Rebuilding Together: Day 1

Today was the first day volunteering at Rebuilding Together New Orleans. As we pulled up to our site we were greeted by our site manager named Jennifer, an AmeriCorps volunteer, who was eager to work with us. This was Jennifer’s first term in AmeriCorps and the third month working with Rebuilding Together. The area we worked in was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina and many houses in the neighborhood needed serious attention, the other half were in the process of being rebuilt or were already restored.  We did a variety of activities including sealing the bottom of the house (the house was elevated during restoration to make it more weather resistant) we also did a lot of caulking around the windows.   During the first half of the work day we had the opportunity to meet the homeowner John Gross.  John Gross is 59 years and lives in the neighborhood of Broadmoar. As the floodwater started rising drastically he walked to the Superdome.  In his neighborhood the water roses to 6ft. Mariah forced me to stand next to nearly every house just so she could imagine how much damage was done to every house in the neighborhood. (oh, the perks of being the tall one) Many of the most distressed houses in the neighborhood were simply abandoned by their homeowners, the severe damage being a key factor. I think all of us were so glad to meet John. It really made the work more enjoyable and meaningful knowing we were able to help someone as deserving as John. John truly deserved a safe place to live and the ability to finally return to his home. John hired a contractor when returning after Katrina and gave the contractor over $100,000 for renovations. Although there was significant work done, there was over $40,000 of work unaccounted for and his house was still not complete. After Rebuilding Together started working to help John finish his house, they soon realized that defective drywall was used in the house. This required Rebuilding Together to essentially restart entirely; prolonging the John’s return to his house.

John had such a warming presence. He always wore a smile and was cracking jokes the entire time he was there. John does have some medical problems and tried to convince us that his medication contained rat poison. Again, he joked around a lot so we were not sure whether to believe him or not, but he really did deserve a safe home. He has waited a long time to return and was so excited to return back to his home after such a long wait. It was nice to learn how to learn how to use some basic power tools (which I am sure will come in handy some time along the road) in such a great setting. This trip is going to be a great way for me to meet some great people, learn some necessary life skills, truly understand the issues of urban revitalization, and have the opportunity to help someone who truly deserves it.