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High School Trip to New Orleans
Rabbi Koren called and he wanted to let everyone know that they arrived safely at the Atlanta Airport and that he will call back when they arrive in New Orleans.
The group landed safe and sound in New Orleans!
NEW ORLEANS
DAY 1
At 5:45 am, the 16 of us met at GSO to begin the trip to New Orleans. Though from different schools, we quickly grew more comfortable with each other. After arriving in New Orleans following a connecting flight to Atlanta, we met at the Brent House Hotel for lunch where we met Mr. Stanley Pulitzer, our “adoptive grandparent” of the trip. Following the meal, we boarded a tour bus with guide and New Orleans resident Barbara Robichaux. The two hour tour was incredibly moving; Ms. Robichaux emotionally explained her connection to the city and the way of life New Orleanians have lived since the city’s founding. We passed through various parts of the city, from the French and American Quarters, to the Ninth Ward. She explained to us the method of pumping water out of the city during storms, and why it failed during Hurricane Katrina. Even years later, it was clearly evident that the city had yet to recover completely.
After touring the city, we traveled to the Arthur Ashe Charter School to review the projects we will complete in the coming days. We met a woman who works with New Orleans Outreach, an organization that works to rebuild New Orleans into the city it was before Hurricane Katrina struck. It was incredible to witness the human strength that existed within the walls of the school: young people from all over the world providing New Orleans’ youth with an unorthodox approach at education. At the Ashe School, we were invited to participate in a kindergarten’s Circle Time. This was incredibly cute and funny to watch, as the little kids and Rabbi Koren stretched and loosened their muscles.
Our last stop of the day was at the Hillel of Tulane University. After meeting two students who talked to us about the school and answered our questions, we ate a quick snack and then went on a walking campus tour. When we finished the tour and made our way back to the Hillel, we met up with the group of teenagers from Florida that we are going to be working with. We all ate dinner together and then played some icebreakers to learn about each other, and then departed for our hotel to relax after a long day.
Especially after the tour of the city and the Ashe Charter School, the pertinence of this trip became even more apparent. The conclusion of JFK’s inaugural address especially comes to mind: “With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.”
NEW ORLEANS
DAY 2
The group woke up at 8 am to share breakfast with the group from Florida before heading off to World Harvest Food Bank. We arrived there at 10:30 and worked until 4 pm in a huge warehouse. Our group alone packaged and sorted over 13,000 lbs of food into boxes. The food was sorted into several groups: dry products, proteins, breakfast, condiments, soups, drinks, vegetables, etc and it was our job to process and group them all correctly. During our lunch break, some AHA kids and Rabbi Andy played
“Big Booty”. Luckily, Danielle caught some pictures of it. It was extremely fulfilling work, no matter how tiring. It felt good to know that we had packaged over 6.5 tons of food, and now it will be passed on to people who need it.
We left the Food Bank exhausted and worn out, but immediately rushed back to the hotel to get ready for Shabbat at Gates of Prayer Reform Synagogue, a beautifully built temple. They served us a dinner, styled as “kosher Cajun” with red beans and rice, jumbalaya, and more. Several congregants, including two confirmation class boys, described to us how they were affected during Katrina and what they did to help. We shared services in a beautiful chapel and then oneg, and got to meet and interact with many of the members of the temple. Jake Pacter’s 17th birthday was reason for us to sing him happy birthday publicly in front of the whole temple.
When we arrived back at the hotel after a long day, we were more than ready to go to sleep. Unfortunately, room 582’s (which included Ricki, Danielle, Sofia, and Lindsay) toilet decided to overflow for no apparent reason. We spent the next hour with the plummer trying to clean up the mess that overflowed not only all over the bathroom but into their room itself. Other than that, it was a truly amazing day. We talked extensively about how much we take from this world, and how little we frequently give back. The words of Bob are more than appropriate for this trip:
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.
Those who make the effort to help now are the ones that will be rewarded later. Especially after the destruction that was Katrina, it is extremely pertinent that we as a nation pick up the pieces. However, there is more than one cause than the aftermath of a Hurricane that needs to be fixed. “Please get out of this new world if you can’t let your hand!”
NEW ORLEANS
DAY 3
We had early morning Shabbat services at the hotel to start our day. The theme was Genesis, and more specifically creation. We left to paint at a couple’s house (Patricia and Robert, two black senior citizens) who still to this day, don’t have their house back in order. None of us really had painting experience so all this was new to us, be we were really excited to start. As we got assigned to our groups, we picked up our brushes and gave it a go. We all worked together and tried not to fool around too much, because this was somebody’s house we were painting. There were two different parts to the house, and an upstairs. As we took our break around 12:15 to start eating lunch, Patricia sat down and told us her story. Patricia and Robert have been together for 42 years and always planned to have a nice home. When they got their dream home, they built really strong relationships to the neighbors and loved everything about their neighborhood. When the storm hit, it completely changed everything. They were used to having storms, but they never thought it was going to be this big. When they heard on the radio how bad it was getting, they decided to evacuate and left everything but three wedding pictures. Flood water completely filled up their house except for a bit of the upstairs, destroying everything. They have decided to come back after three years and are rebuilding everything. They hired a contractor, but didn’t have enough money to paint the house, and are too old to do it themselves. Through the organization, Beacon of Hope, their house can be painted and restored completely. Robert and Patricia were beautiful and inspiring people; through all that they have been through, they hold no resentments or anger, just hope for the future.
After putting a first coat on the entire house, we left for the hotel to get ready for our night on the town. Some of the vans made it downtown without getting lost, but a few didn’t, so we ended up missing the correct time to do Havdallah. We did it anyways when everyone made it to the port; the ceremony was held on a patio right over the Mississippi River, overlooking the harbor. Then we went to the Hard Rock Café for dinner. Shortly after, we walked almost a mile to go see a jazz concert at a small ’18 and under’ club. There were so many strange and interesting people walking around New Orleans on a Saturday night. Unfortunately, we were all worn out from the painting that day. We headed back to the hotel and quickly fell asleep, expecting another day of hard work for Sunday. The mixture of work and fun that day was fulfilling and exciting. We shared an intimate emotional connection with people who had lost everything, yet could look around and still find a flourishing and cultural city.
NEW ORLEANS
DAY 4
Today after breakfast we had a Dr. Richard Airhart come talk to us about his role in the aftermath of Katrina. He was the head surgeon on the staff of his hospital, and he spoke to us about the destruction of Hurricane Katrina and the responsibilities of a hospital during a catastrophe. What was particularly striking was the photographs and footage he had from during and after the storm when various departments of the military came into the city.
Next we left for the Carter’s house to apply the second, and final layer of paint to their home. After a paint and water fight, we took pictures with the Carters and said our goodbyes. Patricia and Robert seemed so incredibly happy and grateful for the work we had done. Patricia had us sign a book she was reading so she would remember us every time we read it. During goodbyes, she had an aptitude for telling us exactly what we needed to hear on an individual level. It was moving to be in her presence, as she had an extremely maternal character.
We headed back to the hotel, and once we had washed the paint out of our hair, we all went downstairs to listen to two recent college graduates talk about a program they are in called Avoda, which is a group in which young adults live together and work at non-profit organizations to better our communities. Once we were done listening and asking questions, we invited our two speakers to dinner with us at an Indian buffet, and after eating, we met up once more with the Carter’s for beignets at the famous Café Du Mont.
Finally, we separated into groups and walked the streets of New Orleans. It was a Sunday night, so it was much quieter than the night before. However, the city’s spirit was still apparent. The day was tiring, yet moving. Our work for the Carters brought us so close to them that we could hang out with them in the city as if we had been friends for years. There was a mutual sharing of love and gratitude for the work done this week.
NEW ORLEANS
DAY 5 (and an unexpected 6th)
On our last day in New Orleans, we woke up and spoke with a woman from the New Orleans JCC. She mostly asked us questions about our feelings on being in the city after such a disaster, and what else we wanted to do to help. We headed out early in two separate groups: a few of us went back to Arthur Ashe Charter School, while others went to Green Charter School to help stock their libraries with books, and categorize and sort various types of literature. We needed a quick lunch before the flights, so we went to a small sandwich place called Frankie and Johnny’s. It was definitely not a tourist trap like most of the other restaurants we had been to. Unfortunately, we had to rush the meal to make it on time to our flight. We said our goodbyes to the Florida kids and Rabbi Young, and left for the airport.
We arrived at the New Orleans airport at 2 pm, ready for our 3:50 flight. The entire time, we had been worried about missing our flight, so we left lunch early with half-empty stomachs. Much to our dismay, a clerk informed us that our flight was delayed, meaning we would then miss our connecting flight from Atlanta. Four hours later, we fly out of New Orleans and arrive in Atlanta, only to find that 6 people in our group of 20 had confirmed seating on the next flight. The rest of us were then given vouchers for food and 9 hotel rooms at the Wellesly Inn.
The next morning, we woke up at 5 am and got to the airport by 6:30. We got on the 7:40 flight, only to discover that after 30 minutes in, we had to turn the plane around because the landing gears wouldn’t retract. Back in Atlanta, we waited until our next flight, which ended up departing at around 10:30. We got back to Greensboro, glad that the over 12 hour delay was over and that we were back home.
CLICK HERE TO SEE PICTURES FROM THE TRIP |
