Myself and 13 other volunteers arrived last night in New Orleans. We've been preparing for our trip to help schools in Louisiana for months! When we got to the office where all our supplies had been shipped, a happy surprise was waiting for us: the volunteers in New Orleans had sorted the supplies into general areas for us, and the backpack items were completely sorted. Grouped into teams, we quickly got to work.
Over 2,000 backpacks have already been stuffed.
I've been spending most of my time sorting through the books we had donated. One of our stops today was at a school that lost all of their library books in the floods following Hurricane Katrina. 10 boxes wasn't very much, considering that all their books were lost. But it is a start, and it is 10 more boxes of books than they had yesterday.
At another school, one of my co-volunteers was carrying soccer balls. A little girl's eye practically popped out of her head. "We get soccer balls?" she asked. When we said yes, she did a very inspiring happy dance.
Thanks to everyone who sent donations. You are making a positive difference in the world.
-Her journal
