Monday, March 4, 2013

Day1: Small Drops in a Large Bucket



St. Bernard Project---Trina's house.
A lot went down on the first day of NOLA 2013. The major difference with today was the separation of the team into 3 groups. Some did flooring at Trina’s house, some did organizing at a local community center, and the remaining members performed duties at a local charter school. The projects seemed small, but we know that they make a difference in people lives. In other words, they are merely drops in the bucket.
 The second component of day 1 was the visit from “Rachel”. We were lucky enough to have a representative from St. Bernard Project join us for dinner tonight. Although we had trouble remembering her name (her real name was Andrea), we learned much about St. Bernard Project’s mission, as well as, the history of New Orleans itself. It was news to us that the St. Bernard Project not only rebuilds homes damaged by Katrina, but also constructs affordable homes from the ground up. This enables displaced New Orleaneans to either return home or start a new home. Everyday SBP works hard to bring back a sense of community to their city. SBP also works to rebuild homes in areas other than NOLA such as Joplin, Missouri and New York City. This is made possible by Toyota, UPS, AmeriCorps, and United Way. Without these wonderful corporations and volunteer organizations,  many people would still be out of homes. As a fun conclusion to the busy day all three groups shared horrific or joyful stories from their day. There were laughs, gasps, and many concerned faces.  We may have broken up into three groups today, but we all helped out the community in unique and necessary ways.  Beth and Brianne

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