After our disasterous day at Common Ground, Megan and I thought the kids deserved a night of fun so we took them to the French Quarter to experience some New Orleans nightlife. Honestly, we needed some fun ourselves, and a few hours away from being with the kids! We had been together 24/7 since Saturday afternoon. So we set them loose on Bourbon St, figuring that should keep them amused for a few hours, and headed to the Palm Court to meet up with Leroy and Katja for a few drinks and to spend some quality time with some good friends. Megan also had the pleasure of meeting Uncle Lionel, who was quite taken with her and kept flirting with her. It was very cute.
Our students, sweet innocent kids, the highlight of the night for them was watching the filming of the Chris Angel stunt on Bourbon St. So clueless they are. They ended up running for the last streetcar and going back to the house before our meet up time at midnight. Megan and I hung out and cabbed it back later.

“This is what we are here for”. Those were the words spoken by so many of the students after our day at the Community Center of St. Bernard.
. If you take a look at their website you can see the huge array of service that they offer. It’s a really nice center, with some great volunteers and staff. They immediatley made us feel welcome.

After our day at Common Ground, we needed this. See, Alternative Spring Break is not just about what we bring to the community, but what we take away as well. So far we had very little to bring away, but Thursday changed all that. We finally had the chance to interact with the people of the community. Those who have been to hell and back, who lost everything, including loved ones, but refuse to leave. They face set back after set back, but they are so strong. They showed us what is important in life. It was an amazing experience for all the students, to see these people who will not give up. It was sad, it was happy, it was a mix of every emotion possible.

We were able to help out in so many ways. We helped stock the food distribution center and organized the clothing distribution. We helped people who came in for food, we cooked and served lunch and cleaned up. We talked to people. We listened.

I think that one person really stood out to everyone. A man named Steve who was volunteering in the kitchen. He asked a few of the kids if they wanted to come help him prepare lunch. While they were working Steve told them his story. Steve lived with his wife before Katrina. She was very sickly and had some serious heart problems. They didn’t evacuate. Steve described the rising water and how he had to lift his wife into the attic and how he promised her that they would both survive or both drown, he wasn’t going to let her fall. He chopped through the attic roof and they took refuge on the roof. Steve had to swim through the flood waters to find help. They were taken to a warehouse and evacuated from the city. They survived and his wife only wanted to go back and volunteer, to help others. Unfortunately, she died in March of 2006. Steve was very emotional when telling his story. It deeply affected everyone, there were tears all around. For some of the students, this was their first experience talking to someone who had survived the flooding. They had seen the news but had never really talked to someone who went through that first had. It was a powerful moment for them.

After lunch was cleaned up, Steve asked us to come and watch a DVD he had of the storm and flooding. It was a compilation he made of various home videos from first responders and still pictures and some video from Murphy Oil. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room as he explained to us what we were seeing. I’ve seen many of these images before and it still affected me- the inhumanity and the lack of help, the desperation. One of the other volunteers came over to talk to us too. She was a counselor from Louisiana Spirit who offered counseling services. She described to us the serious toll that Katrina and the aftermath has taken on the mental health of the residents. The increased suicide rates. The anxiety and depression. The children who are terrified of rain and storms.

All of the students called Steve “an inspiration” and promised to keep in touch with him. On the ride back to our house, they all said they want to come back next year and work at the Community Center again. Day 4 made the whole trip worthwhile.

We were scheduled to go back to ARNO on Friday but the Community Center asked if we could come back there as they were expecting a huge shipment and would need help unloading it. We promised them that we would return as ARNO has a ton of volunteers at this point. One of the staff even suggested we send half our group to the St. Bernard Animal Shelter if we wanted to help with animals. “Be prepared”, he warned, “ARNO is like a luxory spa compared to the St. Bernard Animal Shelter.”

Truer words have never been spoken…..stay tuned for Day 5- St. Bernard Animal Shelter.