To This Day

Called St. Bernard Project last night and got information to start planning the trip!

Super Excited to start working with these inspirational people again.

Spray Painted Homes

Spray Painted Madness

The breakdown of the spray painted crosses on the homes in New Orleans

Days following Hurricane Katrina rescue teams searched neighborhoods and broke down doors in homes in search of the deceased and surviving. After a house was searched crosses (like above) were spray painted on the home indicating that it had been searched, and provided specific information. The top of the cross (in this pictures is 11.4) is the date that the household has been searched. The zero is to represent how many people were found dead in the home. On the right side of the cross that is empty, on some houses it states NE which mean no entry for any specific reason (electric and  leakage dangers). Lastly, on the left is the team that searched the home. These spray painted crosses can be seen on almost every house that has been left in New Orleans that has not been renovated, or torn down.

Survey Results

New Orleans Trip Survey

I held a survey to my fellow students to see how many would attend the trip, to see there thoughts on the trip, and preferences. Here are my results:

Overall the results were very pleasing. Always excited to hear that others are willing to give up there time and put in efforts to help this rebuilding process.

The Washington House

This is the beautiful home that I traveled 13 hours to help rebuild. This house belongs to the Washington Family. Mr. Washington the strong man that held his family together during Katrina, had come every Wednesday to see how his home was progressing and never failed to thank all of those for the work they had done, and to remind them how grateful he was. Mr. Washington has Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Lupus and couldn't rebuild the home that had been in the family for generations. He wanted to rebuild the home for his son who is battling Leukemia. When he first contacted St. Bernard Project ( an organization who rebuilds homes for the handicapped, and those living in poverty) he just wanted two rooms in his house rebuilt, his sons room, and the bathroom. St. Bernard Project in return said that they would build up his home to the conditions that they originally were in. Mr. Washington was extremely grateful.

National Public Radio Talk and Katrina

"Katrina Shows Who really Cares About You"

This is a National Public Radio interview with Michael Depp who discusses what it was like for his true family and friends to reach out to him after the storm.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4950584 

Welcome to my virtual Return to NOLA Journal!

The journal from previous and planning trips to rebuild the beautiful city of New Orleans.

7 years ago Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Louisiana. This storm was categorized as a category 5 hurricane, which is the most powerful on the hurricane scale. The beautiful city was flooded with water when the levees breached causing water to flow throughout the lower areas of New Orleans. St. Bernard Parish was flooded along with the Lower Ninth Ward. A huge portion of the population of the Lower Ninth Ward is living in poverty. The devastation was described as looking like a third world country after the storm. The governor of Mississippi flew over by air and was stunned at the sight of the destruction responding with one of the many notable quotes of Hurrican Katrina,  "I can only imagine that this is what Hiroshima looked like 60 years ago." —Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.