The St. Bernard Recovery Project is partially coordinated by Americorps, and our Americorps team lead was Amata. She was wonderful and did a fabulous job managing 10 people older than her (she’s 21!). Since we had about 1.5 hours left in the day, she asked us if we’d like to check out another finish-up house; we said okay. It was just across the street. On our way over, she said “now, the last team refused this house…you have that option as well”. We all gave each other worried looks.
[Here’s why: the homeowner must have had tubs of grease in his garage/storage area that all exploded. Haz Mat situation!]
We decided we would clean every room in the house except the one with the grease. And, we decided to make it fun. We made a two-part ramp so we could run the wheelbarrow up to the top of the pile of debris. However, it was easier said than done…
[(L) best pic of the week: Sarah loses momentum after ramp #1. Notice the wheelbarrow on the far left, also falling over. (R) My aim sucks – (the wheelbarrow was lopsided!)]
[(L) Patrick eases onto ramp #2. (R) Sarah’s triumph!]
We didn’t get too far in that house before it was time to leave. During dinner, Sarah and I volunteered at a soup kitchen operated by a Baptist church which was just down the road from camp. The camp had been providing meals for residents for 7 months. It was incredible to talk with and meet some of the locals, most were homeless and/or living in FEMA trailers until they’re told what’s next. 7 months later. 7 months.
The nighttime consisted of a girls slumber party in the tent, lots of girls talk, deep conversation, and junk food. We were all POOPED and needed a night off from the action!
[will explain this pic if you’d like, just let me know].
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