Houses hemmed into homes

Back home again in Indiana. Today's my first day back at work after my trip to New Orleans. We had a great trip. There were 16 of us, mostly from First United Methodist Church, with other volunteers from Habitat for Humanity. We stayed at a small church just outside of New Orleans in Metairie, LA. Throughout the week, people from our team worked on three different homes, but we mostly worked on two homes hanging insulation and drywall. The homes we worked on had about three feet of flooding. Enough to ruin all of the furniture, appliances and memories from a lifetime in a home.

The home I worked at was in the Read Blvd. East neighborhood of the Eastern New Orleans section of the 9th Ward. It was owned by a wonderful lady named Brenda. She's the mother of 6 and has been a foster parent to 50 kids. She's lived in her home 30 years. Meeting Brenda helped put a face on the tragedy for me. Without meeting her and the very gracious New Orleans residents we met all over the City, it would have been very bleak. Going on 19 months since the hurricane, the National Guard is still patrolling the streets. Essential services like schools, drug stores, hospitals and groceries aren't in operation. Street signs and stop signs are still down. There were armed guards patrolling the Lowes and Home Depot. The dark houses, empty shells of apartment building and the spray painted "x"s on doors were a constant reminder that there is still much more work to do.

I'd encourage anyone who has the opportunity to go help in the rebuilding to please go. Stay tuned for pictures from the trip.

Click here for a map of the flooding.
Click here for a map of the neighborhoods in Orleans Parish.
Click here for a flash time line of the hurricane and levee breaks.
Click here for the City Plan to rebuild the Read Blvd. East neighborhood.