Well, we experienced another NOLA first – unfortunately. It poured this morning. Along with a tornado watch. Needless to say, we didn’t work at Ferry Place today. Sarah Edgecombe came through though and our day was not lost. Instead of sawing and hammering, we sorted and boxed food at Second Harvest.
In fact, we sorted and boxed 6 ½ tons of non-perishable food.
Here’s the drill. Deborah would deliver a palate of boxes of food that has been donated by large grocery stores, WalMart, etc. It could be damaged cans or boxes, unsold seasonal items, six packs of drinks that are missing one bottle. Our task was to empty the boxes. Inspect the food to see if there was any contamination, or if cans showed signs of rest, or if bags had tears. Any questionable products were tossed and all usable products were re-boxed. It was periodically very tempting because at least one of those six tons was candy, but the team resisted.
At the end of the day we all got on the giant scale for a team weigh in. Guess how much! (Answer below).
Don Frampton, the pastor of SCAPC,
stopped by the front porch this afternoon and spent a few minutes talking with the adults. (The kids were off to the park). He reinforced how important mission trips like our are for the people of his congregation and the city.
And now a word from Will Hart:
As Friday’s visit to Bourbon Street approaches so do our last days in New Orleans draw closer and closer. It almost feels sad that we are leaving this soon. Some of you may or may not know that I have been filming this whole trip for a documentary on New Orleans itself and the progress, or almost lack of, since Katrina.
The documentary shows both sides to the story how much work has to be done and how much work has been done. At our work site on Ferry Place literally 20 feet from one of the houses is homes that haven’t have been touched since Katrina. Some have been broken into and been used as a ‘safe’ place to use drugs. The neighborhood surrounding Ferry Place is has several abandoned cats and one or two dogs. Blackie and Amber are the known cats that visit the work site daily. The lower ninth ward also depicted in my film is empty. Two houses were under construction amongst the concrete slabs left over from houses that were destroyed. One house which was completely taken off of its foundation still lies in rubble after 3 and half years of sitting. Though it seems bleak, Habitat for Humanity’s Musician’s Village has been very busy making about twenty colorful “shotgun” style houses. I recently interviewed one of our tour guides for my film and hopefully it will be in the Westport Youth Film Festival on May 10th.
Today there was a 100% chance of rain. Legitimately the weather said 100% chance of rain. And it did rain. There was so much rain there was one road we couldn’t use. The rain also canceled our day at Ferry Place working on the houses. Instead of a break from work we did one of the most tedious jobs probably in existence. We went to Second Harvest a food bank and sorted food. Our primary task was to open a box of food around 22 pounds and empty its contents out onto a table. We looked at the contents to see if they were suitable for the hungry. Amongst dented cans and slightly crushed cereal boxes we had to determine what was reusable and what wasn’t. Then we threw away the unusable and put the usable food back in the box. Very repetitive actions and we did this for about 725 boxes totaling in over 6 tons of food throwing out about 1200 pounds. For the 4 hours we were sorting food we longed for the work site that we should have been at. It was some what rewarding once we received 2 ice pops and an “END HUNGER” bracelet. Sweet.
* * * * *
Tonight was our night to be hosted by a church family for dinner. We made our way to the home of Scott and Tammy Crabtree and their 16 year old son, Harrison. Harrison was a good send as far as our kids were concerned because he brought his newly acquired Nintendo wii video game.
Scott’s Katrina story is quite remarkable. He was one of the few people who never left the city. He is the manager of a high rise continuing care facility located on the Mississippi near Audubon Park. He and six others stayed in order to protect the building as well as all the possession of the residents. Tammy and their son did evacuate and stayed with family. For the first six weeks after the storm they had virtually no ability to communicate.
Scott’s and Tammy’s first floor was flooded and had to be completed gutted. Scott managed to get the gutting done and new electrical installed so that they were able to move back in by December, though they could only occupy the second floor.
Scott opened our eyes to the extent of the ongoing struggle. Sixty percent of the present population of the city exhibit symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Suicide is prevalent; affecting most everyone. He and Tammy have had three friends take their lives. There are only 55 psychiatric hospital beds in the entire city.
It was a sobering reality check. It was also a profound reaffirmation that we are doing something very significant with these trips. How often do any of us actually have such an opportunity?
We are all hoping against hope – or at least against the weather forecast – that we will be able to end our week at Ferry Place, but we’re committed to doing our best wherever we find ourselves tomorrow.
Keep praying!
BTW - We weighed 2475 lbs.
