My son went to NOLA on a bus in June of 2005 with his church youth group to clean up two houses. They did several fund raisers prior to leaving which covered the bus, their food, tools, and supplies. They stayed in a church basement in the Algiers neighborhood, which they were told not to go outside after dark unless they were in a large group.

The two houses they cleaned the contents out of and gutted down to the frame had not been touched since the hurricane and resulting flood occurred. So it was a ways past being rank, especially the refrigerator even though they took great pains to make certain remained closed while being moved out of the house. They started work early in the morning and finished up early in the afternoon to beat the summer heat and humidity. After cleaning up back at the church, they would walk a few blocks to catch the Canal Street Ferry and ride it to downtown New Orleans to do some limited exploring of the French Quarter and Canal Street. Their youth leader budgeted for the kids to have a good meal at a restaurant in the French Quarter and Beignets from Café Du Monde so that they would get as much of the complete experience as possible.

Dan, you are to be commended for spending a good part of your Christmas break going along with this group of kids, especially considering that it sounds like you were out in the elements a lot of your time there. I know my son had a wonderful, eye opening experience that he will always remember and I am sure your kids did also.

Cheers,
Bill