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NOLA on my mind – Day 1

09/23/2011 By Leave a Comment
This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series New Orleans Mission Trip

The dynamic duoHello! I haven’t disappeared – I just took a little break and headed down to New Orleans for an amazing trip. I was born and raised in the Baton Rouge, LA area – and have many relatives in the New Orleans area – I spent many Mardi Gras at my aunt’s house. I also lived on the North Shore back in the early 2000s.

Background

Anyhooo…a few months ago I noticed a mission opportunity on the UCC.org website to do post-Katrina rebuilding. It piqued my interest but the available dates were in September and didn’t seem doable with the kiddos in school then. Just a few days later a friend of mine sent me a link to that very opportunity and asked if I would be interested in going with her. Well, heck, I had to say yes then. I talked to Chris and he talked to his parents and they agreed to come up and stay at the house that week and pick up the kids from school/handle errands/etc. We talked to our pastor, received his blessing, and quickly signed up. The next step was fundraising. I decided to have yard sales (how convenient!), put out a call at church for yard sale donations and we made a little over $800! Woot!

Unfortunately my friend had to drop out due to some personal issues. With no one else signed up it looked like it might not happen. Luckily a very new member of our congregation stepped in and we were back in business. I was a little nervous heading out with someone I barely knew – but I put it in God’s hands and figured if she was interested in going she must be cool.

Day 1 – Saturday, September 10

Our day started at 7am. My partner headed out and drove through Kentucky and Tennessee. We had a polite “getting to know you” conversation and listened to a lot of music. One of the things we talked about was our mutual love of rocks. Cue signs for “Rock City” as we neared Chattanooga. We were doing great on time so we decided to check it out.

OMG! Best thing ever!!! The amazing rock formations, the view, the swinging bridge (the first of many tests of our fortitude), the fairy tale caverns. It was too much, we felt like we’d fallen down the rabbit-hole and entered an alternate dimension. A few hours later we hit the road again and drove all of the way to Mobile, AL.

waterfall

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NOLA on my mind – Day 3

09/25/2011 By Leave a Comment
This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series New Orleans Mission Trip

Beecher MemorialFirst Work Day – Monday, September 12

8am came very quickly on Monday. We met the director of the Disaster Relief effort for the UCC, our project manager, and two long-term volunteers with the project. After a brief overview of the Disaster Relief Mission in New Orleans we headed out to our project for the week – the renovation of Beecher Memorial UCC.

Beecher Memorial is located in the 7th Ward and was under five feet of water post-Katrina. The surrounding neighborhood is predominantly working class and poor and African-American. Beecher was gutted right after Katrina, but its rebuilding has been postponed as members’ homes have taken precedence. Its members still worship in the building – although they relocated during the summer as it’s just too darn hot in there. Things are getting closer to completion as sheetrock is almost completely in, the drop ceiling should be going in next week.

There were two more volunteers that met us at the church. They were from Ohio (of course we would travel hundreds of miles to meet Ohioans). They had stayed over from the week before.

ceiling

We were given the lay of the land and then were handed off to long-time volunteer Marjorie. Marjorie is from Chicago but made three week-long trips with her church and then decided to do a long-term stint on her own. She had no construction experience prior to this but is now pretty much a pro. Our first mission was to install insulation into a 15 foot ceiling. Yeah, right! Me on a taaaaaall ladder staple-gunning insulation over my head. Sounds fun right? Add the no air conditioning, goggles, and dust mask and I was in heaven (serious sarcasm). At the end of the day I felt like I’d gone through some sort of hazing. But, I did do the whole darn ceiling. Not bad for someone who’s not particularly fond of heights. And the ceiling looks pretty good.

After our long day we decided to cruise over to the Ninth Ward to see what we could see – answer – a lot of destroyed homes, with a few coming back around to normal. Quick showers at Little Farms were in order as we got ready for a fabulous potluck dinner thrown by our hosts. Red beans and rice, fried chicken, andouille sausage, and jambalaya – that truly is heaven!!

We were able to visit with several of the members of Little Farms and hear what they had going on. Although small they seem very active in their community. A small farmer’s market has just started in their area and they are having a craft/information booth there every week. We traded simple craft ideas that would be good for kids and adults. Another member his motorcycle ride from Buffalo, New York to New Orleans 20 years ago. He’s is one cool cat, more on him later.

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NOLA on my mind – Day 2

09/24/2011 By Leave a Comment
This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series New Orleans Mission Trip

Gulf feetMobile to NOLA, Sunday, September 11

After a well-deserved slow, lazy start and a quick bite at Popeye’s (oh how I’ve missed you!) we hit the road. We took I-90 so that we could enjoy the Mississippi coast and my partner could get her first view of the Gulf of Mexico. We dipped our toes in the water at Biloxi and got a first-hand look as how the Gulf Coast was and was not rebuilding. The coast is a strange mix of  shiny brand new buildings and empty lots and driveways that lead to nothing but weeds.

We got into New Orleans around 3 and went straight to our host church and settled in. We were met by Donna, a member of the host church, and learned the housekeeping details of our stay. We found out that we were the only people scheduled to be there that week, and that we had full access to the church and it’s kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry facilities. And we were going to be honored guests at a church potluck dinner on Monday. Talk about keys to the kingdom!!! There’s nothing like southern hospitality. We got settled quickly, went grocery shopping, and headed out to the French Quarter.

We soaked in all of the sights and sounds of the Quarter. I had several flashbacks to my time in NOLA and memories I share with my ex-husband – a bittersweet lining to our fantastical, neon clouds. We ate crayfish etouffe, gumbo, jambalaya, alligator sausage, and red beans and rice with a hurricane to wash it down. On top of that we saw a rockin’ cover band, a tour-de-force of a drag show, and ended the evening with hot buttered rum in a sweet little jazz club.

Pure bliss. We fell into bed knowing we were in for a hard day’s labor on Monday.

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