Monday, Monday....

Monday started out with a bang as always.  We are working on four sites.  Before setting off in our individual work groups, all of the Macomb Community College group met together for a photo op and for a quick visit with the Dean of their college who also happened to be in New Orleans.  It was a great opportunity for them to show what a difference they are making in the world.

One of our groups is working on a community citrus grove.  The four hearty souls are working hard to make this a great place for the folks in the neighborhood.  They even ran across a few of the crazy stinging caterpillars that fall out of the trees down here.

Last fall some of our group worked on a house that was donated to Project Homecoming that was in bad shape.  We leveled the house, which was about 6" off on one end, by crawling underneath and jacking it up then putting in concrete footings. We also did quite a bit of demo work on the inside.

This time around, it was amazing to see the transformation:

The paint job!

The finished archway!

Alex would like for us all to please look in the tool trailer for our own pencils & tape measures PLEASE!

The Tile!

Billy's getting up in the world!

 Lunch time!

Sam & Ang mixing the concrete to the consistency of a Frosty.

Why are we under this house?

That's it, I'm not going back under!

Joanie making a nice brick patio.

Thomas having a little fun.

People let me tell you about my best friend...

I'll save you PDA!

Let the week begin!

We started out Sunday in Chauvin on Bayou Petite Cayou.  We went to see the Blessing of the Fleet and the Art Festival at the Sculpture Garden.  It was full of fun and plenty to see. Everything from fascinating art to decorated shrimp boats, music and belly dancing.

After a beautiful morning and afternoon we headed back into New Orleans to Camp Olive tree to meet up with the other 32 folks in our group.  Everyone had a great trip and arrived safely.

Down in da Bayou!

In spite of hitting a couple of heavy traffic snarls on our way, Tom & I arrived safely in TN on Friday night.  We had a nice dinner at El Mazatlan North because even though we weren't staying in Cave City, the first night on the road just wouldn't be the same without our favorite Mexican restaurant.

Saturday we got an early start for the bayou and most of the rest of our group left from Michigan. In the flurry of test messages and calls back and forth I quickly realized that my phone had not charged the night before, ARG!  Oh well, these things happen.

Tom and I made a quick stop in New Orleans to see the "Before I die...." project.  The house has been sold as of today and it's future existence is unknown at this time.  It was amazing to see.

From there we headed on down to da bayou to meet up with our friend Diane who is graciously putting us up at the Rec Center in Chauvin for the night.  After dropping off the trailer (which is just full of a bunch of old sleeping bags and misc. suitcases) we headed over to pick up Bubbles who was "running with the bulls".  We were invited to dinner and got to watch some local Native Americans from the Houma tribe do some dancing.  Some of our group even got in on a bit of the action!

In the morning we will see the "blessing of the fleet" as the local shrimpers and other boat owners decorate their ships and have them blessed by the local priest,  We'll also stop by the art festival at the sculpture garden before heading back to NOLA to check in at camp for the week.

Please check back for daily updates through the week.  We welcome your comments at any time!

One Week to Pack!

One week from tonight 16 fantastic college students will be in a parking lot with their 4 drivers trying to cram their suitcases and sleeping bags into a small trailer that will leave them behind and set out for New Orleans.  Will their luggage make it safely?

Or will there be a mysterious mishap along the way???

Stay tuned to find out......

2 Weeks and counting...

Looks like 35 folks will be hitting the road for New Orleans, LA in just 2 short weeks.  We don't know what kind of work we'll be doing yet, but it's bound to be both worthwhile and appreciated. We'll all work up a sweat and get dirty while having a great time meeting some wonderful people.

Just a couple of weeks ago some of us got together for some "Mongo Fun" at a great fundraiser too:

Ready to roll again soon!

Hello Everyone!  It's time to start thinking about and planning to head back down to the Gulf Coast.  That's right, we are now taking applications for Katrina 12, April 9-17.  For more information please go to:

http://hands-on-mission.org/Calendar.HTML

Just click on the Katrina 12 mission on the calendar for the application!

Hope to see you in NOLA!