another week has gone by in nola... amazing! it blows my mind that we've been here three weeks now.
my days start around 6 am when i leave for the gym then come back to clean up and get ready for my day. work is from 9 to 5. before and after work we load and unload tools. then we have team dinners and then whatever else work that needs to be done for the day. by the time i'm done with all of that my body and brain are so tired i feel like i can't function!
this past week, we had volunteers from iowa come and work from monday to thursday. adam and i were in charge of a group of four and we had to do all the painting for a house. we got it all done and the house looks amazing! my team was really great and we had a lot of fun while getting a lot of work done. it was a great week.
saturday morning, we headed to a junior high for some isp hours. we built two huge flower boxes for the kids so that they can learn how to grow things for science class. it was a really fun thing to do and i enjoyed it! hopefully, we'll get to build some more of those for some other schools too while we're here.
i just finished my post cards that i got the first week i got here... it took me a while to fill them out BUT better late than never! :)
not much else is new really... we've finally gotten into a routine which is wonderful. i love knowing what to expect and what's going on.
i hope everyone is doing great and please stay safe in hartsville yall. mom's told me about the problems we've been having. i'm praying for the city and the people. and i'm praying for yalls safety. please be careful.
i love yall!
xoxo,
B
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
week 8 at pnola
my first full week at the phoenix of new orleans went really well. we have a pretty busy schedule work from 9-5 and then the gym from 6-7 then dinner then a team meeting then whatever other busy work needs to be done then off to bed and i start over in the morning!
i worked at three different houses this week and did a ton of different work. i've learned so much already! i've painted walls and ceilings, learned how to put down tile flooring, learned how to work different saws, how to lay trim, built cabinets, built window sills, installed doors, and much more!
pnola is making such a huge difference and doing so much good in nola that it amazes me everyday. i've met two of the homeowners at two of the houses i worked at and they were just so thankful.
i also spent friday walking up and down my street and two of the ones next to mine doing what pnola calls surveying. pnola is working with a group of other non profit organizations and they're trying to survey all of nola to see what houses have been repaired, knocked down, and what ones are just sitting there. then they take the info and put it in a data base so that they can get an idea of who's had help and who needs it. it's called whodata.org and it's wonderful. so, i got to survey on friday with adam from my team and it was so amazing to just walk on three streets i cross every single day and really look at each individual house. we surveyed over two hundred houses and it just amazed me to physically spend a whole day looking at nothing but the damage but also the strong amazing people who have overcome this.
i've been here a week and a half and i've already learned and seen so much. i truly can't wait for what my next six weeks will bring! oh, and it's really nice to be back in the humid south! :)
hope everyone is doing amazing!
lots of love yall
xoxo,
B
i worked at three different houses this week and did a ton of different work. i've learned so much already! i've painted walls and ceilings, learned how to put down tile flooring, learned how to work different saws, how to lay trim, built cabinets, built window sills, installed doors, and much more!
pnola is making such a huge difference and doing so much good in nola that it amazes me everyday. i've met two of the homeowners at two of the houses i worked at and they were just so thankful.
i also spent friday walking up and down my street and two of the ones next to mine doing what pnola calls surveying. pnola is working with a group of other non profit organizations and they're trying to survey all of nola to see what houses have been repaired, knocked down, and what ones are just sitting there. then they take the info and put it in a data base so that they can get an idea of who's had help and who needs it. it's called whodata.org and it's wonderful. so, i got to survey on friday with adam from my team and it was so amazing to just walk on three streets i cross every single day and really look at each individual house. we surveyed over two hundred houses and it just amazed me to physically spend a whole day looking at nothing but the damage but also the strong amazing people who have overcome this.
i've been here a week and a half and i've already learned and seen so much. i truly can't wait for what my next six weeks will bring! oh, and it's really nice to be back in the humid south! :)
hope everyone is doing amazing!
lots of love yall
xoxo,
B
Sunday, January 16, 2011
week 7 the phoenix of new orleans
alright! i'm getting back into my blogging routine! hopefully! :)
i haven't even been in new orleans a full week yet and i already love it! the weather is about a zillion times better than denver, the people are a whole lot nicer and i'm much more used to this sort of lifestyle.
we're staying in the office building of the phoenix of new orleans which is in mid city 4th ward. we have a kitchen, living room, washer and dryer, three bedrooms and three bathrooms. and although it's sometimes difficult living so close to ten other people constantly, our living arrangement is pretty good.
the neighborhood we're in isn't too bad but we were told not to go outside at night alone and only go if we have a purpose. overall, i'm not too worried about our safety in this neighborhood.
we're really only two blocks away from canal street which is super nifty!
so far, the only place i've really been able to explore is bourbon street which i must say is not my favorite place. i was completely shocked to see how many people bring their children there. i would definitely be completely ok if i never stepped foot on that street again!
we drove through the french quarter and down magazine street and i think those two areas are definitely my favorites.
we also took a tour of the area where katrina did the most damage. we rode around the 9th ward and saw where the flood walls broke. we learned all about new orleans during this past week from our sight sponsor. we learned about how scientists had a simulation called hurricane pam a year before katrina hit and how they warned people that this could happen. we learned about how the people laughed at them and didn't take them seriously and didn't even allow them to finish their simulation project.
we learned that new orleans is a bowl and that the mississippi has been flooding the region for hundreds of years and that in order to make new orleans inhabitable the city had to make 92 pumps to constantly draw the water out. we learned that even if all 92 pumps are running at the same time they can drain 1 inch of water and hour. we learned that the armycorps of engineers made the flood gates after a huge hurricane in the 20's and yet they didn't dig deep enough. we learned the basic physics behind the flood gates and how the pressure the water will exert on the top half of the wall has to be completely balanced by the part of the wall that's buried deep enough in the ground.
we learned the difference in a flood gate and a levy and how the levies are much bigger both in height and thickness. we learned that the levies didn't break and if they had the damage would have been much worse. we learned how much smaller the flood gates are and that they are only made to manage the canal water.
we learned how building the levies and flood gates in order to stop the mississippi from flooding new orleans has cause the marsh lands to almost not exist. this means, when hurricanes hit, there's no buffer from the storm, no trees to break the wind, no land to try and calm the storm.
we also learned about the phoenix of new orleans. so many people have donated time and money in order to help rebuild new orleans but so much of the focus is going into the 9th ward. people don't really gravitate to the areas that were still affected but not as poor. the hurricane didn't distinguish between social classes. it affected everyone. and the good thing about pnola is that it is helping the people who have money but just not enough. so many people came in to new orleans after the storm saying they would help rebuild homes and they would charge the people right up front and then get their money and disappear, leaving these people without a home or money to rebuild. so, pnola comes into these peoples lives and finds out how much money they have, whether or not they have a job and can keep their house and then they work with the family and what money they do have in order to rebuild their house. so, the family pays for all of the supplies the houses need but pnola supplies the volunteers to do the work. i think this is awesome because when you think of tragedy you think of the people who had nothing and now have even less. those are the people that everyone wants to help. but these people have money just not enough. so now we're helping them. i love that.
overall, i think pnola is a wonderful organization and is doing a ton of great work. i can't wait to see all the good my team will do here!
i hope everyone is having a wonderful new year so far! i'll update again next sunday!
xoxo,
B
i haven't even been in new orleans a full week yet and i already love it! the weather is about a zillion times better than denver, the people are a whole lot nicer and i'm much more used to this sort of lifestyle.
we're staying in the office building of the phoenix of new orleans which is in mid city 4th ward. we have a kitchen, living room, washer and dryer, three bedrooms and three bathrooms. and although it's sometimes difficult living so close to ten other people constantly, our living arrangement is pretty good.
we're really only two blocks away from canal street which is super nifty!
so far, the only place i've really been able to explore is bourbon street which i must say is not my favorite place. i was completely shocked to see how many people bring their children there. i would definitely be completely ok if i never stepped foot on that street again!
we drove through the french quarter and down magazine street and i think those two areas are definitely my favorites.
we also took a tour of the area where katrina did the most damage. we rode around the 9th ward and saw where the flood walls broke. we learned all about new orleans during this past week from our sight sponsor. we learned about how scientists had a simulation called hurricane pam a year before katrina hit and how they warned people that this could happen. we learned about how the people laughed at them and didn't take them seriously and didn't even allow them to finish their simulation project.
we learned that new orleans is a bowl and that the mississippi has been flooding the region for hundreds of years and that in order to make new orleans inhabitable the city had to make 92 pumps to constantly draw the water out. we learned that even if all 92 pumps are running at the same time they can drain 1 inch of water and hour. we learned that the armycorps of engineers made the flood gates after a huge hurricane in the 20's and yet they didn't dig deep enough. we learned the basic physics behind the flood gates and how the pressure the water will exert on the top half of the wall has to be completely balanced by the part of the wall that's buried deep enough in the ground.
we learned the difference in a flood gate and a levy and how the levies are much bigger both in height and thickness. we learned that the levies didn't break and if they had the damage would have been much worse. we learned how much smaller the flood gates are and that they are only made to manage the canal water.
we learned how building the levies and flood gates in order to stop the mississippi from flooding new orleans has cause the marsh lands to almost not exist. this means, when hurricanes hit, there's no buffer from the storm, no trees to break the wind, no land to try and calm the storm.
we also learned about the phoenix of new orleans. so many people have donated time and money in order to help rebuild new orleans but so much of the focus is going into the 9th ward. people don't really gravitate to the areas that were still affected but not as poor. the hurricane didn't distinguish between social classes. it affected everyone. and the good thing about pnola is that it is helping the people who have money but just not enough. so many people came in to new orleans after the storm saying they would help rebuild homes and they would charge the people right up front and then get their money and disappear, leaving these people without a home or money to rebuild. so, pnola comes into these peoples lives and finds out how much money they have, whether or not they have a job and can keep their house and then they work with the family and what money they do have in order to rebuild their house. so, the family pays for all of the supplies the houses need but pnola supplies the volunteers to do the work. i think this is awesome because when you think of tragedy you think of the people who had nothing and now have even less. those are the people that everyone wants to help. but these people have money just not enough. so now we're helping them. i love that.
overall, i think pnola is a wonderful organization and is doing a ton of great work. i can't wait to see all the good my team will do here!
i hope everyone is having a wonderful new year so far! i'll update again next sunday!
xoxo,
B
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
christmas break/ transition week/ travel
oh my goodness, i am so behind. i tried to update my blog during transition week but the internet was entirely too slow.
SO, here we are!
on december 18th i arrived at the denver international airport for my second time in order to fly back to sc. i spent two weeks at home enjoying being with my family and friends and just back in sc. i truly missed everyone and everything so much. it was wonderful.
transition week was relaxed. we only did a couple of things a day since everyone had to do the same things all in one week. there were about three inches of snow in places the whole time i was there. it was quite cold but beautiful. it was nice getting to see everyone back on campus and talk about our break and what we would be doing round two. and it was really exciting for my team to finally get to prepare to leave for a spike seeing as last round we were local.
i was in denver from sunday night until saturday morning. and then we left for spike travel! saturday morning we rode out at about 8:30 and stopped every two hours for a break. we drove through colorado, new mexico and into texas on saturday. we arrived in amarillo at seven that night at our hotel. we left early sunday morning and spent the whole day driving through texas until we arrived in tyler around four or so at our hotel. monday we drove the rest of the way through texas and through louisiana until we finally made it to new orleans around 4:30.
for now that's all yall get! :) i'll update my blog again on saturday with a weekly report!
xoxo,
B
SO, here we are!
on december 18th i arrived at the denver international airport for my second time in order to fly back to sc. i spent two weeks at home enjoying being with my family and friends and just back in sc. i truly missed everyone and everything so much. it was wonderful.
transition week was relaxed. we only did a couple of things a day since everyone had to do the same things all in one week. there were about three inches of snow in places the whole time i was there. it was quite cold but beautiful. it was nice getting to see everyone back on campus and talk about our break and what we would be doing round two. and it was really exciting for my team to finally get to prepare to leave for a spike seeing as last round we were local.
i was in denver from sunday night until saturday morning. and then we left for spike travel! saturday morning we rode out at about 8:30 and stopped every two hours for a break. we drove through colorado, new mexico and into texas on saturday. we arrived in amarillo at seven that night at our hotel. we left early sunday morning and spent the whole day driving through texas until we arrived in tyler around four or so at our hotel. monday we drove the rest of the way through texas and through louisiana until we finally made it to new orleans around 4:30.
for now that's all yall get! :) i'll update my blog again on saturday with a weekly report!
xoxo,
B
Sunday, December 19, 2010
weeks four and five recaps
before anyone says anything let me just say that the router on campus has been acting stupid and hasn't been letting anyone on blogspot. so, i've tried multiple times to update but it hasn't let me.
so, here's my recap!
the past two weeks have been spent at project c.u.r.e. which is such an amazing place. they take used/old/outdated medical equipment and clean it and then sort it and send it to third world countries that can't afford things. it's so amazing and i know without a doubt that it's making a difference.
we spent most of our time in the warehouse where we sorted the supplies. they were four months behind on sorting and we got them to three months. it was so cool!
i also went to two events at two different schools were i told people about americorps. it was really fun to get a break and to meet people my age. it was awesome and we met a lot of cool people.
thursday was our last day at work and we went to lunch with our sponsor and then went back to campus where our team did secret santa. i got three disney princess games! hahaha
thursday, all the teams returned to campus and it was great getting to see everyone again. and friday, we had meetings with our teams, unit and all the other units and then friday night people started leaving.
saturday morning i left campus at four am and headed to the airport and back to sc!
now i'm here! :) it's wonderful!
that was a really quick over view of two weeks...
xoxo,
B
so, here's my recap!
the past two weeks have been spent at project c.u.r.e. which is such an amazing place. they take used/old/outdated medical equipment and clean it and then sort it and send it to third world countries that can't afford things. it's so amazing and i know without a doubt that it's making a difference.
we spent most of our time in the warehouse where we sorted the supplies. they were four months behind on sorting and we got them to three months. it was so cool!
i also went to two events at two different schools were i told people about americorps. it was really fun to get a break and to meet people my age. it was awesome and we met a lot of cool people.
thursday was our last day at work and we went to lunch with our sponsor and then went back to campus where our team did secret santa. i got three disney princess games! hahaha
thursday, all the teams returned to campus and it was great getting to see everyone again. and friday, we had meetings with our teams, unit and all the other units and then friday night people started leaving.
saturday morning i left campus at four am and headed to the airport and back to sc!
now i'm here! :) it's wonderful!
that was a really quick over view of two weeks...
xoxo,
B
Monday, December 6, 2010
week three recap
ok, so i'm still behind with my blog but again i say, better late than never!
this past week was our last week working at bluff lake nature center. of course, denver stuck to it's normal ways and the weather was all over the place.
monday, we spent the morning working on debarking the logs we'd gotten the week before in order to start working on the railing for the stairs. a couple of us spent some time going ahead and digging holes for the posts. that afternoon we headed to the denver food bank because it was seriously cold outside. we spent the afternoon filling boxes with non-perishable foods that would be sent out to people who needed them.
tuesday morning, we headed to a suburb in denver where we split into teams of two and were each assigned a few streets where we had to go door to door handing out pamphlets. there's an organization called the mile high million and they plan on giving out one million trees by 2020 to neighborhoods that are poor. the tree will help brighten up the neighborhoods, add value and just bring beauty. that afternoon, we headed back to bluff lake where we continued to debark trees.
wednesday, we spent the day working on the railing. some of us debarked and others put it together. wednesday night, our team headed off to jumpstreet. this is a big building with a ton of trampolines. it was so much fun! and it didn't even feel like pt! until thursday... then i felt the pain!
thursday was our last day at bluff lake. we spent it debarking the final logs and getting as much done on the railing as possible. unfortunately, we didn't get to finish the whole thing but we got really close and a few of us plan on returning to get the job done before we leave for break. that afternoon, we had a bonfire before we left. we made smores and took group photos for our last day together at the park.
friday, we went to the greenway again and we spent our final day painting trees so beavers wouldn't chew them down and cutting down the dern russian olive trees that have taken over denver!
oh, and for lunch on friday, our two sponsors (chris from bluff lake and caroline from the greenway) took us to lunch at a cute little restaurant called charlotte's web! it was fun!
overall, i felt like our time at bluff lake nature center was well spent. i know the waste barrier will help for years and years to come and even if people don't notice it or know what it does at least they'll notice how clean the park is. the railing is wonderful to me and was probably my favorite project. while debarking those trees, i couldn't stop thinking about how i was just one of the first few to touch it. the chain of hands those logs will go through is amazing; starting with the man who chopped them down, my team who traveled to the mountains to get them and then spent days debarking and setting them up and then all the millions of hands that will touch that railing for help up those stairs. it's an amazing thought to me.
xoxo,
B
this past week was our last week working at bluff lake nature center. of course, denver stuck to it's normal ways and the weather was all over the place.
monday, we spent the morning working on debarking the logs we'd gotten the week before in order to start working on the railing for the stairs. a couple of us spent some time going ahead and digging holes for the posts. that afternoon we headed to the denver food bank because it was seriously cold outside. we spent the afternoon filling boxes with non-perishable foods that would be sent out to people who needed them.
tuesday morning, we headed to a suburb in denver where we split into teams of two and were each assigned a few streets where we had to go door to door handing out pamphlets. there's an organization called the mile high million and they plan on giving out one million trees by 2020 to neighborhoods that are poor. the tree will help brighten up the neighborhoods, add value and just bring beauty. that afternoon, we headed back to bluff lake where we continued to debark trees.
wednesday, we spent the day working on the railing. some of us debarked and others put it together. wednesday night, our team headed off to jumpstreet. this is a big building with a ton of trampolines. it was so much fun! and it didn't even feel like pt! until thursday... then i felt the pain!
B
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
PNOLA
today the team leaders got to draw to pick what spike projects we have for round two.
my team is going to new orleans!
we're working with a project called phoenix of new orleans which is a lot like habitat for humanity. it's a much much much smaller group than habitat and was started after the massive hurricanes came through.
the staff is actually made up of some americorps people.
it's mission is to rebuild one neighborhood and so far i think they have built like fifty homes.
here's a link to the official pnola website
www.pnola.org
i'm really excited about this new start and all the people we'll meet, things we'll learn and stuff we'll get done.
i can't lie though, i'm most excited to finally get to stay in the south for a little while :)
i'll update my blog again at the end of the week!
have a great one yall!
xoxo,
B
my team is going to new orleans!
we're working with a project called phoenix of new orleans which is a lot like habitat for humanity. it's a much much much smaller group than habitat and was started after the massive hurricanes came through.
the staff is actually made up of some americorps people.
it's mission is to rebuild one neighborhood and so far i think they have built like fifty homes.
here's a link to the official pnola website
www.pnola.org
i'm really excited about this new start and all the people we'll meet, things we'll learn and stuff we'll get done.
i can't lie though, i'm most excited to finally get to stay in the south for a little while :)
i'll update my blog again at the end of the week!
have a great one yall!
xoxo,
B
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