Presbytery Travel Blog

The sixteen members of the Gates Presbyterian Church New Orleans Mission Team enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Mulate’s and invited two young ladies from the Presbytery of Genesee Valley who teach with Teach for America to join them.  Amanda Poole is a member of GPC and Erin Schubmehl is a member of the Corfu Presbyterian Church.  On the last night of the group’s trip to Nw Orleans, it was particularly beneficial to touch base with these two persons who survived Katrina and are in Louisiana as teachers.

The group from GPC is comprised of the hardest workers! Two of our group worked the entire day on one house installing new plumbing. Three (later joined by another) worked on a roof all day (see the previous blog from Sherry Nau) and will miss dinner as they try to get as much done as possible. The rest of the crew worked on Habitat for Humanity houses – some helping with siding, some erecting the roof trusses, some doing some interior wall work and still others caulking windows. I was considered “expert” enough to construct a dozen sets of saw horses – but did we ever make them solid and secure! In a couple of weeks, ten houses will be in different stages of construction and all of those saw horses will be in demand.

The land for these 75 to 80 houses was owned by the New Orleans School District.  Ten years ago when a school and surrounding area was abandoned.  Harry Connick, Jr. and Winton Marsellis recently purchased the land from the city and donated it to Habitat for Humanity.

Hi all,

This was my second day up on the roof  – what an experience. It is hot -really:)  We have been helping Percy ( the home  owner) replace his roof that he lost in the storm.  It has been challenging – ripping off the old shingles, today we put on tar paper, tomorrow we start with new shinges. Joe Fish has been working with me – if you see her on Sunday – ask her if she has been drinking enough water. She is a real task master.  We are working with a group from the United Church of Christ – they are very nice. Jacob has joined us for a day, and tomorrow Wit will join  us. We’ve had people from the neighborhood stop by and talk with us – everyone has a story – even the guy working at the sports store and the CVS. They all want to know what we are doing.

Tonight we relaxed a bit – played some Euchre – if you see Bill Dissaro as him how many cards we play with 

Tomorrow it’s back to the roof – we hope to finish – thankfully we are starting at 7:00 am because it is just too hot to work  by 2:00 in the afternoon.

I hear it has been warm in Rochester.
I’m starting to miss home a bit – it seem like I have been away for a very long time .

Many hugs

Sherry

Two ladies (Jo Fish and Sherry Nau) worked on a hot roof all day. Bill Dassero hung sheetrock in another house. Bob Binko and Ralph worked on a third house (Bob underneath measuring for new plumbing – Ralph inside pulling out a toilet and moving belongings to the curb – then played taxi driver for the four separated from the rest of the group).  These five worked with Baptist and United Church of Christ groups who together are also helping people rebuild after Katrina.
The other eleven removed the furniture and appliances and pulled up carpet and linolium from one house and then gutted the kitchen and bathroom of another house (and cleaned out a shed). Gutting involved removing all the kitchen cabinets, salvaging the granite counter tops, removing and salvaging all of the door and window trim, removing paneling and knocking out the plaster and lath to above the mold line. (Behind the kitchen cabinets, the lath was still wet!) Hard work for everyone.

Lunch was provided to the eleven by the people of Trinity Episcopal Church which has a classy refrigerated lunch mobile on a pickup truck.  They supplied two sandwiches (peanut butter and jelly or lunch meat), an orange, chips, cookies and bottled water for each worker.  Every day, they have some planned stops to feed groups like ours and they make about eighty lunches.  What they don’t give on planned stops, they distribute to whomever they see that are working on their houses.  They also have new stuffed animals to give to children of New Orleans.

The phrase that a picture tells a thousand words does not apply to what we saw today. It is unbelievable to be face to face with the destruction that water and wind can have on us mere mortals. Almost everywhere we went the impact of the storm was seen – in water lines, in broken windows, in cars that were abandoned. The most powerful scene that keeps playing for me is the x’s spray painted on the houses. The x’s showed the date and who inspected the house, and what was found ( 0 for none or 1 dead cat, or 1 body. etc). There were just row after row of houses, all deserted. It could have been a suburb in any town. Our tour guide shared that many of these houses were in the family for years, passed down through generations. So the owners often were professionals, but lived in the same neighborhoods where their families have lived for years.  I have such respect for those who are coming back and trying – it sure takes fortitude and hope.

Tomorrow the real work begins!

Thinking of all of you!

Sherry

From Bill Dassero –

Over the last 2 days the emotions have been all over the map. Yesterday several of us went to the 2006 New Orleans Jazz fest. We listened to Paul Simon, and the Zedeco Twisters, and eating some of the Jazz Fest foods. The jambalaya and fried chicken were great. Today we traveled through the areas struck by the hurricane and flood waters. Our caravan drove through areas from the abandoned affluent homes to the areas in the ninth ward where people’s homes were disintegrated. The only remnants of these homes were the GPS location codes. For each, the stark reminders were the water marks and the search team codes.

Having watched the news broadcasts, it is truly hard to grasp the devastation. One watches the news snipits, but once standing in the aftermath in the ninth ward and the other areas, it is hard to process it all. Yet, there are signs of life returning, from businesses to the flowers reaching to the sun. Tomorrow, we begin the work we traveled her for, from gutting 2 houses, plumbing, roofing and drywall. Here again, the signs of rebuilding, for the people to return to their homes.

Yesterday we went to the Jazz Fest that was great!  On our walk back to the car we were determine how high the water level had reached.  We stopped to ask an older woman sitting on her porch how high the water had been there.   She told us  the water that had reached the top stair and the house had not flooded.  She was renting this home because hers had flooded and she was unable to live there.  She had been offered a FEMA trailer but did not take it because there was no one left in her neighborhood and she was 72 years old and she didn’t want to be there alone.    We asked when the electricity had been restored and were told just a month age.  She felt the only reason they got the electricity was that it was needed for the jazz fest.  “Shows you what is important in this town” she said.  Then she pointed down the street to a very major intersection and she said the traffic lights were just fixed a week ago.  We talked at great length about the insurance problems the citizens are facing.  She told us she was given $10,000 for her house and $5000 for the contents of her home.  She felt cheated because she said she had a piano and that was worth at least $1000.  She told us her son received $10,000 from the government because he was renting and lost everything.  This strong woman wanted to know why she had private insurance when the uninsured were getting more then she was.  We talked about the upcoming mayoral election.  We were told the pro and cons of each candidate. She said she wanted to stay in New Orleans because this was her home and wouldn’t want to live any place else.  At this time it  was unknown what was going to happen to her neighborhood.

As I sit here writing this, I am struggling with my thoughts because today we spent 3 hours driving around New Orleans looking at the devastation and I am unable to think clearly. I can not ever begin to put what we saw today into words.  I was so moved by our conversation yesterday but tonight it seems so little—but it is a life story. What I want to say to everyone is that you think you know what happened here but until you actually see it you have no idea of the impact.

Members of St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church escoretd all of us on a three hour tour of New Orleans. We saw parts of the city that survived unscathed, parts damaged in part – and large sections that were completely destroyed – and have not been touched since Katrina came ashore over eight months ago. The lower ninth ward looks like a war zone – the oft printed photo of the house on top of a car is still overwhelming – and frankly no photos or TV coverage or personal accounts really prepare you for the sights and sounds (in the case of sounds the lack thereof) of this ruined city. And everyone is holding their breath as hurricane season commences June 1 but some major storms come early. The sense is that even a Category Three Hurricane hitting New Orleans any time in the next five years will be the city’s demise – as in “this city is beyond repair.”

Everyone else in the group has headed to the French Quarter to do some shopping – I have some phone calls and e-mails to make – four of our group (the more skilled ones) will be farmed out to another organization that needs a plumber, some people to do some roof work and at least one more to do some drywall work. Those who know Jo Fish will not be surprised that she will be one of those working on a roof!

Members of St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church escoretd all of us on a three hour tour of New Orleans.  We saw parts of the city that survived unscathed, parts damaged in part – and large sections that were completely destroyed – and have not been touched since Katrina came ashore over eight months ago.  The lower ninth ward looks like a war zone – the oft printed photo of the house on top of a car is still overwhelming – and frankly no photos or TV coverage or personal accounts really prepare you for the sights and sounds (in the case of sounds the lack thereof) of this ruined city.  And everyone is holding their breath as hurricane season commences June 1 but some major storms come early.  The sense is that even a Category Three Hurricane hitting New Orleans any time in the next five years will be the city’s demise – as in “this city is beyond repair.”

Everyone else in the group has headed to the French Quarter to do some shopping – I have some phone calls and e-mails to make – four of our group (the more skilled ones) will be farmed out to another organization that needs a plumber, some people to do some roof work and at least one more to do some drywall work.  Those who know Jo Fish will not be surprised that she will be one of those working on a roof!

Hi  Everyone,

The journey of hope for me began when I boarded the plane in Chicago to New Orleans. As I was sitting down the woman next to me asked if I was a native of New Orleans. I explained why I was heading down. The man in the set ahead of us must have overheard (in my not so quiet voice J), he turned around and said, “Wow, Thank you” and just began to cry – it was so powerful – He just looked at me and couldn’t say anything else.

Since then I can’t believe the people who just walk up and say “thanks”.

Today was another great experience as I went to the Jazz Festival. Can’t wait till we begin working – there is so much to do – you can’t believe the destruction – and we haven’t even seen the worse part.  

Hope everyone it doing well at home. It is hot and muggy.

Hugs, Sherry

We attended worship this morning with the congregation of St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church – and then went in several directions – some to the zoo and most of us to the 2006 Jazz Festival – including Paul Simon and Zydeco Twisters.

Now we are back at the house and getting ready for tomorrow’s tour of the city.  On Tuesday we will start work with Habitat for Humanity.

We arrived safely – no problems with the air travel, securing the AVIS seven passenger vans, or finding our way through the western edges of New Orleans.  The home next to St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church is wonderfully situated – and there is ineed more than enough food to take care of that need.  Few of us slept well the first night – I suspect we will unwind from yesterday’s travel sometime today.  Another group joins us today – and that should make the routine of showering, eating, sleeping all the more “exciting.”  It is already very warm – and it very humid – but the house is airconditioned.  I just called people back in Rochester to report all is well.

First flight went well – now a long wait in Chicago as there are only half as many flights to New Orleans as before Katrina.

All sixteen of us are at the Rochester Airport awaiting our first flight – to Chicago.  The Rev. Strawbridge met us and sent us off with a prayer.  I am using a member of the group’s laptop with an “aircard” as there was not a strong enough wi-fi signal in the waiting area.

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places – and there are many – where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

Howard Zinn,
“You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A personal history of our times”

RHINO (Rebuilding Hope in New Orleans) is apparently changing its focus. The sixteen of us from Gates Presbyterian Church are now told that we will be working with Habitat for Humanity while in New Orleans. We were prepared to battle mold, yuck and other messy clean-up work and now it looks as though we might be doing some (re)building. We will let you know when we know more – in other words, we need to be flexible!

The sixteen of us will meet at the American Airlines ticket counter at Noon on Saturday, May 6. I want to share how pleased we are with American Airlines Group Sales! The relatively low cost of the roundtrip tickets ($255.70 each), the ability to change participants right up to within 48 hours of the trip (indeed, we had to swap one person the last week), and the ease of talking to the airline representatives made it a very pleasant experience. Now, let’s see how the travel unfolds!

Watch this page for news as 16 Presbyterians from Gates Presbyterian Church travel to New Orleans to work with St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church’s RHINO (Rebuilding Hope in New Orleans) project.