As part of the conference this year, SLA offered service projects that attendees could participate in. I want to thank all the participants who joined us in giving back to a community that was so terribly affected by Katrina.
On Saturday, 12 June we had a group of about 20 people who went to the lower 9th ward and helped paint a house, I like the shade of blue! With the warm sun, I am sure they had to paint fast!
Both groups that went down to the affected areas also got to do a little tour and see much of the devastation first hand, even five years later. Yet, there are signs of rebirth slowly coming back to the area.
On Thursday, 17 June we had two groups doing projects. One group of 25 went to work at the Second Harvest Food Bank helping them sort food and other various projects. With 1 in 8 people in the state of Louisiana fighting hunger, this is a valuable resource for many.
Also on 17 June, another group that I happened to be with went to the lower ninth ward and worked on clearing abandoned lots. We worked in conjunction with Beacon of Hope. While the heat index reached somewhere near 115 degrees, we worked diligently for several hours. We worked with other groups, mowing, cutting, raking and clearing lots that had been left to grow since Katrina. While machinery could do the job much faster than we could, the resources are just not available to the city. We had many cars from the neighborhood, waving and honking for us in support of our work.
(Other pictures of Thursday's landscaping project can be found here.)
I really do appreciate that about 60 people worked on all three projects, in some very hot conditions. In some cases, doing work that wasn't quite what was expected, and did it with cheerful and giving spirits. There were some attendees that even did a project on Saturday *and* Thursday. In addition to the tax revenue that our conference brought to a much needed economy in New Orleans, it was great to see that we could give back in other ways, too.
(Thank you to Cindy Hill and Jim Tchobanoff for use of their pictures)
Thank you for your support in rebuilding NOLA.
Posted by: Jack Styczynski | 28 June 2010 at 08:17 PM