Friday, January 21, 2011

Mid Experience In NOLA [Work Day 4-5]

With the new day starting, I did not know what to expect. I grabbed my regular breakfast of two small bowls of cereal, some orange juice, and a cinnamon raisin bagel. After I packed my lunch I walked into the meeting room, and Darryl, founder of United Saints, began speak to everyone. There were updates on each site as usual. Today I decided to sign my name up for Team Booker. This was probably the second best decision I had made since I had been volunteering. I was now able to experience a more construction based type of volunteer work. I personally felt that this work was easier than painting the mural, but it was also a nice experience. Standing on two stories of scaffolding my very first day on the site was a bit scary, but I overcame the fear in about 3 minutes of standing on the homemade structure. Here, at Mr. Booker's home, we removed old siding, put in insulation, and we also put up some tar paper in order to secure the insulation. The most influential thing about this home wasn't the home itself, but the owner of the home. He was such a fascinating and inspiring man. His birthday actually passed while we were down in NOLA and he had just turned 71. He is in GREAT shape, and he moves as if he were 20 years old. He was able to pass off some knowledge to a young guy like me that I know I will never forget. He told us his story, his family's story, and the story behind his home. I decided to stay longer than our scheduled work time in order to try and help Mr. Booker install a window tarp in his home. I swear that a few of us had to sit and listen to him speak to us about his life for about an hour, and the time just passed along on the warm winter day. I really enjoyed the opportunity to meet this man, and I absolutely loved working on his home.

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