Day of Service - HandsOn New Orleans

Today was our Day of Service, where teams all over work on various projects where they're located. We worked with HandsOn New Orleans once again, and I know the team agrees that this is probably one of our favorite 1-day projects so far. CityYear, another service organization through AmeriCorps were the coordinators of the event, and we were able to help staff some of the set-up for a group known as, if I remember correctly, CityYear Heroes. Kids get together with there group leaders and get involved with community service all around the New Orleans area. I'll include a video of them doing a cheer below.

We all worked in the courtyard known as the Columbus St. Children's Center in New Orleans, which was located at Pray the Word, Say the Word Ministries, where we painted murals, benches, and worked on soiling for plants. To give you some background, the church courtyard and indoor area has become an activity/safe area for kids and young teens who are essentially living on their own. In most cases, they no longer have parents due to a number of factors, and they are able to come by, enjoy some food, and have an area to hang out, play, and interact. A lovely, and perhaps the most joyful woman I've ever met, is the Reverend there and runs the ministry, finds what she can for the kids, and cooks each day to say thanks to those who come by to contribute.

Our objective for the day was to paint murals on the walls and sheds. I'll include some pictures below of what our team came up with. Some of our team members also painted benches, and our own Seven created a masterpiece that blew all of us away, including the Reverend. I am including her painting as well here, because nobody should miss out on this, our resident artist. It's certainly something, especially when you compare it to my tree and ABC:


We had a fantastic day. I'm now catching up on everything I can while I have tonight free. Sneak peak for the next (and final!) week: We'll be working on finishing for the house. I have volunteers only Monday this week, and then there will be 5 site supervisors including myself for the rest of the week as we won't have any volunteers. A change of pace to be working solely with staff, but it is typical at this stage in the building process as volunteers aren't necessarily needed for finishing. More on that to come!