Bill Mahoney with owners of houseI traveled to New Orleans at the end of April as part of a group a group of 13 St Michael's College graduates, ranging in age from 22 to 65, although most were in their 20's and 30's. Our mission was to empty and gut houses that had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, as a first step towards rehabilitation of the homes. The group was sponsored by Catholic Charities, which will sponsor any group of 10 to 15 volunteers, regardless of faith. We paid for our own travel to New Orleans. Once there, room and board was covered by Catholic Charities.
Driving around New Orleans, the first thing that stands out is the enormity of the damage and how little has been done in the past eight months. Unlike most other disasters where damage is limited to a small area, the area where homes were destroyed extends for miles. At the time we were there, only a few homes had been gutted, and even fewer had been rehabilitated. The rest stand empty, surrounded by debris. Large areas of the city still have no electricity. It will clearly take years for this area to recover.
Volunteers in New OrleansOur group worked on four houses. First, we carried all the furniture, appliances, clothes, and belongings out into the street. Then, we tore up the walls, ceilings and floors to expose the framework. Finally, we sprayed bleach over all surfaces to kill the mold. The working conditions were damp and filthy. All the houses were infested with cockroaches, palmetto bugs, and termites. Hopefully, in the future money will become available to rebuild the house.
Emptying out bureaus and closets was particularly sad. We constantly came across the saved memories of the family who had occupied the home: photos, medals, trophies, letters, toys, dolls, bank statements, etc. You could not help but think of how difficult it must have been (and still must be) for the children. On one hand, they had to deal with the first day's crisis and the subsequent dislocation to Baton Rouge, the Carolinas, Houston, Utah, Cape Cod, or wherever, places they may have never heard of, places that are hundreds of miles from families and friends. At the same time, they also had to deal with the loss of the few possessions and mementos they had to call their own, the possessions that helped them define their own private world where they were happy and safe, a world that they have now lost any physical connection to, leaving them adrift in uncertain surroundings.
On one of the days, six members of my group were taken to another house where they were part of a photo-op with the President, Governor Blanco, and Mayor Nagin. The next day, we all worked on gutting that house.
We all found the volunteer work particularly rewarding, because it was going directly to help a victim. The victims and other residents were very grateful and would often come up to us on the street and thank us. We all would consider volunteering again.