6/01/2007

Distribution Center


One of my favorite places to help out has been the Distribution Center on West Judge Perez Dr. in St. Bernard's Parish. This is where all the donations that come into St. Bernard's are sent. Residents can then come in on mornings that it is open (varies from two to four mornings per week) to get food and clothing items. The following is a journal entry from April 13. I think a lot of what goes on at of the DC, and so I wanted to share something on it.

Friday, April 13, 2007

I spent another morning at the Distribution Center. Friday is other day which it opens to the residents (along with Wednesday). There were probably more people today, and I was there the entire three hours it was open. The best part of being a volunteer is not the satisfaction of my labor – although that was a great feeling, too -- but rather the interaction with residents, being around them, watching them, not as novelties but as real people, and getting familiar with some of their stories.

It’s tough, the doors opened and the people filed in, but I didn’t want to stare. I wanted to just act as if I was just another employee at a Macy’s or JC Penney, there to help out if necessary while they shopped. But I couldn’t keep myself from wanting to observe how they behaved and what this all meant to them. The food table is simple, with items like peanut butter, jelly, tomato sauce, pudding and macaroni and cheese taking up most of the space. But it’s the most popular area in the entire hall, and the area that gets cleaned out the quickest. Watching them happily take this food, I felt like all my trips to AJ’s and Wild Oats (Whole Foods) back in Scottsdale were unnecessary and greedy. The key was being able to take a moment like that and not be upset, but instead say to myself that this was just another experience that’s going to help my perspective for the rest of my life.

I cleaned up and re-folded clothes, and I moved mouse and bug-infested boxes. But I also made sure to offer and be available to help residents take things out to their cars. I did this not only because they needed the help but also so I could meet and get to talk to them a bit. A woman who was pregnant with twins and her sister had two boxes of clothes that I loaded into their caravan.

More impressions: a somewhat dirty clothes, a messy hall, dust everywhere, boxes that barely stayed together.

The donation area is at the back of the building, and is more like a reception hall. In fact, according to the residents it's where most of the wedding receptions in the Parish were held.

The auditorium part of the Civic Center is in the front of the building. The water lines that mark how hight the water levels got were a good 20 feet up off the floor. The entire auditorium sits empty and broken, but not destroyed. It’s rare that you see something that is destroyed, because the people here won’t let it be. The auditorium held plays, musicals, dance recitals, the list goes on. Now it stands, silent, with empty seats staring down at me as I walked around on the stage, wondering what it must have been like to look out into that audience on the busiest of nights. Yeah, it was a bit eerie, but at the same time I felt like I could feel and visualize how the place once was when all the people would be out there in the audience.

5/31/2007

Had to Ask


May 30, 2007

I ran by Andrew Jackson for about an hour, last day of school. The last few grades are holding graduation today (Kindergarten, 5th and 6th grades are already done). Parents are everywhere. That’s a sight I hadn’t seen much at the school since coming in February. Sure, I see a number of them dropping their kids off and picking them up at the start and finish of every day. But there really hadn’t been any events or particular days where I noticed a high number of parents there at one time. I made mention of this to one of the teachers who I was saying goodbye to in her classroom, and she shook her head in agreement and told me how it really was unfortunate this year because with so many kids in the school (approx. 2060), it was never feasible to have anything that would have all the parents there at once. Just another in the long list of “things that aren’t normal around here” category.

Anyway, it was really nice to see smiling parents and excited kids. They all deserve this so much. Andrew Jackson re-opened in August, so this was the school’s first full year back post-Katrina. It was obviously an incredibly challenging and trying 10 months, and they all deserve a tremendous amount of credit, as well as a break. This school did a hell of a job given the circumstances it had to contend with, on so many levels.

Selfishly, I’m sad to see the year wind down. I’m going to be involved in the summer programs at the school, but it won’t be the same without all the kids and teachers there. I loved my time there, every single day I went, even if just for an hour. I’m going to miss that, going to miss seeing a lot of the kids, getting my hugs, hearing “Mr. Scott, Mr. Scott!” But that’s ok. The important thing is that today marked a huge milestone for the school system of St. Bernard’s Parish, and for the children, teachers and parents.

SPORTS TAKE OF THE DAY: I pray that Ken Griffey, Jr. somehow overtakes Barry Bonds in the All-Star voting. MLB started releasing totals this week, and Bonds sits third, Griffey fourth in balloting for the National League's starting outfield. Griffey was definitely a prima donna and whined quite a bit in his younger days, but he's been nothing short of a class act the last couple of years and clearly still appreciates the game. Most importantly, he's obtained his 570+ HRs without the aid of performance enhancing drugs. Griffey and his swing are welcome additions to any All-Star Game. Let the cheater sit home.

A Day in Jackson, MS



May 27, 2007

Taking a drive down the main street through Pearl, MS, I couldn’t help but notice all the Cash Advance and Loan stores. These are a staple of the south, but this place might have had the most I’ve ever seen, sometimes 3 to a block.

After taking in about 7 innings of today’s game – I sat down the right field line today, for $8 bucks, surrounded by a few hundred empty seats and the hot sun. I enjoyed it, though, as I used the time to start a new book, “The Smart Money: How the World’s Best Sports Bettors Beat the Bookies Out of Millions.” I know, just what a guy volunteering in the Gulf Coast with no steady income needed to be reading.

An Outdoors Store in Mississippi is the equivalent of a Whole Foods in San Francisco….oh so popular and en vogue.

I was in Jackson, well, technically Pearl, which meant I had to actually go to downtown Jackson, see the buildings and, most importantly, see the Capital. I’ve always been big on that, whenever I’m in a new city, that I have to at least drive or be downtown, even for a bit, even if it’s on a Sunday when it’s completely deserted.

I saw the Capital Building, and better yet, I even saw one homeless guy. What’s a downtown, any downtown, without at least one homeless guy looking for money. And he was looking for money. He tried coming up to my window at a red light, and I did what 999 out of every 1,000 other Americans do, and just looked straight ahead.

That was easy, though, compared to when I turned the wrong way down a one-way street, and almost went head on into a car. Thankfully, I was in the South, as the driver beeped just once but then stopped, smiled and waved me to the one-way sign and gestured that I back up. That happens in New York, or Boston, and this guy’s setting records for how many vulgarities can be uttered in one exchange.

That’s ok, though, the trip downtown was worth it. I got my pictures of the Capital, and I can now say that I’ve been to the city of Jackson, Mississippi. (By the way, and friends from back home will know what this means, Hartford is about twice the size of Jackson. ‘nough said!)

School Talk



May 22, 2007, Part II


I met today with Jean Duke, Assistant Principal at Andrew Jackson Elementary. A big proponent of the Play Power Program at AJ, Ms. Duke was nice enough to sit down with me for a few minutes in her office, even though chaos reigned right outside her door, as is usually the case.

I asked Ms. Duke how things were going as the school year was winding down, and how she was looking forward to her upcoming change as I’d heard several times that she would be leaving the school. Her look indicated it was not yet official; I apologized for possibly jumping the gun and intruding. She was not rattled. What that comment did, however, was open the door to an entire conversation outside of Play Power.

“You don’t even have time to grieve,” she said.

That comment will stick with me for a long time. It’s the sort of thought that I figured to be true, and have thought about, but when I heard it from someone who has been in the middle of all this, a resident who is from here and who has lived through Katrina’s after effects, it was even more powerful.

I could see the look in her face, in her eyes, how tired and drawn she is by all of this. Not was, but is. She’s away from her husband all week, she works in a high stress, very chaotic environment. She does have to look out for herself, though. She knows what she is doing – looking for a job closer to where her family is, is the right thing to do, even though she likely will have to take a step down and go back to teaching. She’s ok with that. It will probably be healthy for her.

People were affected in so many different ways. Their lives up-rooted, their families dispersed, careers altered. It doesn’t stop.

Later that afternoon, I was fortunate enough to hear and share in an equally powerful conversation.

I had a meeting Gayle Hunter, who works for the St. Bernard Parish School District. Ms. Hunter is one of the top staff members right under Superintendent Doris Voitier (sp?). I had set up the meeting with Ms. Hunter to talk about other volunteer opportunities within the school district for the summer.

Gayle’s situation isn’t that much different from Jean’s (and of course, they know each other well).

Gayle and her husband left their home in St. Bernard’s Parish, and it still sits, rotting in water and moisture, not touched since the storm. They bought a house in Picayune, MS, and during the week, she stays down in St. Bernard’s Parish, in a trailer by herself out behind the School District Building. A mother of two grown daughters, Gayle is going to retire in December, and she’s handling her situation as well as can be expected. Her outlook is great, and her plight seems to be the last thing on her mind. Ms. Hunter and her husband didn’t have an outstanding mortgage on their home in SBP, and seem to have had minimal financial worry. One day they hope to get their $7000 check for the house in SBP from the Road Home program and just sell the property.

She’s much more pre-occupied with how others are coping, how the overall recovery is going. She’s lived and worked in SBP for 40 years, and she loves it here. If she said it once while we spoke, she said it a half dozen times, St. Bernard Parish is like a family. “If you live down the road and I don’t know you, I know you’re Aunt, your brother, your cousin”.

I sat in Ms. Hunter’s office for over an hour and half. All I was there to do was ask about Volunteer opportunities in the school district, and we spoke about that. She was a great help. But we spoke, and she spoke, about so much more. The people here, even those who are more fortunate and don’t have the same financial worries as others, like to share the feelings, their stories. It all helps, it’s therapeutic. I’m more than happy to listen.

I walked out of the Parish School District Building, it wasn’t quite 4 o’clock. I hadn’t done any physical labor. I didn’t have any tangible report or spreadsheet to check off as a completed task for the day. Nor did I have a wall full of nails or mudded sheetrock to stand proudly in front of and gaze at. I did, however, in just about five hours of time, have the memories of seeing dozens of children who don’t have that much sparkle thanks to a volunteer with a good heart and 2300 books. I also had an opportunity to listen, to learn, and to help, because here, listening and just talking to someone does that. It helps.

Lisa's Return


May 22, 2007

Spending time in New Orleans as a volunteer can be trying at times. Not nearly as trying as what the residents have gone through. I don’t try to relate to their struggles and pain, only to help with and sympathize with and listen to them. But volunteers do struggle. I do, and I’ve seen it in others. Am I doing enough? Am I making the best use of my time? Where else or how else can I help? Am I letting my emotions about other things get the better of me? These are all questions I’ve asked myself, almost daily. I don’t really see that changing. I feel like so long as there’s so much to do around here, I’m going to have to cope with those thoughts. But there are days where something so positive and so uplifting happens that the frustrations and question marks are erased.

Lisa Pitale, a sophomore at Loyola College in Maryland, returned to New Orleans for a few days this week, along with her parents and 2,300 books. Lisa was here in early March, part of a group from her school on an Alternative Spring Break, and she was very affected by her time spent at Andrew Jackson Elementary. The high population of students and the need for books in the library hit her hard enough that she put together a book drive when she got back to school.

“That was very inspirational (seeing Play Power here). Seeing you guys here, made me want to do my part, too, and contribute,” said Lisa. “I was so touched by it, I didn’t want to just spend a week here; I wanted to make it a bigger part of my life, and it really has been the past two months, talking to people, ordering books.”

Monday, not even three months after her first trip, Lisa was back at the school and with the help of her parents sorting through all the boxes of books in the Andrew Jackson school library, dividing them up by age and grade level. Today, the classes of children came in and they were each able to pick out a book. I’m not sure how much I loved getting books when I was in the 2nd or 4th grades. My memory fails me on this one, but my guess would be that I would have been stoically appreciative at best, ‘bummed’ for not getting a better surprise at worst. Today, though, from children who sleep in trailers, learn in over-crowded classrooms and play in concrete parking lots, I saw pure joy.

I guess when you don’t have much you’re more easily pleased, as the kids were today. And, I guess even when confronted with times where I question myself and if I’m doing enough, scenes like today’s serve as a good reminder that I am. And so are many other people.