that it was nearly 2 months ago that I was leading the group to New Orleans for the second time.  This time I won't be the one in charge and I will be going with a group where I don't know anyone.  An opportunity that I have been waiting for, it is finally starting to sink in that we will be departing on Sunday morning for another week in New Orleans.  I received my team assignment last night when we were in the car and I think that is when it really sunk in.  I will be a member of framing team 1.  An assistant to the lead team member, our possible tasks will be handling two termite damaged homes with some replacement and one termite damaged home with some framing and sub-floor replacement.  I am humbled and honored to be one of the only females who is labeled as skilled and who is in an assistant position.  Dad and I are going tomorrow night to pick out my tool belt and a new hammer! I am really looking forward to hearing more of the stories from St. Bernard's Parish and spending the week helping those who need it so desperately!!  Look for updates throughout the week, it is going to a busy but amazing time.  I will be thinking of everyone at 4:15 am on Sunday morning when I leave for JFK...let me know if you need someone to wake you up!!!