The living and loving tour has officially begun! Monday was my first day of service with Saint Bernard Project and it's been tiring, but incredibly awesome. I reported for duty at the SBP office wearing a crisp new(!) men's Hanes white v-neck, or as it's otherwise known, my uniform, and was ready to go. Travelling alone has made me far more outgoing, but given that I also have a tendency to be awkward, I have molded into a creeper at times. Monty, a local volunteer, was sitting next to me at the new volunteer orientation and as soon as I found out that we would be working at the same site I proclaimed that we would be like family after that day (it's become a troubling theme during my travels.) I think he moved as far away from me as he possibly could. So basically I got off to an amazing start!
Saint Bernard Project was created soon after Katrina, when a teacher and a lawyer came down to New Orleans, saw a need and filled it. I'm not going to write out their whole elevator speech, but check them out at http://www.stbernardproject.org/. They gave me directions to the house I would working on and a short bio on the homeowner, Mrs. Mary Jones. Her and her ten year old son have been living all over since the hurricane hit with family members and friends, and SBP is trying to get their house ready by Christmas (her 20 year old daughter, who is in college, will also be living in the two bedroom house.) I liked that SBP had prepared a little background information about the homeowner, so that even if I didn't get to meet her I would still feel a connection with the project and the human behind the house. The only downside to all of this was that I would not be working in "The Parish" (according to the fam aka Rob and Jaime, St. Bernard Parish is known by this name) but instead in mid city New Orleans. But off I went.
Little did I know that I would be meeting my new bestie and site supervisor, Josh from Mizzou. SBP has Americorps members whom they train and station at each project to be the volunteer overseer. I haven't meet any of the other site supervisors yet (and they're probably great because, come on, they're Americorps), but I think I lucked out with Joshy, he's a solid dude. There were only two other volunteers on Monday, so it was a cozy, small crowd at Alexander St. that day. The house has been under construction for a while now, so by the time I arrived it was time to finish priming the walls and apply the paint. So for the last three days I've primed, painted and today, unfortunately, had the pleasure of sanding our painting mistakes.. My favorite part about all of this, besides the obvious pleasure of helping a deserving person return home, is that I get to meet interesting people from all over who come to volunteer. I've realized just how un-interesting I really am. Once I accumulate enough stories I'll write a blog post dedicated to everyone else's amazing lives.
I also got to meet Mrs. Jones yesterday, and after meeting her, I'm being completely sincere, it is a total honor that I get to work on her house. She is warm, inviting, grateful, funny and classy all at once. She has worked for the city of New Orleans for the last fifteen years, and her love for the city is obvious. She told us and showed us how high the water had reached in her house, and a little bit about where she's been. It is always a privilege to get to meet the person you're working for, and she is so deserving of all the help she is receiving. Her story is especially heartbreaking, and apparently not too uncommon, because she received $120,000 from the government to rebuild her home after Katrina only to have it stolen by a fradulant contractor. This is a such a common story around here that when I relayed this information on to Rob and Jaime they weren't even surprised, but told me other similar stories. I was completely unaware of how large a problem this was, and possibly still is. Though this trip overall is growing my faith in the human race, stories like that knock my optimism down a few pegs. But Mrs. Jones didn't even mention this (I heard from another volunteer,) and her resiliency was astounding. She's been so patient for the last six years, just waiting to move home. I damn well better make that sanding perfect.
Sidenote: Yesterday I worked with a group from E.W. Scripps, the group that sponsors the National Spelling Bee! "Spellbound" is one of my favorite movies, and I obviously watched the Bee this year (maybe not so obviously given my terrible spelling.) Some of them are front row fixtures at the Bee, this was like a celebrity encounter for me!
This is the soundtrack to my life:
Due to a lack of CD player at the work site my progress through my Cds has slowed a bit. Nonetheless, thanks to: Sar Car and BamBam's for providing me with music on my commute to and from Mrs. Jones'
Below is a link to a very recent MSNBC clip with Mrs. Jones and her son. They're standing in their house, so in addition to seeing who I'm working for, you'll get to catch a glimpse of my surroundings. Ch-ch-check it out.
http://ed.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/31/7548214-driving-progress-st-bernard-project
LOVE
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