New Orleans
In May of 2006 I headed south for a couple weeks to do some volunteer work in and around the city of New Orleans. Four of us met up and carved for the "KatRita Wood Project" and helped raise some money for the massive & on-going re-build effort. Together we spent the next week and a half carving at various locations in and around the city, and most of the wood we used was salvaged from storm damaged trees,, so we presented it as "hurricane art".
We had such a good opportunity to see some of the
different places first hand, and get a tiny in-sight of the magnitude of destruction,
and a small clue as to the vast area involved. Later on we would meet many
life-time residents and hear personal stories of loss, struggle, determination
& hope. There were pockets of some semblance of returning to normal, areas
totally wiped off the map, and many many in-between. Right now there are dozens
or more communities with thousands of rebuildable homes that desperately need
the army of "ant workers" that go through and help people gut their
homes in preparation for re-building. Teams of volunteers from throughout the
country have been, and are still going there to help. The local church &
community centers not only house the teams, but point them in a direction and
help maximize their efforts. For example the community center where we carved the second
week was a hot & dirty place that had been under 7' of nasty water,, and had
20 or 30 Americore volunteers bunking on second floor. This is the kind of place
the KatRita Wood Project is helping to support. It was a moving experience to
say the least and I was proud to be one of the "ant workers!"
Motley crew from left to right; Jerry Scheiffer (Wisconsin) Burt Flemming (Baton Rouge) Alicia Charlton (Canada) and me (Pittsburgh)
