New Orleans: Who are These Volunteers? - Part 3Day Three: Construction by Day, Carousing by Night
AnnBanks
Posted: Dec 8, 06 3:38pm 
Can volunteerism really make a dent without the government stepping up?TeeBeeDee's Ann Banks returns to New Orleans to see how volunteers are reshaping that city. Follow all five days of her trip. My sister is known as the bra lady of New Orleans, so she tells me. Like me, Jane has been a regular visitor over the years. Soon after Hurricane Katrina, she canceled a family vacation to Italy and went instead to New Orleans, where she tried to make herself useful. Now she returns when she can, always bringing whatever donations she can wring out of her friends and colleagues in Indiana. On a trip last fall, it was bras. A member of her congregation was the proprietor of an upscale lingerie shop, and she loaded Jane up with 300 bras. Fancy ones. A negligible contribution in the scheme of things, but greatly appreciated by women who had lost everything to the floodwaters. You will find lots of people like Jane in New Orleans, ordinary citizens who come whenever they have time, to do whatever they can. Some mount their own personal relief initiatives – from making Easter baskets for homeless children to helping survivors interview one another. Others sign up with one of the many established projects like Habitat for Humanity (New Orleans). At "Musicians' Village," Habitat workers—no skills necessary—are putting up housing for displaced New Orleans musicians. Already one side of one street is filled with compact two-and three-bedroom cottages in bright tropical colors. I visit one of these building sites just as three women from Casper, Wyoming finish stapling a protective layer of Tyvek onto the bare outer walls. Chrisa DeGraeve shows me how the front walls came out smoother than the back, since they're learning as they go. The women are old friends, they tell me, and they decided to celebrate a birthday by volunteering at Habitat. Their program for the week is construction work by day, carousing by night. Can any of this make a dent in the enormous problems facing New Orleans, I wonder? What use are Easter baskets, or fancy bras, or new pink cottages, for that matter, in the face of inadequate levees, toxic sludge, and the lack of a coordinated recovery plan? These are good questions. But the government's conspicuous absence has led to a remarkable presence. New Orleans is now home to the biggest and most long-lasting volunteer movement in American history. If you want to be inspired by the good-heartedness of people, this is the place. Can volunteerism really make a dent without the government stepping up? Weigh in. Day One: Seeing it Now Have Something to Say? | ADVERTISEMENT  |
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Posted: Dec 11, 06 7:27pm
It wasn't 300 bras, it was more than 600. They filled up the rear compartment of my Outback, started at $45.00 apiece, and tended toward the large--they had sizes I didn't even know existed, but if you wear a 42-J, a bra isn't negligible. So it's not exactly a roof over your head, but it's something. These bras were brand new, expensive, and pretty, even the really huge ones. At the distribution center, the clothes were used and smelled a little funky, and it was sad to watch women try to put an outfit together to wear to work. Getting something nice was a real treat for them. When songwriter Mimi Farina wrote "Hearts starve as well as bodies." she was talking about roses, not bras, but I think she would appreciate the comparison.
I asked the same question that my sister Ann did--can we really help or are we just making ourselves feel better? The 9th ward just got potable water (after more than a year!). That means that people can move back into their gutted house and start rebuilding. There will be volunteers to help them. The people of New Orleans have tremendous heart and courage. What the rest of us need is staying power.
Posted: Dec 13, 06 11:36am
A friend of mine leaves on 12.26 for a ten day stint helping to build homes in Lydell (sp?)...I will ask her to report on her experience, so watch this space!
Posted: Dec 28, 06 10:18am
The organization that Ann mentions is VolunTourism.org and they are a great initial source for learning more about doing good deeds while on vacation: http://www.voluntourism.org/
Other good web resources:
Travelocity's "Travel for Good" program can help you start planning an international or domestic trip by linking you to a few of the bigger organizations that pull together philanthropic excursions (GlobeAware, Take Pride in America, EarthWatch, and Cross-Cultural Solutions): http://leisure.travelocity.com/Promotions/0,,TRAVELOCITY|3702|vacations_main,00.html
"Volunteer vacations with the American Hiking Society" (you can find them through REI.com) is a great place to find trail-revitalization projects. Take the family camping and help restore some of Americaís national parks in the process:
http://www.rei.com/adventures/trips/special/american_hiking.html
VolunteerMatch.com makes it super easy to find volunteering opportunities across the country (and not just for when you're on vacation): http://www.volunteermatch.com
Posted: Sep 10, 08 8:26am
Hello Anne:
I am close to a number of Amish friends in PA, who have been working in this and other areas that were hit by Katrina for months at the time. Not too many people know about the Amish grouping together and having done this.
They literally build temporary housing for themselves to have a central point of organizating, an much like the barn raising techniques amongst themselves, the wives do the cooking and caretaking of the men, who spend months on end rebuilding the area.
I have also attended Amish public auctions to raise money for this cause. It includes hundreds of Amish coming together for a day or so to auction, play volleyball (getting the youth together), sell food, and do a number of things to raise money in support of the Amish that go down their to rebuild. Its a very important and strong effort to help to the area within the Amish community.
I dont know if you were aware of this wonderful effort by the Amish?
Best,
Yvonne