Departure Day!
I have thought much about my (and the youths) trip to New Orleans and to sum it up in one word I would choose “charm.” This was my first trip to New Orleans and to be honest I did not know what to expect. And after being inspired by the people we encountered I must say the city does have a very, very unique charm.
During our time in the NO we worked at two different ministries; 1) Second Harvest and 2) United Saints. Second Harvest is a ministry that exists to provide food to local kids who are participating in camps around the New Orleans area. United Saints is a group of local churches that work in unison to support the needs of the New Orleans people. United Saints was founded August 27th, 2005, the day after Hurricane Katrina made landfall.
A few of the more meaningful moments of our trip happened after our last day of work painting a home on the West Bank. We left our worksite sweaty, tired, and feeling accomplished. Sarah (the other youth minister) and I decided to take the kiddos to the 9th Ward in New Orleans. The 9th Ward is the largest, poorest, and was the ward that was most heavily impacted by Katrina. We drove to the 9th Ward and you can still see some of the scars of the storm. We drove to a local Episcopal ministry center where the kids saw some “Second Harvest” food boxes laying on the ground which was neat! You could feel the kids being inspired that their hands fed some of the kids at this local Episcopal ministry center. We also drove through a subdivision in the 9th Ward where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie donated millions of dollars helping renovate homes just off the levee breach. We also strolled through some of the neighborhoods where you can still visibly see the large spray painted “X” where the Urban Search and rescue teams notified emergency services when the house was searched, if there were victims, and when they left.
Upon leaving New Orleans, you could still feel it is a city that is in recovery. People still talk about how the city is still waiting for everyone to “come back.” I believe the city will come back and I might even argue it is already back. I asked one of our worksite leaders “what is the one thing that makes you never want to leave New Orleans?” He said “I never want to leave because I have never been to another city where people love their city as much as the people of New Orleans love theirs.” I would have to agree.
-Daniel Forman