Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Tuesday , February 18, 2020

This morning started similar to previous mornings with the smell of Jack Studley making breakfast, but with the added pleasure of the smell of bacon. Between the addition of bacon and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches we had much more energy preparing to go and work with Greenlight New Orleans. Leaving at 10 AM, we drove into New Orleans to meet with Jillian, the volunteer coordinator at Greenlight. We were immediately struck by the number of lightbulbs and the amount of energy that they had saved over the course of just one year, and we were excited to join their effort. 

Our task for the day was to prepare rain barrels to give to people a way to capture water for a vegetable garden or things like that. Jillian told us that the soil it like an old sponge, because of the New Orleans policy of pumping out the water, and subsidence, so the rain barrels saved the water from being pumped away. Some of us were designated to sand the smooth barrels so that they could be primed, then others primed them, and the artists among us were tasked with making the barrels look ornately designed to be sent out to those who needed them. In order for the barrels to be serviceable there was a need for pavers to be placed below them to lift them above the ground, so some of us were tasked with unloading a shipment of over 200 pavers to a place they would be stored.

Immediately following this project at 1 o’clock we went to eat lunch, where we had the option between Thai and Mexican. Some of us chose to eat Thai food, while the intelligent majority chose to eat filling chicken quesadillas and drink multiple glasses of water. 

We then drove around waiting for our meeting with Father Kammer, a member of the Jesuit Social Research Institute at Loyola New Orleans. A long time resident of New Orleans, Father Kammer spoke to us about systemic inequality during Katrina and the decade following. This meeting tacked onto previous meetings where we learned about the difference in aid that the government gave to the diverse races of the Parish of New Orleans, particularly adding onto our learning from the driving tour of the Ninth Ward the day before.

After our meeting with Father Kammer we planned on seeing a jazz show on Bourbon street, but the group determined that enjoying the city and historic Bourbon street would be a better experience, and immediately we were struck with the lights and the energy that the people had throughout the city, enjoying the loud street performers and participating in the audience of more than a few.

Avery Jennings and Nick Brink