Pitt Making a Difference

My drive from New Orleans into St. Bernard Parish just got a lot more scenic.

Every day I drive over the North Claiborne St. Bridge and through the Lower Ninth to get to St. Bernard. Now, as I pass over the Industrial Canal and look to my left down at the battered neighborhood, I see dozens of big structures draped in pink scattered across several blocks. They’re here because of Brad Pitt, and his “Make It Right” project.

I actually think this is very good thing, and certainly big news. New Orleans needs attention, and it needs support. Pitt’s project brings both. He has expressed a connection to this city for many years now, has expressed a desire to help it since Hurricane Katrina, and he certainly put his money and action where his mouth is, putting up $5 million of his own money to fund almost 50% of a project that aspires to build 150 eco-friendly homes. And he’s done so the right way, including residents in planning meetings and aligning himself with the right kind of people who can make this project a success. In other words, there are no politicians involved and no public officials. People who know what they’re doing are leading it. (For much more detail on the project, see the links below to a pair of stories that have run in The Times-Picayune the past two days). I think it’s great, I commend the guy, and it’s awesome that someone with so much star power is using it for the right reasons. For example, check out Larry King Live on Wednesday night, 9 p.m. EST, on CNN. Pitt sits down with King for an interview right in the neighborhood.

My only qualm with “Make It Right” and what Pitt is doing is that it really needs to expand beyond the Ninth Ward. I’ve said it before on this site and I’ll say it again, yes, these neighborhoods need help and assistance in their recovery, but so too do many other areas, including St. Bernard Parish. The Lower Ninth borders St. Bernard Parish, they are neighbors, and right down the road from Pitt’s big pink blocks are neighborhoods full of hard working people in need of the same help. But they don’t get it because the Lower Ninth is what everyone knows and sees on TV, and in the media. That is not right. That needs to be fixed. I want to fix it. I’m not Brad Pitt, though. He put up $5million. I’ve put up quite a bit of my own money in my time here, but it’s a fraction. People and organizations and foundations will flock to support his project, no doubt (and that’s not a bad thing). But don’t forget everything else.

I’ve emailed Make It Right. I plan on emailing them again and again. I plan on calling. I was over there today, in these neighborhoods, looking to see if there was anyone involved with the project that I could talk to. I couldn’t find anyone. But I’ll be back there. The St. Bernard Recovery Corp. and what we do would be a terrific partner and natural fit for a project like Make It Right. They get people into new homes, and then we help them get furniture and other essentials.

Pitt’s heart and head are in the right place, and I applaud that. I also applaud how he’s going about the project (again, see articles below for details). I just hope that my sightings of these scenic pink block structures don’t end when I get off the Industrial Canal Bridge. I’d love to see them as I drive into St. Bernard Parish as well.

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-9/119666393579390.xml&coll=1

http://blog.nola.com/updates/2007/12/pitt_unveils_program_to_rebuil.html

Ms. Helen

I went by to see Helen today. She just moved into a two-family house after spending two weeks in a hotel (not a nice hotel, either). She had to move out of her temporary home due to mold. FEMA was paying for the hotel, and is going to take care of the rent on her new place for the next several months, maybe more.

Helen's problem now is stuff, or lack thereof. She's sleeping on an air mattress, on the floor, in the living room. She's got an artificial knee, and to avoid having to go up and down the stairs for now, she's going to stay downstairs.

I'm going to get her a mattress and box spring next week -- unfortunately I can't get it before Wednesday. But that'll be a help. She needs a fridge, though, too. Her insulin was sitting in a bag on the floor.

Helen had a house before the storm, and lots of things. Now she doesn't, and she's bouncing around. That's really all I have to say or think about right now. People like Helen are why I'm here.

New Type of Day

No question this has been a year of change for me, and Thanksgiving week was no different. The past couple of years, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I was working in an office, with great people but with unfulfilling duties, and would leave work by early afternoon, race to the gym for a quick workout, run home to shower, and then head to a restaurant in Phoenix that was (and probably still is) the “hot spot” in the valley of the sun for the night before Thanksgiving. It was definitely a good time, hanging out with friends – and a few hundred strangers. In fact, one of my favorite pictures from my time living in Arizona came at this joint Thanksgiving week of 2004. It’s me surrounded by about 8 female friends, all of us grinning ear to ear, having a blast. There was nothing wrong with those days, and I’d do them all over again if that’s where I was. But I’m not there anymore, literally or figuratively.

Last Wednesday, the day before Turkey Day, I started out at 8 a.m., meeting up with a Church Group from Colorado Springs, CO, and putting them to work at a couple of houses of families I’m working with. They did painting and caulking at one, and debris removal and clean up in and outside of the house at another. After getting them to the home sites, I picked up a UHaul rental, went downtown to the Holiday Inn, got 12 more beds, came back to St. Bernard Parish and delivered those to people in about eight different stops. Next, I went over to the warehouse where I store things to pick up a sofa, loveseat, coffee table, kitchen table and another bed, and delivered those – all with the help of three young guys from the Colorado Springs group.

Finally, I went by Winn Dixie and picked up a $50 gift card for a woman I’m helping who is living in a hotel paid for by FEMA until her apartment is ready. Her trailer had mold so her and her granddaughter had to move out. They’ve been in the hotel for a couple of weeks now, and needed some help getting food. I finally got around to returning the UHaul at about 6:20 p.m. By the time I got finished showering at my gym and picked up some food at the store for my dinner, it was 7:30. All I wanted to do at this point was go home and kick back.

I don’t know, sitting at home that night, I couldn’t help but get caught up in the irony. This probably sounds like I’m boasting about what I did that day. It’s not. It definitely was pretty exhausting, and not all my days are that productive and physical. A lot of my time now is spent making and receiving calls, making visits to families, trying to come up with ways to garner outside support. Last Wednesday was a really productive day, though. And it was also just ironic. Here I am, so far removed from where I’ve been the past few falls, helping people who were complete strangers in January of this year, just one and two and three years removed from being all concerned about what shirt I’d wear to the Scottsdale hot spots. I can’t say I don’t like doing that still, or wouldn’t like doing that. I do, and I would. But it’s not a priority anymore, and it’s not where I belong, at least not now.

Last Wednesday was a bit tiring, but it definitely was what I was meant to be doing.

NOTE: the picture in the top right was taken on Thanksgiving at the Community Center of St. Bernard. I had dinner there that afternoon. There were about 50 volunteers from James Madison Univ. in Virginia on hand to cook and serve the dinner. Posted this one as I accidentally deleted the pics I had taken from Wednesday, delivering some beds. It was the first time all year that I lost pics from a particular day.

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS: There is nothing more stressful and dreadful for me these days than to do anything related to my personal finances. Looking at bank statements, going online to bank, calling Bank of America or Fidelity – just downright painful. This is what happens when bi-weekly paychecks in the thousands are no longer a part of one’s life. Ugh. But, I cope. Anyway, last week I had to put in one of those dreaded calls to Fidelity. Their customer service reps usually aren’t too bad, but this one guy I had that particular morning for once made me feel really good by the time I had hung up the phone. Curious about what I was doing in New Orleans, I explained, and he just couldn’t be nicer and more complimentary. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it, I get a bit uneasy with the kudos stuff. I really do want my time here to be about the people and families I’m helping, and not so much me. But I think I really appreciated this guy’s comments because he’s someone who represents one of those big, powerful money machines, a corporation that’s all about bottom line in a world that’s too bottom-line oriented. He basically just said that it was refreshing to know that there are things like this going on out there. Maybe I won’t get any more reps or comments like that, but for one morning and for one phone call – a call I normally dread – this guy helped me feel pretty good about things.

It seems like I’m going into more and more stores that have signs saying “Pull Up Your Pants”, or risk not being served. Yes, things have changed, and not just what I do on the day before Thanksgiving.

I got a call today (Monday) from a couple of administrators over at Andrew Jackson Elementary School. They’ve asked me to be on a committee that helps choose the Students of the Year from the different grade levels. I think by now most who know me know I love that school, and this has to be one of the most rewarding things yet for me – just the fact that they thought of me to do this. Am I choosing the next President of the United States? No. The next CEO of Citigroup? Not quite. But I’m pretty psyched about this. I’m always thrilled to help out at AJ, so on December 5^th I’ll be interviewing a few dozen candidates. Those are interviews I’ll definitely have a smile on for.