I'd never visited before now. Years ago, my husband bought me an apron from the French Quarter. I love to cook, and it has been covered in flour, sauces and spices many times. Other than that, my view of New Orleans before the hurricane was Marti Gras, vampires, folklore and history, beads, voodoo, masks. And, of course, since I worked at Disneyland in their New Orleans Square, once upon a time, I had Disney's version of New Orleans in mind.
After the hurricane, visions brought to me by the media haunted my spirit. I knew I needed to help somehow, but didn't know what I could do. Until my friend Melissa Ryder, founder of Friends and Helpers Foundation, told me she had an idea. Friends and Helpers puts together 500 backpacks stuffed with supplies every autumn for abused children in Los Angeles. Could we somehow do that for the children in New Orleans?
After only two months of planning, we were able to help 22 schools. We passed out over 4,500 supply stuffed backpacks to students; gave one computer each to 15 schools; presented four schools with overhead projectors; gave two schools large standing copiers; provided teaching supplies, art supplies and PE equipment to 14 schools; provided over 150 boxes of library books; and gave food and other supplies to Common Ground, a charity located in the Lower Ninth Ward that is helping residents clean and rebuild their homes.
I learned. I learned. I learned. Interviews with politicians, superintendents, principals, teachers, and parents. Interviews with volunteers, residents, children. And seeing the destruction, the spray paint on the house's exteriors, markings of how many dead, when searched, and animals found in the homes. The spray paint still on the outside of the houses standing. Loss even now heavy in the air.
Yet each night, I was able to return to my hotel, bordering on the business district and French Quarter. Most building there that were damaged are repaired. I ate wonderful meals at fantastic restaurants, went on a carriage ride and a ghost tour of the Quarter, and even had my fortune read, Creole bone style, in a tiny place, the size of a closet, near Bourbon Street.
The city and French Quarter are ready for visitors, and the areas surrounding them are in need of volunteers. They need people to help them clean up homes, rebuild, and provide counseling and medical care. They need supplies for their homes and supplies for their schools. And the city itself needs tourists to start coming again, to support the people who live and work there.
New Orleans is still in every stage of rebuilding. From homes that have not been cleaned of debris, to businesses and hotels that are clean and ready for patrons.
I am in love with a city that I never knew in her health. I believe in the power of the people who have lived in New Orleans their whole lives, whose ancestors built their homes. I believe in helping the people who want to rebuild, who refuse to abandon their city, regardless of the trials and hurdles they have experienced. I believe that efforts from people who care, however small they may seem, will help people heal.
Her journal...
