Five Years After Katrina: A Reflection

08/29/10 is the Fifth Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I wrote this reflection thinking about how far I've come since I was a freshman at Loyola University New Orleans during the storm. This reflection appeared in the Perry Point weekly newsletter:

Sitting in the van traveling to New Orleans, I'm relaxing in the back seat of the Badgership enjoying the Tennessee scenery, and just notice the "A" on my right sleeve. I realize how far I've come from 5 years ago. Since the AmeriCorps NCCC logo is ubiquitous to all of us in the Corps, to the point that it doesn't seem special. But, if you look at it in a different lens, it becomes something else, something special. Whenever I talk to someone outside the Corps about the program, it’s really interesting to see their reaction to it. They are always amazed that young people can give up 10 months of their life to service. I guess it’s a credit to AmeriCorps that it instills in all of us that volunteer service is ordinary, even commonplace.

Five years ago, I had never thought of doing a term of volunteer service. I had done some community service in high school, but it was never a constant occurrence. Five years ago, I just graduated high school in California, and was intent on getting through my freshman year of college. Normally, this would have gone on without a hitch, but considering I was going to college in New Orleans in August 2005, it proved to be a much more interesting kind of year. I had come before classes started at Loyola University for freshman orientation, was starting to really enjoy the new-found freedom of college and settle into my dorm when Hurricane Katrina made my ordinary freshman year a bit less ordinary. I evacuated with my family back home to California, unsure of what was going to happen next, either to New Orleans or to Loyola. At home, as I watched the levees break and flood New Orleans, I grew a lasting attachment to the Crescent City. I found a college to attend for the fall semester, and resolved to return to Loyola and New Orleans when the next term began.

In January 2006, I came back to New Orleans with a renewed commitment to New Orleans. I met my first NCCC member while helping on a Habitat build in St. Tammany Parish, and thought it sounded pretty cool. As I reached the end of my senior year at Loyola, again met some more NCCC’ers volunteering at Jazz Fest, and I seriously started considering NCCC as a program that would help me give back to the city I had grown to love and commit myself to a lifetime of service.

NCCC is an extraordinary thing. I still pinch myself every once and awhile to see if I really am doing National Service with AmeriCorps NCCC. New Orleans, five years after Katrina, has changed for the better, although there is still much to be done. In helping New Orleans, we have all become part of the solution, and contributing bit by bit, house by house to a rebuilt New Orleans. Back in New Orleans now for the 5^th year anniversary of Katrina, in the “A” and doing my part for NOLA, I see myself as coming full circle. So much has changed in five years, and to think that I all started with a little bit of heavy weather.

Round 3: Mosquitos in New Jersey and lending a hand in New Orleans

Badger 7 in New Jersey


So, after getting back to the Point after Summer Break, Badger 7 began in earnest preparing for our next project in New Jersey combating...mosquitos? For our next round, we were going to spread the word to New Jerseyans about the dangers of the Asian Tiger Mosquito. Being well versed in doing off-the-wall projects, we were excited somewhat for this project; we would be walking door-to-door in two Central Jersey communities-Aberdeen Township and Trenton, the capital of New Jersey.

NEW JERSEY

Personally, I was interested in going to New Jersey since, well, I hadn't really been there before, and two, I was excited about our project sponsor Rutgers University in New Brunswick. We ended up living in some pretty sweet accommodations for this part of our project, living in a Rutgers residence hall, and eventually acquiring library, wifi, and gym access as well. I found that I really enjoyed going back to a college setting, and I reignited my desire to enter academia one day.

The project itself was quite interesting. Rutgers was in charge of a federal grant to establish a control program for the Asian Tiger Mosquito (ATM), an invasive species of mosquito that has the capability to carry West Nile Virus and is a real problem in New Jersey. Rutgers had determined a few communities to serve as test sites, where they would recieve various services to control the ATM, ranging from homeowner education, mosquito control services, a combination of both, or none at all. We were sent out to serve as mosquito educators, going door-to-door, canvassing a specified area. Overall, we had a mixed bag. Some residents were responsive, others, not so much. Both areas were interesting to explore, however, I greatly enjoyed discovering the city of Trenton.

Our project in New Jersey, due to foreseen and unforeseen circumstances, ended early. For the majority of the time in New Brunswick, we were told that we would spend the remainder of our round working on a project in West Virginia. However, much to our great surprise, our destination was changed to....

NEW ORLEANS


Badger 7 + Composite Team = Rebuilding Together MEGATEAM

We headed down to New Orleans to work for 2 weeks with Rebuilding Together New Orleans, who were commemorating the 5th year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with an appropriately giant event called Fifty for Five. Rebuilding Together was going to be working on 50 different houses in the Gentill area of New Orleans over 4 days, and they needed a lot of help. They had originally requested a large number of NCCC teams to help them out, however as disasters occurred, they didn't receive any. It was at this juncture, where we, Badger 7 came in, bolstered a composite team already in New Orleans, joined forces to help out RTNO. We ran the gamut of work tasks: from putting fence/wheelchair ramp posts in the ground to working in the RT warehouse, we helped RT prepare for the big event. Starting with the event, we averaged 12 hour days, working at sites and running supplies for sites, while also supervising lumber deliveries and planting 700 trees. I was fortunate enough to work at the same build site for most of the event, where I got to know the homeowners, Adolph and Mary Christmas. They showed us tremendous hospitality, even making us and our volunteers Red Beans on Friday at lunch. Although our progress was interrupted several times by rain and media attention (to any HGTV fans out there, I met Carter Oosterhouse on site. Seemed like a cool enough guy, and plus I got to tell him about Americorps NCCC), we accomplished at lot on their house. Now that Fifty for Five is over, we now have a few days off and then head back to Perry Point for transition and our next project, which we learned will be a Maine attraction.

Me, RTNO Geoff, and the volunteers at the DeBore build site with the homeowners Adolph and Mary Christmas.

Summer Break and Boston

Here's another installment of the continuing saga of "N-Trip". Enjoy!



After coming back from Virginia, it was good to see everyone back at the point, especially the awesome Badger Unit. However, this being our second transition, it was a special one: we were getting our SUMMER BREAK!!! (caps and exclamation points added for excitement)



After deciding early on that I wouldn't go back home (mostly due to prohibitive costs for a plane ticket to Los Angeles), I decided to live it up, and spend a couple of days hanging around the East Coast. I had never been to Boston (except my parents tell me now that I was there as a child; I decided that if I don't remember it, it doesn't count), so I seized upon this opportunity to embrace my inner history geek inside me and go to Bean town for 4 days. Plus for a bit more experience, I decided to take the train up north, which I now believe was an awesome decision. So, I hitched a ride with one of my teammates to New York City, to see a game of the Evil Empire...err, I mean the New York Yankees. The game was fun and was even more satisfying when the Blue Jays beat the Yankees in extra innings.

After the game, we parted ways and I put my red bag on my back (containing all my stuff I own) and trekked off to the New York subways. My friend from college, Dan, lives on Long Island, and he allowed me to crash at his house for a couple days until I left for Boston. Arriving in Long Beach, I was hit with the realization that Long Island is much different than New York City, plus I was amazed how big the island itself is. Over the 4th of July weekend, I had a lot of fun hanging with Dan, on and off the beach.

After reverting back to a beach bum state, I left New York and took the Amtrak to Boston, where my real vacation was had. I stayed at a hostel for my first time, which was a really cool experience (plus NCCC has accoustomed me to living in bedrooms with bunkbeds with people I don't know), the people there were nice as well. The majority of my time there was spent walking the freedom trail, which was heaven for an American History buff, like myself. Boston is a nice walkable city, plus the subway is convienent if you get tired walking. I was glad to explore a bit of the city while there, doing a lot of the typical touristy stuff as well. Boston was definitely a place where I want to come back to.

Coming back early for our break, Perry Point was still largely deserted, except for the small contingent of NCCC whom, for one reason or another, stayed at the Point. Still having a couple days to myself, I finally got to explore the mystical city across the Susquehanna from Perry Point, known to most people as Havre de Grace. Its a quaint little town, with a lot more things to do than Perryville.

Soon, everyone returned and we back in motion for mid-year training and second transition. Badger 7, better known as the Super Badgers, readied ourselves for our next adventure in service, the off-misunderstood New Jersey. Rutgers University was too be our locale this round, which as one will see, provided a wealth of opportunities for us.

Until next time....