Helping New Orleans with Bethie Bags for Kids
This summer, we took a family vacation and traveled cross country in our small RV. In the planning stages of the trip, Bethany had asked if we could go to New Orleans and hand out Bethie Bags for kids (specifically, kids who lost their homes during Hurricane Katrina). Thinking that most of New Orleans was rebuilt, we wondered if the need Bethany had envisioned was even there to fill. During the last leg of our journey, we contacted two local agencies.
As it turns out, there is still a huge need in New Orleans.
Whole communities are still rebuilding their homes and their lives.
Bethany wanted to deliver Bethie Bags filled with kid-stuff. So, while heading down the highway, she and Leah stuffed over 70 bags with books, puzzles, playdough, crayons, activity books, pens and small toys ...filling our already cramped quarters. However, the complaining for our own discomfort soon ended as we arrived in New Orleans..
What we experienced was not at all what we had expected.
DATE: June 20, 2007
We were shocked that after almost 2 years, images like these were still commonplace in most areas of the city.
Notice the Chair-still stuck at the top of the fence from the massive flooding. (School Library)
We were escorted around the city the day before our visits to the hardest hit areas by two very good friends. They opened our eyes to things that we were not aware were still going on. The rebuilding has been difficult for many who know New Orleans as home. Many businesses have simply left, leaving many of the working class without jobs. Most restaurants and stores that have rebuilt, are only open for business on certain days and limited hours on those days, thus reducing the number of employees/jobs. It hurt everyone...we toured upper-class neighborhoods containing three or four abandoned homes for every home lived in or being rebuilt. FEMA trailers are still a very common site on every block. Some situated on empty lots where their homes once stood, others parked in front of their crumbling homes. We even saw a few "trailer villages"- where families are crammed together living in what most would consider to be 3rd world living condiditons.
The following day we delivered the Bethie Bags. On the way through the Lower Ninth Ward after crossing a bridge where one area of the levees broke, we witnessed a long line of people waiting for "Disaster Relief Packs" being handed out from the backs of two semi-trucks. Could that be right? "Disaster Assistance" almost 2 years from the disaster?
With the devastation, we also saw great strength and hope from the residents. All determined to rebuild their city and communities. Of course, some of the areas of New Orleans are coming back faster than others. In talking to the residents, we heard their stories of where they were during the hurricane and where they are in their lives now.
Emergency Communities, a non-profit organization helping disaster zones, came into the Lower Ninth Ward earlier this year. They are there to help families who are still trying to rebuild their lives. They work with those who are rebuilding their homes (helping them find honest contractors and volunteers); they also assist them with other types of housing issues. In addition, they serve 3 meals a day at the "Goin' Home Cafe." They offer (free use at their location) computers with internet service. They are even still helping families find one another after being separated during the aftermath of Katrina. The Summer Camp was an idea that developed once they were in place and saw these kids with basically nothing to do. They are trying to keep some type of a children's center open in the Lower Ninth Ward after they leave. They want to leave the community stronger and healthier than pre-Katrina.
To Find Out How YOU can help in New Orleans:
While at this site, Bethany and Leah left 30 bags for the children at the camp, along with 8 sport balls for camp use. They made new friends and received a greater appreciation of their life...
After leaving the Lower 9th Ward, we went to Central City where we visited a Catholic Charities Shelter (pre-Katrina site) that is now home to dozens of families hard hit by the hurricane. People who have come here, like an elderly woman in her 90's, had homes and jobs pre-Katrina. At The Baronne St. Housing Center they focus on Responding, Recovery and Rebuilding.
When first arriving at the shelter, the girls encountered a young family, and immediately pulled out a couple of Bethie Bags for Kids for their 2 young children. As we left the building, the family was still gathered together playing with their new items together-all smiling and incredibly gracious for the gifts.
To Help Catholic Charities/Baronne St. Housing:
The girls in front of the Baronne St. family shelter after touring the facility and dropping off 45 Bethie bags for Kids.
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