Presbytery Travel Blog

Today was our last day at the NOAHH habitat project at Ferry Place. Most of us woke late and were moving slowly this morning. Sarah told us that it’s pretty typical that the volunteers are “up and out” later each morning. One of the great blessings of the past two days has been the break in the weather: The heat has broken, and we’ve actually begun our mornings in jackets and sweatshirts. The downside of this is that we were far less careful about sunscreen these last two days, so most of us will be coming home mighty pink!

Tuesday morning, we assembled at 7:15 a.m. on the front porch of the Land Building, and headed off to Ferry Place, where we began our work with New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity.   Our project leaders, Billy, Hank Henry and Andrew oriented us to the work we would be doing, and solicited volunteers for various jobs at various skill levels.  Billy, the project manager, who is a PhD student in theology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, started us off with some powerful words, “You may think you’re here to build houses, but what you’re really here for is to love people.”   It is a great perspective with which to begin four days of hard work on a project where it is so hard NOT dwell  on our tangible accomplishments.

 There are five houses currently under construction at Ferry Place.  Two have much of the exterior work completed.  We are working on the other three.  One already has walls up on the first floor, so our folks started out working on the second floor floor joists, finished the flooring, and today (Thursday) actually raised  two walls!  

The second house had footings and flooring sills in, so our folks finished the floor joists, and the flooring, and today actually raised the first three walls there.

The third house was the least complete, with only concrete foootings sticking up out of the sandy soil.  We finished filling the footings with concrete (Our folks carried a mixed a LOT of concrete on Monday!), added hurricane straps and termite shields, cut and installed the framing (?) for the floor, and today completed about half of the floor joists for the main floor.

 The first three days have been difficult and wonderful.  We’ve had our patience sorely tested with the “hurry up and wait” that accompanies this type of work—especially since we’re a team who has not worked together before, and most of whom are new to this sort of work.  There is a lot of consultation time with our project managers, and a lot of ”do overs.”  We’ve spent a lot of our devotion time (after we finish complaining) reflecting on how fortunate we really are, just to be able to be here, doing this work, serving God and these people—His people. 

 In the meantime, we’ve been treated with incredible and generous hospitality by the folks of St. Charles Presbyteryian Church.  The Church provided fabulous dinners for us on Monday, Wednesday and this evening.  Tuesday, we (which includes our group, the Delaware group, our Habitat site supervisors and several others) were invited to a church members’s home for dinner.    This evening, the church is hosting a wine tasting event in the Land Building, which some of us attended, while others headed down to the French Quarter, to pick up some local flavor.  Wherever we go, people are eager to thank us for coming down and for caring, and urge us to let people know how much there is still to be done.

We can do that.

Happily, our travel was uneventful and we arrived safely Saturday night. We got to the Land Building shortly after 10 p.m. and immediately ordered pizza, since none of us had had dinner. This is a great group of people, who really go to a lot of trouble to take care of each other.

Sunday morning began with worship at St. Charles Ave. Presbyterian Church, where we were warmly greeted and profusely thanked for coming to New Orleans to help with the rebuilding effort. After worship, the eleven of us managed to find a restaurant where we could have lunch together and spend some time getting to know each other better.

We returned to the Land Building for our orientation, by which time, the other group, 8 men from Westminster Presbyterian Church  in Wilmington, DE,with whom we’re living and working this week, had arrived. This means a LOT of personal space and shower time for the PGV women, with only five of us in the “women’s dorm,” and not so much for the men.

Sunday afternoon and evening, some of us explored the  Audubon Park and we all ended up in the rench Quarter for dinner, followed by beignets and coffee at  Cafe du Monde

This morning, we had our first work day. Tricia elected to go with the Westminster group to the home of Miss Stella, a 25-year nursery volunteer from St. Charles Presbyterian Church. Her home in the 9^th ward sustained a lot of damage from the Hurricane, and the Church has been able to send teams of RHINO volunteers for several half-days to help her with the restoration. The rest of us went to Trinity Christian Community Center where we did a variety of outdoor cleanup chores. The Community Center itself had sustained serious damage from the storm, and has been facing a constant struggle to restore and maintain its own property and at the same time offer its assistance to the surrounding community. The director, Sandy, told us that she felt bad about having volunteers working on their own facility, but she explained why the work was so critical: The overgrown areas surrounding the Center not only attacted a variety of animal pests, but encourages dumping which has become a significant problem in the area. Sandy pointed out to us the pile of debris in front of a house on Joliet street. Apparently, as of the 2^nd year anniversary of the Hurricane, the City no longer picks up Katrina-related debris from homeowners who are restoring and repairing their property – it is not part of the contract with the new refuse contractor, and the City is not willing to bear the additional cost, so homeowners are responsible for contracting their own debris removal – just another obstacle for the folks who are trying to put their lives and home back together.

The work at Trinity Community Center was good hard work, and we came back to the Land Building hot and tired, with just enough time to eat lunch and shower before we split into two groups and headed off with SCAPC members for driving tours of Post-Katrina New Orleans. Many of us were disappointed at the lack of progress we could see since we’d last been here. In contrast, one of the tour groups had the opportunity to meet Robert Green, who was grateful for the opportunity to share his story. All of us were inspired by the depth of his faith, which provided just the prod some of us needed to be sure that we could, in fact, make a difference in this place this week.

Although we worked hard today, and accomplished much, the best moments for everyone this day were the moments we spent listening to people tell their stories. As we reflected on the day’s events in this evening’s devotional time, it was agreed all around, that even though we are sooooo eager to accomplish the tasks we’re assigned, the most important thing we do is listen.—even if it means it means temporarily setting down our tools to so. We have come down here with the intention of being a blessing to these folks – we need to remember to let God bless us through their lives and stories as well.

Eleven Genesee Valley Presbyterians from seven different churches will travel to New Orleans tomorrow to assist with continuing recovery and rebuilding efforts.  We will be hosted by the St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church (SCAPC), and work for the next week with the church’s RHINO (Rebuilding Hope In New Orleans) project in conjunction with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA), the Presbytery of Southern Louisiana, and New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity (NOAHH).

Participants are:

Whit Beckett, Jr., Alison Gilday, Jacob and William Morris, and David Fish (Gates)

Shelly Carithers (South)

Laurie Ditzel (Calvary St. Andrews)

Patrick Eble (Perinton)

Louise Josephson (John Calvin)

Tricia Moningle (Irondequoit)

Al Santos (Penfield)

For most of us, this is not our first trip to Post-Katrina New Orleans. The work will be different this time, since the focus of RHINO has changed from gutting houses to its partnership with NOAHH and the construction of fourteen new homes at  Ferry Place.   Nonetheless,  our purpose remains the same, and it is amazing, and humbling, to be among the thousands who are still coming to the Gulf Coast, two years after the storm, as part of the witness that Christ bears to the nations – a witness to the goodness of God in the world.   We expect to work hard over the coming week, but in many ways our presence will be at least as important as the physical work we accomplish.