Rebuilding Houses in New Orleans with Nuns

I'm just coming back from three amazing days--one of those experiences that changes you: seeing things you can't unsee, doing things you didn't know you could do and understanding a perspective very different from your own.

This week was Nun Build with St. Bernard Project in New Orleans.  Why in hell was I there?  My sister works for a bank and she specializes in loaning money to non-profit religious institutions.  Because of that, a lot of her clients are nuns.  She heard about this gathering of nuns to rebuild houses in New Orleans and wanted to go and invited me as well.  It just seemed to surreal to pass up!  There were over 90 women working on 14 different houses.  I could write for PAGES about the experience--but let me try to sum it up in shorter statements--little excerpts of my experience.

• The biggest thing that I can say is that SIX years after Katrina, New Orleans is still in a world of hurt.  The signs of the devastation are everywhere.  If you take a standard block in a wide swath of town, 1/3 of the houses are gone--just empty lots, 1/3 of the houses are still standing but uninhabitable--with the markings still on them, boards on the windows and/or roofs caving in, and 1/3 of the houses are rebuilt.  But the new houses stand in the middle of the chaos surrounding them.  It looks like a big mess. 
• We worked on a house that was 14 feet under water after Katrina.  So our job was to do mold remediation. 
• First day--scraping every single wood frame with a wire brush to loosen up the mold.  Then applying a mold killer with a cloth onto every beam. 
• Second Day--Applying Killz paint--a mold killer and sealer--to every beam (yes, if you're counting--we touched every single piece of wood in the house THREE times).
• Third Day--Preparing the home to be fogged (final step to kill all mold) and hanging vinyl siding on the outside of the house.

Nuns Rock and Remove Mold (the second from the left is my sister Lynn--saintly, but not a nun).

• While I have some issues with the Catholic religion, I've had only good experiences with nuns.  I've known a lot of progressive, motivated, loving women working on the biggest social justice issues of our days.  And these nuns were no different.  In fact, these women in their 50s and 60s worked their asses off and had enough left in them to drink beer and tour New Orleans afterwards.  They ROCKED.   
• I stayed in Sister Helen Prejean's office--yes, the Sister Helen Prejean who wrote Dead Man Walking and who is one of the most outspoken voices against the Death Penalty. She was out of town for the week and let us stay on air mattresses in her office. 
• We visited the Rebuild Center--a daytime shelter for the homeless men and women in New Orleans, which serves 250 men and women during the day, providing showers, laundry, legal services, and meals.  It is an award winning design for any space, but as a shelter, it provided respite, peace and dignity for people who desperately need it.  The men and women were very friendly and many of them told us how blessed they were to be in a place like that. 

• We were provided lunches three days by groups like Knights of Columbus.  We were given dinner by humble residents of New Orleans as a way to show their gratitude.  It was very humbling to be served like that. 
• We got to tour the homes of Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation.  They are committed to rebuilding green, sustainable homes in the Lower 9th ward most affected by Katrina.  This neighborhood was right next to the levy (which is actually just a concrete wall).  Almost every single house was destroyed and 1000 people died in that neighborhood.  The houses are interesting, but they weren't occupied by low income residents and they didn't fit in with the architecture of New Orleans.  They are very visible as you drive by and I have to admit, I'm torn by their presence. 

One of the Make It Right Houses we saw driving around.

• On our last night, we went to Frenchman street to hear some real New Orleans jazz--not the French Quarter scene, but where the locals hang out.  And a total stranger asked me (and many others) to swing dance to the live band.  So cool (and I don't think I totally sucked--but I think I embarrassed my sister). 

So now what?  I return back to Orlando and my blessed life.  But I'm motivated and would like to motivate you:

• PLEASE consider going to New Orleans--with your family, a church group, friends--and donate a day or a week building for St. Bernard's Project.  It is a SUPERBLY run organization making a real difference in an area that still needs it.
• For Christmas, my friends and family will be getting notifications that their gift is my donation to St. Bernard's Project.  They'll be getting pictures of drills, bathtubs, 2x4s, work gloves and other items that they can use to bring more families home.  Don't they need that more than you need the next new gadget?
• I'll be collecting shampoos, soaps, toothbrushes, etc every time I stay in a hotel and will be sending them to the the Rebuild Center.  They provide hundreds of showers a day and it's the least I can do.  If you collect them and bring them to me, I'll send them on for you as well.