Final Days

Today we headed to the NOLA Botanical Garden's in City Park, which is the 5th largest park in the US. Not only was it a park/gardens, but there were a few carnival rides, as well as the 2nd oldest Carousel in the US. It was really cool, and all decorated for the holiday which was fun. We weeded, planted, hauled, etc. and had a relaxing last day of work. After wards we got a private tour of the grounds and got to hear about all the plants and animals that inhabit the park.

For Friday night our Fearless Leader of the Cal Poly Community CENTER, Joy Harkins, met us in NOLA for a group dinner out. She agreed to visit and take us out at the end of the trip; and it was great to meet up with her in the end! We all went to Mulate's, a family style place with live Cajun Music every night and local faves such as frog legs and grilled gator, which we all experimented with. What a fun way to end a great trip!

VIP Treatment

Thursday we had the privilege of spending the day at PACE elderly day center. These folks were not your average patients, and were lively, spirited, and very welcoming. I think it may be partly due to the fact that this center was inside a gorgeous church with high vaulted ceilings and beautiful stained glass windows. The women I spoke with during lunch truly felt "blessed" and it was a pleasure to be in their company.

We began the morning spreading out and making holiday decorations and ornaments with all the participants, and chatting away while we transformed their center into a holiday wonderland. It was a blast, we even helped some of the patients write Xmas cards to their kids since some of their motor skills permitted them from doing so themselves. Then we helped the staff prep and serve lunch, and we all sat down together to eat.

After lunch we switched to game time; dominoes, cards, and bingo were all on the agenda, it was a blast! We ended the afternoon with a pass the package game, a type of musical chairs where there is a present with a bunch of layers of wrapping and every time the music stops the person holding the gift gets to unwrap a layer. Pretty comical when some men don't want to pass the package and others grab it eagerly. It was all in good spirit, and definitely got me excited for the holidays!

Thursday evening the sisters set up a special speaker for us, her name was Lisa and she was head of security for the Super Dome. She was in charge when it became the evacuation site for Katrina, and came to tell us all her story. It was crazy to hear her explain how off the media was in their portrayal of the events, and she calmly told her side which included an ultimate struggle involving her dog Missy. Apparently the whole time they tried to evacuate her, they would not take her dog, so she stuck it out until she could make it out with her pooch. A woman close to my heart! She was so sweet, and after her talk invited us all as "her family" to the staff party for the Super Dome. We had no clue what we were getting into, but when we pulled up behind Lisa into Saints parking only, and got straight into the dome through all barricades aside, we knew we were VIP.

Once we arrived at the dome we went straight inside to see where ~7,000 people spent their days during the hurricane. It was cool to put the place to the story, and it really re-enforced how crazy the scene must have been! Then she took us down on the field, where the boys proceeded to 100 yard dash and get jazzed over being on an NFL field. It was pretty cool I must admit. Then we went to the staff gathering, where we were introduced as the “California Volunteers” by the DJ, we mingled, ate, and had a great time getting to know locals.

After the dome, we headed to "Le Bon Temps Roule," where a local famous band, The Soul Rebels, performed every Thursday for free. Apparently they are pretty pricey anywhere else, but that's the amazingness of the NO music scene, it's like no other. It was a small place, with locals crammed together to enjoy this upbeat group rocking out in their home town. We watched the band, enjoyed the brass tunes, and headed home to make our curfew!

Doing our part :)

Wednesday it was another day of painting/construction, working on Gale’s house and gutting the other house. We got decked out in our gear and ready to get dirty. Another great day of progress…

For dinner, we were signed up to prepare Jumbalaya for ~100 musicians and other low income folks. We cleaned up and drove straight to St. Ann's Church to cook whew, and I'll admit we make a mean Jumbalaya (with the help of Zataran’s mix). The chef we worked with, Ida, was great and welcomed us with open arms...lots of daaahhhlins and baaabys came from her jolly mouth as we prepped dinner with her guidance.

We served the dinner to the locals, while musicians played live for us in the background; it was quite relaxing and enjoyable. We had a chance to mingle and get to know some of the residents in need; it was definitely eye opening for our group.

Another wonderful couple days in NOLA…

Getting to know you...

Well it has been quite an adventure since we last posted! After we helped out at the animal shelter all day Monday (ran the pups, helped the staff), we came back and went straight to Freedom Elementary School where we were greeted by 20-30 energetic and adorable children.


They taught us their songs and chants, shared their stories.
We read to them aloud, and helped make holiday decorations for their school. So much fun!
Some of them were Katrina survivors and we talked a bit about that. The energy was admirable.

Tuesday we rose bright and early and headed for the Helping Hands construction site at 8am. We were set to do demolition work and gut out a house that had extreme mold and water damage. The house was pretty nice, brick and 2 stories, but sadly it was owned by a man that was left bound to a wheelchair after Katrina.

We were determined to help out, especially after finding out he was in a home that had depleted all of his funds. We were also told he had been ripped off by the workers he originally hired for $1000/wk, which is apparently common post-Katrina.

We picked up our tools and started demolishing inside the house, it was an eerie experience to say the least, and quite exhausting. Midday the home owner's brother came by to thank us, and we got to talk with him a bit and reinforce why we were there.

Gale, the owner of the house we were painting, also came by to express her gratitude, it was amazing! Here is a picture of the group with Gale, she was an incredible lady.
We got dusty, dirty, sweaty, and loved every minute!

Later that night we were able to get out and explore the area.
We went straight to the famous Cafe du Monde
where we ordered coffee and their renowned
Beignets (amazing powdered sugar doughnut snacks).

DEEE licious...no wonder they are famous.

After that we walked along the river bank,
enjoyed the scenery, and had time to reflect about the days happenings.

Whew we made it!

So we finally arrived in N.O. and what a trek it was. Our group of 25 boarded the shuttle on campus at midnight and headed to LAX, flight at 6 am, connector flight at 12pm, lots of airport snoozing in between, then on to enterprise for our vans. Needless to say we were happy to arrive in Louisiana and excited for the trip to begin!

Once we arrived, we went on a "misery tour" and got shown the lower 9th ward, some abandoned projects, and of course the French Quarter...oh ya and Brangelinas little project site (Make it Right Foundation) which was pretty interesting. It's crazy how deserted some areas are; it's like a ghost town and a 3rd world country combined in some areas, but beautiful and lots of spirit, too.

Then it was on to our house to recuperate from a long day of traveling. We are staying in the coolest old house next to a beautiful church, with three really sweet "sisters" that welcomed us with hugs and a home cooked meal. It is called the Duchesne House, and belongs to the Religious of the Sacred Heart Church. Sister Mary Pat, who had worked at Cal Poly and moved to NOLA after Katrina, was our host and she is excited to have a Cal Poly group come to do service work. The house is awesome, much more than I expected, over 100 years old and really welcoming.

As much as we were all anxious to go out and experience NOLA our first night, we all resemble zombie like creatures and decided we should probably take it easy after our hectic day of traveling. So we decided to sleep early tonight, work all day tomorrow at the animal shelter, and then maybe go out exploring. Looks like it is going to be a great trip!

About Us

In the Summer of 2008 a Cal Poly communications student, Kara Callaway (pictured above), attended a Break Away conference and took a trip to New Orleans for relief work. The experience was life changing, and she approached the Cal Poly Community CENTER about starting an Alternative Breaks program on campus for her senior project.

Student Life & Leadership approved the program, and it was adopted into the SCS (Student Community Services) portfolio as one of many programs that encourages students at Poly to engage in community service. As an AmeriCorps member stationed at The Cal Poly Community CENTER, I (Kelsey Currier-pictured below left) have taken this project and ran with it, and it has been incredibly rewarding. Amber Tierney (pictured below right) has been my staff back-up, and to her I want to say a big THANK YOU!

We hope to institutionalize this program, with service trips during each academic break, open to all students on campus of every college, year and major.

Please check out our website for more information.