Committed People

Soon after Hurricane Katrina, or "The Storm" as the locals call it, two DC-ites (Liz and Zack) made their way to New Orleans to help with the clean-up. They found themselves in St Bernard Parish - one of the worst hit communities in the New Orleans area and the only community in the US to be completely destroyed by a natural disaster. Every home and business in the parish was flooded and almost all were deemed uninhabitable.

Within a year, Liz and Zack had quit their jobs and returned to St Bernard Parish to found the St Bernard Project (SPB) with the goal of "rebuilding the lives of Katrina survivors, family by family". And over the last three years, SBP has rebuilt over 200 homes.

So two months ago I traded in my suit, laptop and I-66 traffic for jeans, a paintbrush and the Mississippi River to volunteer with SBP. On March 30, I registered, Dave and Amanda oriented me, and I soon found myself assigned to work at Deb's house.

That first morning we gathered in the lawn of Deb's house and made introductions. I admitted that I came to New Orleans with one "construction" skill: the ability to hang pictures (I did not admit that it can take me all afternoon to hang said picture). But by the end of the day my fearless site supervisor had shown me how to sand drywall. The next day mud drywall. The next week paint and texture and lay flooring. And the week after cut and hang baseboard. And so on.

The last two months have been a singular experience.

Margaret Mead said: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Here with the SBP, I have found a group of such citizens and they are changing the world. What they have done with a little money, a lot of elbow grease and enormous determination is nothing short of amazing.

Nearly 16,000 families are still displaced in the Greater New Orleans metro area. If you can, consider donating time, supplies, in-kind services or money to the SBP.