New Orleans 2010: A Week in the Big Easy

Hello from beautiful (and cold!) New Orleans!

We're here as part of Alternative Breaks 2010. There are ten women on this trip and we are loving it so far. We've seen some incredible things, like a Saints victory (WHO DAT), reindeer, and many different po’boys. The women of the trip are Athena, Alyson, Christina, Hannah, Jenna, Kara, Kelli, Lisa, Michele, and Michelle.

Sunday December 12th

We all arrived at different times throughout the day but once we were all together we checked into our hostel. It's this amazing place where we got lucky enough to have our own room. There's a three legged cat, people from all over the world, coffee all the time, and best of all, gumbo! After looking around a bit we wanted to see downtown so we wandered down to the waterfront and ate at a restaurant called Huck Finns. They served some crazy things there. No one wanted the fried pickles (sad!) but we did end up with some hush puppies (stuffed with crawfish) and fried alligator (Alyson says it tastes like chewy chicken). With our bellies full we decided to head back to the hostel and get some sleep for the construction we were going to do the next day (after we navigated the insane one way streets that is...)

Monday December 13th

We woke up bright and early (4:30am pacific time)to be at our first day’s work. We went to Operation Helping Hands which is part of Catholic Charities. There we met up with some AmeriCorps peeps and split up into two groups. The first group (Michele, Michelle, Jenna, Kelli, Hannah) went off to a house that during Hurricane Katrina had been under six feet of water. There we installed insulation and painted the sideboards of the house flamingo pink. The other group (Christina, Alyson, Kara, Athena, Lisa) painted, caulked, and chiseled to their hearts content. After a hard day’s work we ate dinner with the other volunteers prepared by Miss Cathy. After venturing back to the hotel we cleaned up and caught the trolley to downtown and explored Bourbon St. After walking up and down the street we headed back to the hostel to get some sleep since we still had to work in the morning.

Tuesday December 14th

Again, we woke up bright and early to go and work for Habitat for Humanity. Our site was in the Eighth ward next to a couple houses that hadn’t been occupied since Hurricane Katrina hit. The house we worked at had been under five feet of water. There we watched a whole roof go up, installed straps to support the roof, painted, and hung planks in the kitchen to support the cabinets and installed the windows. After another exhausting day of work we headed out for a tour of the ninth ward. There we saw even more devastation. We drove by the levee that flooded the lower ninth ward, we saw houses that were completely torn apart and never reclaimed, and we stopped by the Musician’s Neighborhood created by Habitat for Humanity. The devastation was heartbreaking to see. It’s difficult to see a once vibrant community that has been so devastated and forgotten. All of us walked away feeling like we had been sobered and had our eyes opened.
After the tour we headed our hostel and cooked a taco bar which was so yummy. After hanging out with our hostel mates some more we headed to world famous Café du Monde and enjoyed some delicious beignets drenched in powder sugar. With that done we headed back for some rest and to get ready for our day at Green Light New Orleans. Talk to you soon!


Wednesday December 15th
Today we volunteered with a really unique organization called Green Light New Orleans. Our new Australian friend Josh (whom we met at the hostel) even came along. Green Light installs energy-efficient CFL bulbs in houses for free all across the city. They have become so popular that there is a two-three year waiting list! They also have an Americorps member there and they work out of a converted house by the trolley station. When we got there Lisa and Josh were trained in how to offer these new smart meters that allow people to read their electricity meters and see how much electricity they are using at that moment and figure out how to monitor it and conserve it. The rest of us gathered up lightbulbs and split into two groups. The first group (Michelle, Michele, Alyson, Lisa) went to two houses before lunch and got to meet two homeowners who were very excited to see volunteers. The second house had 20 foot ceilings! The second group (Christina, Kara, Josh, Kelli, Athena,) went and scored some awesome cornbread and saw a house being remodeled (by the residents Doris, Boris, and Morris). Green Light New Orleans told us that we helped residents save $8,050 in energy costs and reduce their carbon footprint by 78,225 pounds of CO2 After volunteering we all went out to Frenchman Street were we listened to some classic jazz with our crew of Australian friends from the hostel.

Thursday December 16th
Today was an exhausting yet exhilarating day. We volunteered with second Harvest Food Bank where we packed 1,000 boxes full of food to hand out to families for Christmas. We packed the boxes full of canned goods, fruit, potatoes, bread, vegetables, and pasta. It took a full six hours to pack all of the boxes. It was tough but we powered through and finished all 1,000 boxes. We talked with some locals while we were working and had a group from Capital One join for a few hours to help out. We went to an awesome lunch at Nacho Mama’s and had some excellent taco salads and nachos. Continuing with delicious food we went to dinner at a great Creole café called Neyows where we had some fried chicken, mac and cheese, and bread pudding. Full of good food we’re now headed to Frenchman Street again to listen to a great trumpet player. Talk to you again soon!