First Workday for TPC Katrina Trip 7



North Rampart house.

 New Orleans looks good from the airport, and the Superdome was a busy place when I arrived from Rochester. The French Quarter looks good; the trolley cars are running all the way past the Audbon Park. Some neighborhoods even look pretty good, as if the recovery is almost complete. But as we drove to the site today--in a poorer area of the city--the picture changes. Houses are still vacant and unrepaired. The markings from the rescue workers made in the aftermath of the storm are still visible. Streets need repaving.

We are here working with Project Homecoming, which is still busy trying to help lower income, elderly, and disabled folks get back into their homes. We are staying at the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Village called "Olive Tree" in the Gentilly area. One crew: Kara and Andy Torres, Tom Ashcroft, Margaret Schwaneflugel, Bob Merz, and Martha Langford; are working on a house on 

North Rampart, very close to the Industrial Canal and in the Lower Ninth Ward. This house was donated to Project Homecoming, and is being rehabbed for sale as low income housing--something that is critically lacking in New Orleans right now.


Margaret and Tom


We met a neighbor today, Kirk, who was thankful and brought us snacks. He is glad we are here, helping one house at a time, one family at a time. His parents live a few houses from the one in which we are working, and every home that is repaired improves the neighborhood for everyone. The day was busy, demolition and framing work, but there is joy in every hammer stroke. It is good to be here; rebuilding homes with a foundation of faith.

Martha Langford