Katrina Corps

Dear spring breakers: Thank you for coming.

I’m guessing I’m not the first person to say that to you. You’ve probably heard it a lot during your time here in the New Orleans area, from the people whose homes and schools you’ve worked to put back together and whose favorite public spaces you’ve helped revive, or from those who’ve just crossed your paths somewhere along the way. You may have also heard some variation on the theme, based on the memorable line from Streetcar Named Desire about relying on the kindness of strangers. Perhaps it’s grown old by now.

But be patient. Please indulge us for getting emotional at the sight of a busload of you, heading out for a long day of work or treating yourselves to ice cream after a job well done. It’s just that we find it kind of overwhelming that you’re back again, or here for the first time, after 3 1/2 years.

Think about that; at your age, 3 1/2 years is an awfully big chunk of time. It’s probably hard for you to fully appreciate how it feels to be well into 2009, yet still living amid the wreckage of 2005.

You also might not grasp what it’s like to feel as if the rest of the world moved on a long time ago. We keep hearing about Katrina fatigue — honestly, don’t you think we have it too?

Yet we work hard to remind people that the vast majority of the Katrina victims aren’t scam artists. They’re just regular people whose only sin was thinking that the federal government’s levees wouldn’t disintegrate, homeowners fighting to get back to where they were on Aug. 28, 2005, when they still had houses and communities.

So thank you for not needing to be reminded.

You are not unique or even unusual for being here, but that doesn’t make you bit players. You are part of something enormous, something powerful. Every time you roll up your sleeves and pick up a hammer or screwdriver or shovel or paintbrush or garden hoe or ladle, you move a mountain.

Collectively, you’ve helped to save a way of life. My colleague Bruce Nolan, who writes about the flood of volunteers that hasn’t let up since the storm, swears that some of you have actually saved lives, literally, by showing up at exactly the moment when someone was ready to give up hope, and asking what you could do to help.

And you didn’t just help. You let people tell you their stories, allowed them to get some of the hurt out. You met people whose lives are very different from yours, and you showed them the respect and appreciation they deserve. You found joy in what’s quirky and wonderful about this place, and you gave it back to those who need it most. You listened, and for that, we thank you.

And there’s one other thing. You’ve shown enormous heart, even when your leaders have too often been heartless.

It was bad at all levels of government, but worst at the top, among the crowd that was in charge when the storm hit.

From the early days when they dithered while the city drowned, through years of bureaucratic fighting over rebuilding projects, they tried to distance themselves from the tragedy. They didn’t want to deal with it. They thought the people they represent all over the country didn’t have the will, or the interest, or the attention span, to rebuild an essential American city.

They talked down to you, in assuming you’d forgotten, or were too self-involved to care after the cable news moved on to the next big story.

You proved them wrong. And for that, we thank you most of all.

Stephanie Grace, Staff Writer, Times Picayune

…I got crisped like craklin’ when I biked around the city…. Chuck Perkins! I can’t believe I missed Chuck Perkins!!!!
I wanted to thank you and Marshall for your hospitality, good will, and patience. …Some of my fondest memories include you both (Nawlins Flava, Vaughn’s, and Muffalatta in the park).
I really had a wonderful time and fell in love with the city and have immeasurable amount of admiration for what you both do day in and nights out.

If I’m lucky I’ll see you again before I leave for Australia. I am writing an email to all my friends about my trip and would like to include some of the stats that Marshall informed us about on our tour so if you have a source you prefer, I’d like to use that. Also I am encouraging them to donate to Katrina Corps…

M

I live in Wyoming and was visiting family in Milwaukee during the summer and stopped at a church that I used to play organ for. When I was there one of the members told me about Katrina Corps and that they were planning on going the first week of August (mind you she told me in July). I jumped at the opportunity, especially being a music teacher. New Orleans is the birthplace of the only American Art form. I plan on returning to New Orleans next summer for probably longer than the 1 week. It was a life altering experience.

We were told to go out and meet the people and to talk to them; I never expected to meet the people I did. And then to hear their stories was mind blowing. Talking to “Box” who is Fats Domino’s drummer, to talk to Miss Antoinette K-Doe; to talk to Guitar Slim Jr. whose father is a legend, to talk to Chucky C. To here what these leaders of jazz went through and yet how they continue to keep going gives me nothing but inspiration. As corny as it sounds, I benefited for more by going there than what I could ever give back. The dorm was not that great obviously, but all you do is sleep there so it personally didn’t bother me (and it was better than a gym floor). To all volunteers I say go to Bourbon street, talk to the musicians. Talk to the waiters and waitresses, talk to the voodoo priestess’. The group I was with went to “Naw’Lins Flava” twice. Yes the food was fantastic, but talking to Bruce the waiter and Chef Joy the owner made me realize just how incredible the city is. “Voluntourism” is my new favorite word.

I’m telling about my experience to all my co-workers in Carbon County Wyoming, and some are already wanting to go next year. Wyoming is a small state so word travels very fast amongst teachers throughout the state, so hopefully we will have more than just my name on that map for Wyoming.

In our area, we have some very well to do companies in the fields of oil, natural gas, and coal. If you have information I could give to these companies, I know they would probably donate money. Locally we have Devon (world’s largest oil exploration company) and Sinclair.

Thank you for your group and all that you do!!!
Tim Handle

This was a day I was really looking forward to. Eleni had spent a week in New Orleans in July volunteering with Katrina Corps (http://katrinacorps.org/), and once I knew I was coming down, I extended my trip over theweekend so I could do a little volunteering as well. I recruited Erin & Julie to come with me, so Saturday morning we were picked up by Marshall, a member of the Katrina Corps team, and spent the day doing some recovery work.

Katrina Corps is currently helping clean up a former middle school and turn it into a community center/art center/etc called the Studio at Colton (http://www.cano-la.org/studio_at_colton.html). Our task today was painting on the third floor – through the day we got white on the walls and ceiling of an alcove and one hallway, then did the baseboards black in the alcove and three hallways. The day flew by and after painting baseboards all afternoon sitting on the tile floor my butt was so cold.

Part of the Studio at Colton is already open for business though, so as we painted through the day there was a steady stream of visitors coming by for the Prospect 1 art exhibit (http://www.prospectneworleans.org/) and a small craft fair. We just told the visitors we were the performance art piece. It was a good day…..