Ms. Shirley's house!

Painting in Pink...

Today we painted the inside of a house that Lean On Me is working on. It was in the ninth ward and belonged to a lady who was living in a trailor in her yard. She is hoping to move in to her house in two to three weeks, and it is almost completed. We painted the living room and dining room a very interesting shade of pink; not something we would pick for our own house, but a color that the owner loved! Some of us will be going back there tomorrow to help her again, and others will be going to another house that Lean On Me is working on.

Lean on me website: www.help4families.org

Working at the animal shelter!

Another day in the Ninth Ward!

Today we returned to the ninth ward to clear up some more yards in the same area that we were yesterday. It was incredible to find things still laying in the yards; stuffed animals, dishes, cd's, movies, clothes and old appliances that had been there since the flooding. It's sad to know that these belongings were recently used by those living in the ninth ward and how they lost everything so quickly.
We worked from 9 until 2 and then met up with Katrina to go to the St. Bernard Parish community center to prepare a meal and help around the center. We arranged donated clothes and made ravioli. We talked to a volunteer there and he told us his story of the hurricane. He described the hurricane as nothing short of catastrophic. You can check out the website at www.ccstb.org for more information.
We just returned from the parish and are all pretty tired! Tonight we might hang out around our house or go to a nearby acoustic cafe. Tomorrow we will be painting a house indoors because it is supposed to rain.

BRAD PITT!

The lot after all our hard work!

The before picture of one of the four lots we worked on today.

Today was a long, but fun, day of work work work! We went into the ninth ward and cleared out several yards that were full of dead trees, grass and weeds. This is an important task because the land owners are charged an extra $100 a month if they do not take care of their land, and for the land owners around this area, this is a huge burden that adds on to the loss of their house. We worked all day with another volunteer group from Boston and the weather was beautiful!
The area that we live in now, the Bourbon street area and many of the places we have drove through down here are mostly repaired, but the ninth ward was absolutely ruined and will take years to repair. Houses have their roofs blown off, the streets are completley deserted and trash is scattered around the street. Our supervisor for the day told us that when the levees broke in this area, the houses were completely submerged under water, a concept that was hard for our group to grasp but a very powerful image. The water caused the most damage to the houses and neighborhoods. It is incredible to see how much work still needs to be done here.
Oh, did we mention that we saw Brad Pitt? Okay just kidding but we saw all of his pink-tarp draped houses across the street from our work site.

Getting Beignets at Cafe du Monde!

If anyone was wondering, we also visited Bourbon Street again last night. It was a much younger crowd, with a newer music scene (more rap and hip hop). It was much more crowded than friday night and we met many interesting people, saw many interesting acts (two men competitively pole dancing in the street for example). We ate at a restaurant near the French Quarter for dinner with not-so-good service and not-so-cheap prices.

Today we went back to the animal shelter to visit our furry friends once again. We did similar jobs as yesterday; walking dogs, cleaning cages, doing small chores around the shelter. The workers there are very thankful of our time and we will most likely be going back later this week.
After volunteering for a few hours we all went on Mr. B's swamp tour! We rode in a flat bottom boat and saw rare birds, many turtles, river front property and small cottages. Our guide was very knowledgable. It was a fun and interesting experience!
After returning to our house from the boat tour, we all hung out for a little while before having dinner and orientation with Katrina at 7:00. She told us a little bit more about Lean On Me, the organization that she runs. It was started a few years ago and now works with many different types of volunteer organizations around New Orleans such as soup kitchens, house rebuilding projects and churches. This week we will be doing a majority of our work in the ninth ward, where a lot of damage from the hurricane still exists. We will also be helping out at a church-run soup kitchen and basically doing any type of work that is needed. Bright and early tomorrow morning we will be off to the ninth ward so we will keep everyone updated on that! We are very excited!

Bourbon Street Anyone?

After breakfast we all took the much needed shower and then decided to check out the French Quarter. All of us enjoyed checking out the local shops. Of course we had to try the famous beignet at Cafe Du Monde. A beignet is kind of like a deep fried doughnut with lots and lots of powdered sugar. Jed really enjoyed the powdered sugar and Amy and Lindsey got it all over their pants and couldn't get it off. Last night, after taking a much needed nap, we all headed down to Burbon Street. We went to dinner at restaurant in the French Quarter called Cafe Maspero. Some of us tried the local mufalatta (both veggie and meat) and jambala, and some of us had the traditional cheeseburger. All of us really enjoyed the music on Burbon Street and had fun in the bars and clubs dancing for hours. Anna and Alex made friends with some of the band members at "Fat Cats" and ended up on stage (highlight of the night). We ended up heading home early because we had a big day ahead of us on Saturday at the Animal Rescue New Orleans Shelter.

The view of the neighborhood from our porch!

Picking Up Poo and Cleaning Cages...

On Saturday morning we left the house around 8:30 and headed to Animal Rescue New Orleans (ARNO) for a few hours of volunteering. When we got there Robin put us to work taking the dogs for their morning walks while some of us cleaned the cages while they were out. Picking up the warm poo was the highlight for the walkers and climbing in the cages to grab the poo smeared newspaper was the highlight for the cage cleaners. After that we washed up the unused cages and helped prepare for the magazine photo shoot ARNO had later in the day (W Magazine is currently writing a story profiling ARNO). We had a quick picnic lunch, we then were assigned a handful of odd jobs that included laundry, sweeping and mopping, sorting newspapers, and other cleaning jobs. We enjoyed volunteering at ARNO a lot and plan to go back later this week to visit our new four-legged friends (and enemies)!!!

RWNO out.

Getting There...

With Mikie's Dairy bar food filling our stomachs, we were off to New Orleans at about noon yesterday. Everything went smoothly on the drive over there. We stopped in St. Louis around 6:00 and ate at a semi-classy Italian Restaurant. We left equipped with a menu thanks to Jed. From there, we wanted to go up the arch, but it was closed when we got there. We instead drove past some friendly people in a sketchy car in a sketchy parking lot. We then stopped by a sports bar to watch the Badger Game and then we were off once again! We drove through the night, stopping a few times to switch drivers and also making a stop where we thought a gas station was... but to our suprise it was closed and also a little shifty. We continued driving until we arrived in New Orleans at about 9:00 am. We then met our contact person, Katrina, who showed us to our house. The house is a gorgeous antibellum home in a quaint neighborhood. There are large rooms, hardwood floors, a full kitchen and a wrap around porch. After checking out the house we went to Oak Street Cafe, directed by Elvis. Here we all got breakfast and had some quality conversation about politics with two older New Orleans natives. We then returned to the house and Amanda found out she was accepted into the school of business! Congrats! We are now waiting for Katrina to return from her meeting and give us instructions. We are very tired but excited to be here!

Our gorgeous house!

St. Louis Arch at night!

We leave today and i think everyone is really excited. I hope we have alot of fun. Thats it for now. RWNO out.