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The Locals: Hurricane Katrina Relief in New Orleans, Louisiana
Hi, first of all we would like to thank you for taking the time to visit our site. We would each like to share our experiences with the world and educate people on the conditions still present in New Orleans.
Our class, here at Randolph-Macon, traveled on a 20 hour bus ride from campus, in Ashland, Virginia, to Gretna, Louisiana, where we were graciously allowed to stay at Gretna United Methodist Church. We left around 4pm, Saturday, January 7, 2006 and returned around 8pm Saturday, January 21, 2006. We stayed a total of 2 weeks working around 8 hours a day, Monday-Friday gutting houses.
We slept on air mattresses in the church and cooked some of our own meals. The church cooked for us some nights and we also got to experience some of the fine foods New Orleans had to offer. These foods included gumbo, red beans and rice, mufalattas, po-boys, and jambalaya. There were 6 showers (3 boys and 3 girls) for 33 people to go through in a matter of about 2 hours once the work day was over and there was something scheduled for the evening. Military style showers seemed to be the consensus among the girls who quickly organized an order that seemed to work, while the guys did something different almost all the time.
We also got to tour and experience the French Quarter, as well as Bourbon Street. It was a fun day and an exciting night. The last Thursday we were there we took the morning off from work and we were recognized at a city council meeting. We finished our work load on Friday. When it was all said and done we completed 15 houses saving the city of New Orleans over $42,000 and impacting countless lives.