January 26, 2010:

It has been a little over two weeks since we were in New Orleans together and we’ve already been reunited! As a group, we are trying to find ways to bring our experiences from New Orleans back to Binghamton. Right now, we’re working on organizing some fundraising opportunities that would go to Hurricane Katrina relief and hopefully directly to some of the people who we worked with in the lower 9th ward. In honor of traditional New Orleans, we are hoping to have some kind of celebratory event around Mardi Gras.

I have had an ample amount of time to reflect about my experience in New Orleans and its affect on my life. Here are some things that I know. I know that because our trip was affiliated with Binghamton University, I now have a new group of friends to become closer with at school. I know that I will become more active with BU’s Hillel because I feel more comfortable based on my experience in New Orleans. I know that I learned a lot about what it means to do social justice work and how rewarding it is to be involved in such a thing. I know that what we did and what we saw in New Orleans cannot be described in words. That being said, I think it would be beneficial for anyone and everyone to be able to experience the same thing. It is such a great feeling to say that you know you made a difference in someone’s life. I think I am speaking for everyone in the group when I say that we have done that.

All of the group trips that I have been on have always left me with life-changing experiences. Whether it is a new friend or something new that I learned about myself or how to do – these kinds of trips are so important in building who I am as a person and who I want to become. Anyone who has done a group trip will probably agree that it is one of the best things our parents have ever done for us. This trip has just added to the list of good experiences I have had with these kinds of trips and I am positive that this will not be my last one.

P.S. People from all over are STILL thanking me (and I’m sure other people in our group) for the work that we did when we were in New Orleans. That proves the importance of the work and shows that people outside of New Orleans understand that there is still work that needs to be done.

Even though days have passed since our excursion on Jourdan street, all I can think about is that journal. I keep wondering what I would write if some stranger found my journal, tangled under a mountain of “junk” left in a shed. The old saying “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure” rings true, and Carol and her story are permanently imprinted in the back of my mind. When the journal was first found, it seemed as if just another object was uncovered. But taking a closer look into Carol’s life, her family and personal experiences were, no pun intended, unearthed. After investigating her journal, we began to look for objects relating to Carol’s life, eventually finding her son’s schoolwork and prized baseball cards.

The “gutting excursion” soon became less of a job and more of a challenge, finding evidence that there was a history I this house before Katrina. We found postcards, a baseball mitt, and several pairs of shoes. I learned a lot about Carol in the beginning, like that she was a diabetic (from insulin pumps found) and having financial issues (from recorded entries in her journal). But in the back of my mind, I kept thinking of pinpoints in my life that I would enter into the journal.  What would take precedence in my journal: the day I got my very first dog or my bat-mitzvah? This decision was not as simple as I would have thought, in part because sharing my life with others seems extreme. I could never imagine letting my thoughts and deepest secrets land in the arms of complete strangers via a journal book. And after looking at these faded entries for a pretty extensive time, I realized I didn’t have the strength to let my life flash before me on pages… I didn’t have the courage. To allow something so sacred as a life to be put into the hands of people I had no idea of was to me, an act of fulfillment. To let go of life is one thing, but for someone else to put the pieces together is just astonishing.

Speaking of bravery, I have one more story to share…

As the bus drove past 1814 Arts streets, thoughts raced through my mind immediately. What will it look like, what else needed to be done, was Merlin home? Merlin, or “magician” as he is known from last year’s group, was an elderly man who live the single life. After being hit by Katrina, the winds destroyed his home, but more importantly his roof. As we read his story in January of 2009 (this memory is referring to last year’s alternative winter trip), I began to realize that I served a greater purpose than I thought when I signed up for this trip. The next day, we arrived at Merlin’s house ready to work. The roof was in shambles, and the exterior was chipping away at the roots. Working on that house all week, we learned a lot about Merlin. He told us stories about his life, asked us about ours, and was openly honest about the effects on his life from Katrina. After that long week, the exterior house was painted white, the porches powder blue, and the shutters were polished green. That trip left me with the greatest sense of accomplishment, and actually seeing the visual results was absolutely astounding.

So as the bus drove past 1814 Arts, my heart raced. The bus stopped, I looked out, and I began to tear up. The house was unbearably incredible, the paint was glistening and the roof was patched to the nines. As I told my story to this year’s group on the bus, my voice began to crack. To work on a house or a project is one thing, but knowing who the person is and his history made the connection even stronger. Such a genuine man deserved an incredible house, and MY group was the one to give it to him. Not only did the group last year give Merlin a physical house, but we also built him a home. There was something about Merlin that I couldn’t describe- a characteristic that I have never seen in anybody else. And even now, I still do not know what that word is, and I do not think I can ever put letters to it. The magic of Merlin lives on, in the house, as well as in me.

My inability to write for the past few days is due to the fact that we have been very, very busy.  Our days start so early and end late into the night that it becomes difficult to find time to inform ya’ll about what we’re doing. There are a few parts of the experiences that I’ve had over the past few days that I wanted to highlight.

Last night was the first night the group got a taste of the New Orleans that I know and love. We ventured into the French Quarter to experience, first hand, the night life of New Orleans. Our first stop was at the historic Preservation Hall where we waited in line for about an hour to see the jazz show. Before we got there, some of my peers were wondering what was so historic about a tattered, old building. However, once the music started, I think we all instantly understood the vibrant history and talent that has taken place in that room and caused it to become so famous. For those of you who have never heard of Preservation Hall, it is a space that has just enough room to fit the band, a few benches for older people to sit in, a few cushions for people to sit on the floor and standing room for the rest of the room. Each show is approximately one hour and they do three shows Monday through Saturday. The musicians were all incredibly talented and the atmosphere of the room was unrivaled to any musical performance experience I have ever had. After the performance, we traveled as a group around Bourbon Street and, once again, learned about why the culture of New Orleans is so notorious. Our night ended in the most perfect way possible: at Café Du Monde, enjoying beignets (fried dough-like pastries with powdered sugar) and the company of one another.

Today was another busy day filled with more caulking, scrapping, sanding and removal of waste/debris from inside the home. I have now been at Lathan’s house on Burgundy Street for the past three days. Since I have been able to watch the progress of the project over this time, I can really see how much we are doing and what our help is changing in these peoples’ lives. Of course,  Steve continued with his story telling and had all of us enthralled with his captivating life. Lathan stopped by a few times to provide added entertainment. There is really nothing like Southern hospitality.

Tomorrow is our last “work” day due to Shabbat, starting Friday night and continuing into Saturday. For me, it will be a bittersweet final day. I enjoy doing the work and look forward to seeing the people of the lower 9^th ward that we have built relationships. That being said, I am overtired and ready to enjoy myself in New Orleans as well. I believe that this kind of experience is one that takes time to settle in. It takes time to realize what you did and how you did it and what it is going to change; in essence, what you have changed. This concept is something that has been difficult for me to wrap my head around because it is new to me and deeply emotionally involved.

Time for some group learning and then, weather permitting, some friends and I will be trying to find a place that my parents suggested we go to for some good Southern food. I’ll be sure to tell you how this adventure goes because I have been dying for a bowl of gumbo. Until then…Sophie.

Day 2:

Day 2 started off with a chill.  New Orleans was experiencing cold weather that we didn’t expect.  Rolling out of bed I quickly dressed by following each shirt with another adding layer after layer.  I ended up walking out the door in a t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt and jacket on the top, with two pairs of pants on the bottom.  This had to be the best way to do it and those layers definitely proved their worth throughout the day.

When we got to the church half of us were going to go back to the house we began to gut yesterday, while the other half were going to Lathan’s other house getting it ready to paint.  I decided to switch locations and try something new so I grabbed my gloves and headed over to paint.  What I didn’t know was that painting the entire exterior of a house was a much more complex task than I thought.  It didn’t just involve paint and brushes but caulk, primer and pliers, oh my! 

Some of these terms were foreign to me such as the caulk and the caulk guns.  However, the company name written on the side of the tubes was ALEX so clearly I needed to step up to the challenge.  I was a little shaky at first, not really making the caulk come out so effectively.  Steve, our guide for the day and also a friend of Lathan’s, was making it look so easy.  But as the day went on and I observed his motion and had a lot of practice runs, I ended up falling into my own rhythm and really getting the hang of it!  Even Steve noticed, and before I knew it I was standing on a board resting between two ladders caulking away.

After the work day we had the privilege of getting a tour around the lower ninth ward.  Snacking on granola bars and clementines, we got a first-hand look at the different views on rebuilding the area.  We stopped at the Global Green site where some of my group members had pulled nails; and also stopped at Brad Pitt’s project, Make it Right. 

It was at one of his houses that we met a beautiful six year old girl named Shayana, who is living with her grandfather until her own family’s house is built.  She brought us out on the balcony where she excitedly detailed many different parts of our life.  A natural hostess, she definitely enjoyed the company.  While we were entertained by her too, it was also really interesting to hear some things from such a young point of view.  Both her cousin and grandmother died in the hurricane and she showed us exactly where it happened.  Charmed by her cuteness and spunk we didn’t want to have to leave.  She felt the same way and as we left said, “the best part of the tour was y’all.”

A big part of this trip is hearing personal stories directly from the source instead of reading an article about it or seeing it on the news.  Meeting a real person who has gone through it all provides a deeper meaning and understanding of the tragic event.  Although none of us will ever be able to understand fully, hearing these detailed personal stories provides greater motivation to do our service.  Shayana inspired me to keep going and her smile is one I will never forget.

Day 2 has been a long day and it is not over yet. I woke up at 6:45AM in order to be ready for my duties for breakfast preparation by 7:15AM. When we arrived in the lower 9^th ward we split into three different groups. I chose to go scrap, paint, and caulk Lathan’s (a homeowner) home. (One important detail I have been forgetting to add is how FREEZING it is here and how unprepared everyone was for the degree of coldness. I have now made two trips to the local Walgreen’s in order to buy clothing to better suit this weather.) Anyways, while the group began to work, we learned how to scrap old paint off of the exterior of Lathan’s house and then caulk (a type of glue that is used to fill in holes and connect tattered wood) the areas that needed it. I found it hard to stay warm and therefore hard to do work in the morning. By 11:30AM, the sun had come out and I think that our group began to get its spirits back. I am sure that the stories from Steve, Lathan’s friend, helped boost our energy because he was very humorous and had interesting stories to share.

The second part of my work day was much more energized and warm. A few of the girls in my group and I began painting Lathan’s front entrance/porch area. I tried to use the paint roller for the ceiling of the porch but was unsuccessful due to my height and arm strength. I took over painting a wall, which I took great pleasure in. It was kind of relaxing and involved very meticulous, detailed work because you had to make sure every area was covered. I also enjoyed this part of the work day because Lathan was with us and he is a high-spirited man that has a lot of Southern pride. Although we did not finish our work at Lathan’s today, there is always tomorrow. I will most likely return to finish our work there because I have a connection to the work already and am eager to see the finished product. I’m hoping for decent weather tomorrow; preferably warmer and no rain would be excellent. I expect to learn a lot about both construction and the community of the lower 9^th ward tomorrow based on the way the past two days have been.

This experience is unlike any other experience I have had in that I am doing something good (i.e. community service) but it somehow feels necessary. I know that the student volunteers are integral to the rehabilitation and rebuilding of this vibrant community in New Orleans. We are about to start a group session and then I have no idea what else is planned for the night. They really work us here and make it so when the day is “over,” which is at like 10:00PM, almost everyone is ready to go to bed. These long days are rewarding but also extremely tiring. Who knows what adventures and learning experiences will happen tomorrow. Until then....Sophie.

Day #1:  January 4

It’s  funny how time flies. I’ve been with this group for a little more than 48 hours and I feel like I’ve been here for weeks. Things that I thought weren’t going to be familiar are becoming easier to understand (i.e. how to get around, how to use the keys to our buildings properly, getting over the fact that we are not at some fancy hotel, etc.) and all the days are blurring into one.

My background information about New Orleans is that my parents lived in New Orleans for numerous years and my sister was born here. I have visited New Orleans at least five times, however, since Hurricane Katrina, I have not been here. My parents have many friends that still live in New Orleans and when I visit, I am used to staying in their beautiful homes in the Garden District. I guess you could say we get treated like royalty when we come to visit because it is so infrequent. My parents know vast amounts of information about New Orleans so when I visit with them, they are like my tour guides.

This trip has been a completely different experience for me already. I flew from my home to the airport in Syracuse in near-blizzard conditions. My plane from Syracuse to Washington was about an hour delayed due to various issues (deicing, broken baggage carrier). Therefore, I missed my connection to New Orleans and missed out on some bonding time and adventuring with the group. However, I felt caught up within hours of being here.

Yesterday was the first day of our service project. I had so many expectations of what it would be like to see the lower 9^th ward as well as actively helping people recover from the damages of Hurricane Katrina. While we were driving through, I heard some people say that they were surprised how built up everything was already. I was shocked that they could even think that. It has been over five years since the storm hit and there is still a lot of work to be done, not only in people’s homes but in the community of the lower 9^th ward. You would think that living in the United States of America would mean that if a natural disaster hit your city, the recovery would be quick; five years is not quick. Many houses still have the date that they were entered and how many people were found dead on the house. Perhaps it is because these people could not afford to rebuild their homes or because they chose not to come back to New Orleans. Whatever the reason is, it is devastating to see and difficult to be able to handle both emotionally and physically.

Larry, our group’s bus driver, was a resident of the lower 9^th ward pre-Katrina and gave us his story as we drove through his former community. Due to his experiences with Katrina and with the destruction of his former life, I find it interesting that he chose to drive busses of volunteers that are here to rebuild his life. Is it coincidental or is it for a purpose? Does it provide him with closure or happiness to see what is changing and what we as volunteers are doing for his community? I would really like to know and think that he is an extremely valuable resource for our trip that most may overlook.

On Day 1, our group split up between two different projects. The group I worked with did work for a new project in the lower 9^th ward called Global Green. It is a non-profit group that is working to build green, energy-efficient homes in the area. Our job for the day was to go through scrap wood that had been already used for former builds and get all the nails and screws out of the wood. While this may seem like a minimal task and something that really is not going to make a difference, it is the complete opposite. After spending over fifteen minutes on one screw, you will realize that pulling rusted, broken, twisted, mutilated screws and nails out of tarnished pieces of woods is quite a job. At first, I thought that I would never be able to pull any nails out but after a few tries, I started to get the hang of it. By the end of our work day, we had it “down to a science” and were helping each other with our areas of “expertise.” 

Another thing that I noticed was that EVERY single person we have encountered, regardless of the relationship we had with them, made sure to thank us for the work we were doing and expressed how grateful they were for our help. At first, I thought that the home owners had been told to say thank you as well as the other community members, but that changed when EVERYONE started saying it. The people of New Orleans truly need help and understand that we could be doing anything right now and we chose to be here. It is so gratifying to feel appreciated and needed. However, it is also difficult to comprehend because you would think that after five years, they would no longer need this help and perhaps not be as thankful. Nevertheless, this is not the case.   Until then…Sophie.

The 7:00 AM alarm brought me out of my heavy sleep with a jolt.  After a long day of traveling the day before, I was exhausted and sleep came quickly.   When I woke up I was confused at first.  But once I came into consciousness I suddenly remembered where I was and became energized at the thought of the day’s events.  I was in New Orleans, Louisiana to help victims of the terrible flood resulting from the storm known as Hurricane Katrina.  I was ready to dive in and create an experience unlike any one that I’ve had before.

After breakfast and some stretches, we boarded the bus that would take us on our way.  The first stop was a church where we met a grateful, passionate woman called Warenetta, who was named after her father.  She was completely devoted to rebuilding the area and used her spirit to light up the town that was left behind.  She informed us of our assignments for the day and provided us with gloves and gear to get to work.  Our team was split up into two groups-one group was going to do some nail pulling, while the second group (my group)went to gut a house.

We got to the house that a nice man named Lathan was working on for his brother, a single dad who had just bought the home a year ago.  While some people stayed in the house and swept and cleared the old flooring and debris, the rest of us were brought to the old rectangular shed lined with rust directly behind.  The shed was packed high with stuff, a lot that we presumed belonged to the family who lived there before while some of it was carried in by the flood.

When we saw this, we had to stop and stare at the daunting task in front of us.  There were huge cabinet pieces that were turned every which way and mountainous piles including everything from shampoo bottles to old checkbooks to a box of floppy disks.  After building our muscles by carrying out some heavy wood cabinetry, we started digging through the piles of stuff carrying out as much as we could to clear the shed.  Throughout this journey we found a Monsters Inc. dvd, a baseball mitt, and a cassette tape.  However, the most valuable find of the day was an old journal we found digging through the rubble.  We had seen notebooks and financial statements before that were only sifted through, but it was this diary that sparked out interest and gave us a personal look at what life was like in this neighborhood a long time ago, even before the storm, dating back to 1999, 2000 and 2001.  The book only included a few entries from these years but gave us a first-hand look at into a real woman’s life.  We discovered the struggle of her financial situation, her tasks on a daily basis and information about her children.

The journal resulted in a big group huddled around lingering on every word this faithful woman had to say.  A woman’s journal is a microscope focusing into the most important aspects of her life.  While many may look at our actions as snooping, that was the farthest thing from my mind.  This book of thoughts symbolized so much more than that.  We were clearing the house so a new family could move in and create life in a town that looked so destroyed.  By reading the journal we put together pieces of the old life around us and made our journey, and the journey of this house tangible and real.  Instead of this experience being a part of our lives, it was like we were a part of the neighborhood’s life.

This little treasure in a pile of rust, dirt and junk was the subject of conversation for much of the day.  Day 1 left us proud, intrigued and humble.  I can’t wait to uncover more stories tomorrow.

We write to you because our voices have been silenced.  
 
Tuesday night former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney spoke at Binghamton University at an event sponsored by the Binghamton Political Initiative, the Walter Rodney Committee and other campus groups.  While we expected her speech to be biased against Israel, based on her well-documented record of past presentations of this nature, we were utterly unprepared for our opposing points of view to be so forcefully suppressed.   
 
As executive board members of Hillel at Binghamton and members of an academic community, we felt that it was our responsibility to educate our peers on all angles of the Israeli-Palestinian situation.  Therefore, we had spent the week leading up to the event preparing handouts with information representing various points of view that we believed would not be shared by Ms. McKinney. 
 
To our shock, at the beginning of last night’s event, student coordinators were forcibly taking this information away from people.  The moderator publicly announced that anyone who received handouts should pass them to the aisle for immediate confiscation.  These actions are unacceptable.  As students at an institution that promotes academic honesty, integrity, and truth, we are angered that our right to free speech was so clearly denied.  Once we distributed the sheets, those who held them had the choice to read the information or disregard it, but it was in no way the coordinators’ or moderator’s right to aggressively take away that choice.
 
Throughout the evening, student coordinators threatened to remove anyone who offered a dissenting opinion, and during the question and answer period anyone who even hinted at a different point of view was either intimidated or embarrassed into silence.   An extreme lack of respect was shown to anyone in attendance who did not wholeheartedly endorse Ms. McKinney’s presentation. 
 
As representatives of the Jewish community on campus, we are outraged that our fellow students chose to bring a speaker to campus who has such a clear record of bigotry.  Ms McKinney is strongly tied to the New Black Panther Party, which the Southern Poverty Law Center calls a "black racist" group and is decidedly anti-white and anti-semitic.  In 2006, McKinney lost her seat in congress. "Following McKinney's concession speech, a reporter attempted to ask the Congresswoman why she thought she lost. The New Black Panther member (part of McKinney's security detail) interrupted, shouting, "Why do you think she lost? You wanna know what led to the loss? Israel. The Zionists. You. Put on your yarmulke and celebrate."  (Anti Defamation League Press Release, August 9, 2006)  
 
We are deeply saddened by the fact that our peers who planned this event clearly had no desire for any real discourse other than the hate speech that was delivered to the audience.  While we do not have to agree with one another, we do have a responsibility to respect one another and allow for the open exchange of opinions.  Ms. McKinney's visit to Binghamton was an affront to any multicultural efforts on campus. Furthermore, it insults the significant struggles that African-Americans went through to gain civil rights in the United States and the Jewish community's support for those civil rights.  Jewish leaders marched in Montgomery and Selma. Fifty percent of white civil rights workers were Jewish and fifty percent of civil rights attorneys in the south were Jewish.  Jews helped to found the NAACP.  Historically Black Colleges welcomed professors who were Holocaust survivors to teach on their campuses.  Ms. McKinney wants us to throw away this glorious shared history and begin a new relationship of bitterness and misunderstanding. 
 
We sincerely disagree with this approach and hope that the leaders of all multicultural groups at Binghamton University share our desire to work together to combat hate and intolerance by creating opportunities for real dialogue.  We look forward to a day when we can truly partner with our fellow students and learn to understand and respect one another’s backgrounds.
 
Hillel E-Board

I guess this is the inauguratory entry. We have arrived safely through winding roads to Beard's Fork, West Virginia. The scenery is beautiful, the trees are lush and green, and this town is on the bank of a small river literally. Every house has a porch and somewhere to sit and relax, as well as a dog (or four). We've settled into our Global Volunteer house, the first floor with two rooms full of bunk beds, and the upstairs with a full kitchen, two bathrooms, and a large room to hang out. It's comfortable, because so many other people have spend time here, it's well lived in. Past volunteers have left salad dressing in the fridge, shampoo and soap in the bathrooms, books and games in the rec area. It's within walking distance of the build site, which will be where we will work on a new dorm for other global volunteers.

Yesterday was a long day of traveling. We all had to take two flights to get to Charleston, spending a lot of time waiting between flights at different airports. After we all met up we drove to the West Virginia Institute of Technology where we had some sort of orientation session with John David the Director, where we learned about the Southern Appalachian Labor School, which we are working with. Then we drove to Beard's Fork to unpack, then we headed to Wal-Mart to go food shopping. We spent over $700 on food and had to figure out where to stockpile it. As a vegetarian, I am happy about our lack of meat in order to conform to Kosher dietary restrictions. Everyone's getting along really well so far, we are joking about being on the reality show "The Real World" with this journal as a confessional.

We just ate our first lunch together and we're going to head back to the build site to continue working.

-Sarah

Today was our first day of working on the new dorm. We met Ron, Ralph, Terry, Buck, Brian, and a few others. We also were introduced to Vicky, who is the main contractor. She seemed eager to make a difference and build quality buildings with up-to-date green aspects but did not have the funding. Alicia, Lindsey and I helped Buck put up drywall in what will be a Unisex Handicapped Bathroom. We stayed with him all day. Later I helped him fix the ceiling in another bathroom even though all I did was hand him screws. Tomorrow I'll try to do more heavy work because I feel like I didn't do enough.

Buck said he's getting his GED tomorrow, he's 19. He says he lives in an old mining house with boards that used to be stuffed with newspapers for insulation, which he's been fixing for his parents. He has 6 siblings from his parents' two marriages. His girlfriend is 26 with two kids. Buck said that she keeps him around to pay the bills. He was a good teacher and didn't mind our slow pace and lack of strength. The three of us were very surprised that he shared so much information but he may be used to talking to volunteers, or maybe it's just his personality, or maybe the overall West Virginia culture.

I am a big fan of accents, and I really like southern accents. It's smooth and relaxing and it makes me wonder what we sound like to them.

Other people helped dig a ditch and did more drywall as well as spackle. Tomorrow there will be an inspector so they were a little time-pressed to finish certain jobs.

After work, some of us prepared dinner. The beans didn't exactly soak enough but we had potatoes and salad and apple crisp. Artie came by to do some team building. We wrote down our goals, and the 15 Characteristics of an Effective Team, which are teamwork, communication, trust, patience, positive outlook, sympathetic, personal responsibility, respect, goodwill, humor, good leadership, initiative, empathy, compromise, structure, and the bonus of understanding. We all had similar goals for the most part.

Then we "Jewish Learned." We read through some quotes from influential medieval rabbis, and discussed giving charity to others, concentric circles of influence, and to whom do we owe our resources, if any? We had a really interesting conversation which I cannot do justice to through memory on this computer journal.

The group as a whole is getting along really well and we're all eager to help and make an impact. Hopefully we'll get enough rest tonight for tomorrow's work day!

-Sarah

Day 3: We made eggs, well some did, for breakfast today and headed down to find the most packed truck I have ever come across in my life. We attempted to clean out and organize Ralph's truck full of 20 year old possessions. It is still a work in progress. Lindsie and I beat a rug with a broom very intensely. Everyone scattered in different directions. Sanding, cleanup, and drywall were the pre-lunch tasks in addition to what is going on under the house. I really hope the inspection passes because the inspectors won't come back for another three months. To shed some light on the mountain dew debacle it is sometimes used to calm down or to focus. I guess caffeine can have the reverse effect depending on the person. Some just grew up with it. The sanding really wore out my little arms, I must say. Every one seems a bit more tired today. That means we are working hard.

~Alysia

Day 3:

We woke up a little bit earlier today than yesterday because the men were getting to the worksite early this morning to finish the plumbing before the inspector arrived. When we got to the worksite the men were busy working on the plumbing so they could not help us work, so we were assigned to clean out Ralphs truck. His truck was very messy, I banged out a rug from the van with alysia and it seemed like the rug had not been cleaned in 10 years. The inspection almost did not pass because the drains were not pressurized but the inspector is coming back tomorrow to check again. I am having trouble finding other things to say because today seemed more ordinary than yesterday because I guess I am getting more used to being here and to the people I am working alongside with. Yesterday I worked with Buck but he was not at work today because he was getting his GED diploma. Since Buck was not there today I worked more with Hillel group members. I tried to screw in screws with Becca but the drill was very hard to use. I also sanded dry-wall with Gianna and Alysia. My favorite part of my day was getting to use a power saw to cut wood. The guys are all very helpful and Wesley watched me saw to make sure I was doing it right. I love working with and listening to the guys life stories. Daniel said that he might be going to jail soon for up to five years because of driving issues and it would be very sad if he would have to leave his son since he is his sons sole provider. Daniel also said that he was adopted by John David at the age of four or five and I was interested to see if he thought that being adopted by a professor benefited his life greatly but without asking him that direct of a question and from what I got out of him it didn't seem to matter that much. Typing on this mini keyboard is tiring so I maybe I will add more later.

-Lindsie

I feel compelled to write a few words about Wesley because he is the person that I have gotten to know the best over these past couple days. He is 19 years old and he was living in Colorado before he had to move because he got involved with drugs. He started going to HS, but then he was eventually kicked out because he cursed out a teacher and essentially refused to apologize. He is now working on his GED, but he is having a lot of trouble passing the grammar part...he told me that he passed all the other parts with flying colors. I noticed that he had a couple tattoos so I asked him what they meant. He has a glow in the dark one that says " Menace to Society" as well at 2 theater masks which he says is a symbol of his belief that you need to smile and laugh through the pain and not allow others to see your distress. His mother had him when she was only 14 years old and his father has never been a part of his life. When he was only 13 years old, his mother kicked him out of the house and he had no place to go. He told me that he would sleep wherever he could, he didn't have a steady home. He flat out admits that he resents his mother. He is also allergic to bee stings, but he doesn't have an epi-pen because he lacks insurance and thinks that $120 is too much He loves mountain dew and Monster drink because they have a lot of caffeine, which he uses to control his ADHD and Bi-polar disorder. He now lives with his sister in the town next to Beards Fork. He is very open with his experiences and has a beautiful genuine smile that evokes a smile in those around him. Yesterday I sat down with him and tried to help him with the GED exam for awhile...he got 10/20 questions right and he seemed really discouraged by that. He clearly CARES about getting his GED and doesn't decline help when it is offered to him. I think he has a great soul and just has been through some really tough times. I look forward to getting to know him better and hopefully making a positive impact on his life in some form or another...and If I can't do that, I just want to make him smile for a brief moment and forget the numerous things that seem to be troubling him on a daily basis.

-Gianna

We are almost done with day 2. I found my true calling - ditch digging! I actually enjoyed that, more so than putting up drywalling. It is difficult work but I like being outside and physically working rather than using the powerdrill... or standing on a scaffold. After work today, we ate dinner then went back to the SALS building to hear some local music. They played all covers from all different genres in a bluesy country style.

Then we did more Jewish Learning and had another interesting discussion about our motives for coming on this trip as well as to whom do we owe our resources, through articles about Israel accepting refugees from Sudan. The genocide there is very real and an awful situation. I believe that we cannot stand by and watch injustice with the hopes that someone else will take care of the problem. However this does not mean that I am always working towards good all the time. I did have selfish motives coming on this trip. When I saw it advertised the first thing I thought was, "that will be really fun!" For me, volunteering is fun. I don't know if people ever do anything for completely unselfish motives. We can always get something out of every altruistic situation, even if it's just feeling good about ourselves.

Even with all our work we still had time for fun. We actually were able to check the internet for our grades which were posted today (we all did well!!!) and send out a few emails. Becca and I then cleaned up dinner and the kitchen is now sparkling. Rikki and Gianna then put water bottles in their hair in order to achieve a Suessian look.

Tomorrow night is Shabbat and we have invited a few people to join us for tacos! Delicious.

-Sarah

I think I can say that we all collectively were disappointed that the work crew didn't show up to our Mexican dinner tonight; we were all really looking forward to spending time with them and being able to just sit and talk rather than have a job to do on the site. I personally know that I was disappointed!

Today was special to me because I decided to skip out on lunch and stay behind at the site to tutor Wesley. I was able to go over some questions with him the first day and he seemed really receptive to the things I was saying so I thought it was important for me to continue the tutoring. When everyone left the site, I sat down for awhile with Chris and Wesley and just talked about some of their life experiences. Simply put, I could never imagine having gone through some of the things they have seen... it really helped me put my own life in perspective and see that the issues that I consider to be highly problematic are simply just inconveniences. I have a tendency to make mountains out of mole hills, so to speak, so being able to sit down and listen to their personal plights really helped me get a better perspective on my own life and also hopefully allowed them to get some things off their chests. I was also able to step back and re-evaluate my personal opinions on drug use. I think it's easy to see people who are addicted to drugs as weak willed or criminal, but the reality of the situation is that most of these people have gone through truly traumatic experiences. They turn to drugs to get away from their daily lives and escape the pain; granted, this is not the healthiest way to cope with pain, but it is certainly EASIER to turn to drugs rather than face your demons and confront your hurt and suffering head on. Anywho, after I spoke to Chris and Wesley for awhile, I grabbed some chips and went into the computer room with Wesley to study for his GED. Wesley is VERY intelligent... just because he doesn't have his HS diploma shouldn't imply that he doesn't have knowledge. For starters, he is great at his construction job. He also knows so much about the land and the river; he can point out different types of water patterns in the creek and can pretty much throw a stick in the river and tell you what path it will take through the water depending on where it starts. He also knows all the different animals and rocks in the WV region. But I digress again. We began to study and it surprised me how willing he is to listen and how much he truly cares about getting his GED. He has dreams and goals just like the rest of us, and although they may be smaller in scale in comparison to ours, they are still things that he cares about and hopes to achieve. The more I go to the site and meet with the troubled youth, the more obvious it becomes how different we are on the surface. The more I sit down and think about it though, the more and more similar we all become- our experiences are different, but we all experience happiness and sadness, fulfillment and disappointment, pain and joy. Wesley loves to sit by the creek and think and he listens to punk rock music...I enjoy shopping and singing to John Mayer, but for this moment in time, despite all our differences, we can come together through our emotions and feelings and be exactly the same.

-Gianna

Today was a slower work day in terms of my personal productivity. I was REALLY tired so I don't think I got as much done as a I could have but I had really awesome conversations with people today which has become my favorite part of the trip. I did spackle quite a lot, to the point of arm pain. Wesley talked about how he feels it is better to keep things inside instead of letting them out and I find I am guilty of that as well because sometimes saying what you feel is just too ugly or to difficult. In addition, you have to find the right person to vent to. Lindsie and I talked with Chris for a very long time and I feel he is really really intelligent. He knows what he believes in and has a good argument to back up what he thinks and why he thinks it which I feel is very important in communicating your opinions to someone. Chris said no matter who the president was he wouldn't like them because he feels if the United States was founded as a country to escape monarchy there should not be basically the same thing. He said he watches CNN a lot just to see what the government is putting out. He also talked about how his sister was shot by his brother when they were five and almost two respectively. This caused his mother to want stricter gun laws whereas Chris, since he wasn't born at the time, feels guns are alright for hunting but using them in a violent way, to fight, makes you a coward. It seems from the woman sitting on her porch with a cigarette and a beer, to the people we work with and beyond, everyone has a story. It makes you think about your own story, what you have to tell, and what you would say if someone asked. So today I think the lesson besides how to do a perfect spackle, is to be ready with your story at all times.

~Alysia

Today we celebrated Shabbat. We didn't work or cook. Most of us took showers and used electricity. Since we couldn't build, most of us went on a hike. It was really beautiful to walk up the mountain at the end of Beard's Fork. The trees here are so much greener! After a while the paved road gave way to a dirt path, up a steep mountain side. It was really hot and muggy. A few people turned back but Lindsey, Alisia, Mike and I continued on. We wanted to see what was at the end of the trail. There was a coal mine there and we wanted to find it. We pushed on up the mountain side, marveling at the valleys and the endless mountains covered in green trees. At one point, we wanted to turn back but Mike wanted to go on by himself. We didn't want to let him do that so we walked for a little bit more and then we all turned around. Coming down was a lot easier than going up!!! I was glad that I was able to hike so much. I am not in the best of shape but I was working on it this past semester so I was proud that I could accomplish such a hike. After we ate dinner we and did a Havdalah service outside. Then we loaded up the car and went to Wal-Mart to buy bathing suits for our White water rafting trip tomorrow!!!!!

-Sarah

The Christian Sabbath: Day of rest for most here in the outskirts of the Bible Belt, but for the Break New Ground group from SUNY Binghamton, it was quite the opposite. We were forced to stray from our usual volunteer work with SALS, and aimed for a day of active recreation. The day got off to a later start than usual to do the necessary recovery from a rather eventful late-night Motzei-Shabbos trip to Wal-Mart and a gas station convenient store.

We first visited to the highest arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere, the New River Gorge Bridge. (I bought an insanely cool train whistle, which everyone thought was the coolest thing ever, and they wanted to borrow it, but I would not let them because it was the coolest whistle, ever. Later that day, It mysteriously disappeared.) There was a stair viewing area, where we were able to descend several hundred stairs to a ledge that grants one a better view into the gorge. Michael decided it would be a grand idea to climb off the ledge (onto a cliff a few thousand feet up), and dangling on the edge: "Would you not like to be, sitting on top of the world with your legs hanging free."

We then sauntered over to Class VI to picnic, play on a swing set, and get ready for our whitewater adventure. Our lifejackets and helmets were fitted, and on the bus ride down to the river, we were entertained with gory details on what could possible happen to us. Excited, and absolutely terrified with the idea of being sucked under a rock with a Volkswagen bus for the rest of eternity, we boarded the raft with our river guide, Zach. After failing our paddle test, he reluctantly took us down the rest of the river, but only after warning us that "if it comes between my life and yours, I'll punch you in the face; just ask the guy from Ohio." The Hudson River pales in comparison. Within minutes of our journey, we were going through class three and four rapids, and eventually progressed to class five rapids. Shana and I were in the front of the raft, and we were continuously pummeled with walls of water. Michael also wanted to take part in the experience, so the three of us masochistically rotated positions in the raft.

Aside from his brazen stories about strippers wearing only needle tracks, Zach was full of stories about the history of the rapids and the area. He then told us about the company store that was located on the river; coal miners used to not be paid in cash, but in welfare-like coupons that could only be used in certain stores. This did not allow for people to save money or to leave the coal mining business: Zach explained it as being a sort of "legal slavery". The coal mining companies used to promise free transportation and a job in Brooklyn (West Virginia) for new immigrants. Thinking this job opportunity was in New York, many would fall into this corrupt trap. By the time they realize that they are in West Virginia and not New York, they are already indebted to the coal mining companies and are forced to work in the coal mines. This story helped partly explain the origins of the perpetual cycle of poverty in West Virginia. These coal mines along the river are no longer in use, but much of the poverty is still intact.

We finished our journey down the river, with Becca being the only casualty. She fell off the raft on the first rapids, and we decided that it would be better for everyone for her to find her way back to the van. Although the raft did not tip over, and we did not get stuck on any rocks, we were told that mostly luck got us down the river. Or, as Lucas put it, "it was not luck; it is because we're the chosen people." Rikki

Today was our last day of work. I will be sad to leave tomorrow and say goodbye to the people that have become a "community" over the past week. Who but Rikki would walk into a room, glare at us, and say quickly and loudly HARRY POTTER? And Shana and Rikki and Becca playing Palace, and Mike singing in the shower so loud we can hear him clearly. Luke reading and then sleeping on the couch. Since today was Memorial Day, the guys didn't come into work. Also, Ralph's car was broken so Artie went to pick him up so he could tell us what needed to be done. The 10 of us sanded and started priming what will be bedrooms. Mostly though we talked and listened to my mp3 player. Artie and Ralph came over for lunch and we took a long break and talked to them about their experiences. Ralph had spent the weekend helping some friends out who were going through really rough times. Artie spoke about why he ended up back in Beard's Fork taking care of his mom. Hopefully they will come back tonight for dinner. Both of them really care about others and want to help. Sometimes they get frustrated with some of the guys who aren't pulling their weight in the program, and as much as they like to help, they'd rather have people who really want to learn and get their GED.

Emily and I somehow got to talking to Artie during the day about the industries that have taken over West Virginia and exploit the land and people. He said that way back, people owned acres and acres of land, and when the coal mining companies came and asked to buy the mineral rights, the original owners didn't really understand what was going on, and at the time the money that was offered was substantial enough. So now, people own really small plots of land, and companies from other states own the rest. Apparently, the beautiful mountains that we saw walking up the road are not owned by West Virginians, but companies from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, et cetera. Artie said that there was a coal mine up the trail but it was so hidden that even he, who has been here his whole life, couldn't find it.

He also spoke about his interest in geneology and that he has tracked his family back generations and created an enormous family tree . He has uncovered a lot of history and relatives through his searches online and at the local archives.

A poem about Rikki:

Rikki's hair is curled

She makes noises like a bird

And Harry Potter

Rikki's Poem about Me:

Neglected limbs hang

‘neath her torso. Where's the sun-

Tan lotion Sarah?

Now a few guys are here - Chris, Wesley and Wesley. We are going to eat with them and hopefully get to know them a little bit better. I will be sad to leave tomorrow. All in all we had a great experience here and accomplished a lot in the dorm. Hopefully we made an impact and hopefully we were all impacted by this trip for the better.

- Sarah

Monday May 25, 2009 (Memorial Day)

      It is ironic to be in a place like Beards Fork, West Virginia on one of the most American of holidays, Memorial Day. The irony of the situation stems from the fact that many of Americas "forgotten people" live in this area of the United States. Help is minimal in these parts and when this area is juxtaposed with the rest of America the idea of  income inequality can no longer be characterized by such a word as gap, but rather the inequality between the rich and the poor of this land should be viewed as a huge gaping chasm. Many live pay check to pay check (if they are lucky enough to get a pay check at all) others sleep in cars or tents just to get by. Yesterday our whitewater rafting guide told us that when he brought his pay stubs into the unemployment office they did not believe that he actually made so little in a year, while he did not give us an exact figure I'm sure the sum was not great. It is stories like these that have struck me the hardest while on this trip. We are leaving tomorrow to go back to our comfortable lives in big cities or our small quaint capraesque suburbs, so it is only logical to ask ourselves what have we done to leave this place better than how we found it?

      I personally have been frustrated by this trip. Not due to a lack of tangible progress, but rather by the inability of many others to see that not all progress must be tangible. Many have been preoccupied by sheet rock and spackel in the hopes of seeing a whole room completed by the end of the week, now while this may be well and good in its own right it is not what I came here to do. I came here to learn about the people of this region, experience their ways of life, observe their culture, hear their stories, and hopefully bring awareness to their plight. While some of my fellow volunteers have calculated the amount of "man-hours" we as a group have contributed (something in the ballpark of 240 hours by weeks end), I would like to take the opportunity to remind my peers that the value of a steady shoulder to lean on or an engaged listener to speak with is immeasurable. It may very well be the things we cannot see that have made the biggest impact this week.

      l came down to West Virginia with the thought in my head that I would enlighten these people and show them the "proper" way to live life. However, after hearing the stories of many of these young men, that I have had the honor to work side by side with, it is I that has been enlightened. Their stories range from murder to drug abuse to abusive parents. It is absolutely incredible to think that someone my age or even younger has experienced such hardship and been able to fight hard enough to try and come out the other side. They are not afraid to tell their tales of woe for they do not see them that way, rather they wear these stories as badges of honor in an attempt to show their strength despite all that life has thrown at them. This is an admirable quality and one that I have observed this week and will surely talk about when I am back in New York.

      So did we make a difference? While this question may need to be answered individually I believe we did, we may not see it now but I think it is there. Simply listening to the stories of the youth, offering advice, and being actively engaged in their lives (if only for a brief moment) may be the only difference we needed to make and may show them that the world outside of Beards Fork does care and can help. The youth have changed me in many ways and I will do my very best to raise awareness about their situation and hopefully I will return to Beards Fork in the near future.

-Lucas 

We're in the airport now, and my plane leaves in about half an hour. It will be sad to go but we had a great trip, great people, great experiences and great memories!!!

Sarah

Day 1 Written by Samantha Kuchlik
We arrived at the airport at 5:30, used the flight to catch up on some rest! Went to Winn Dixie, then K-Mart to buy food and split into our individual cooking groups. Rotating the meal preparing between four groups gives us a chance to bond more intimately with a smaller group of people. Then, we went to a Kosher grocery/deli and ate some delish falafel, cold cuts (for some) and cookies. Today was an adjusting period more or less; we did a lot of bonding and "getting to know each other." We took an hour or so long bus ride to Point Celeste, LA where we will be staying. The trailer is much bigger than expected; kind of house-like, more than trailer-like. We unloaded massive amounts of food and luggage from the bus and got acquainted with our temporary home for the week; some cooked dinner, some did school work, some played Frisbee. It was a beautiful day, so many of us stayed outside. A big herd of animals are gated in a pen near the trailer. We have yet to determine whether they are deer or alpaca, but we will keep you updated (we later learned that they are ELK!). The first group cooked dinner Garlic bread, ziti and cake for dessert and the third cleaned up. A farmer told us an alligator lives in the swamp-ish area about ten feet from the trailer, but we have each used our own discretion to determine whether we believe that or not, "you can do the same!"

Day 2 Written by Tara Blackman
"In Boothville, if you forget to lock your door at night, you won't wake up with your head chopped off in the garbage." - Pastor Turner, Boothville, LA.
Our first 6:45 am wakeup hit us all pretty hard, but the anticipation for what was ahead of us gave us a nice burst of energy. Breakfast conception and lunch prep ran smoothly, as the "cooking teams" system proved its efficiency yet again. We boarded our bus for our virgin trip to Boothville, the place we would spend our next 6 days. Meeting Pastor Theodore Turner was inspiring and his positive attitude was contagious. He told us of the community and their struggles with the hurricanes that struck - both Katrina and Rita. People's homes and schools and stores were demolished and the government and insurance agencies weren't providing adequate support, both emotionally and financially. Pastor Turner decided to devote his life to the recovery, and organizes trips for community service groups to come and built. We boarded the bus and drove through the marshes with Pastor Turner narrating, Larry Spencer driving and alligators and pelicans providing entertainment. After the tour of the marshes and community (what there is left), we grabbed our lunches and ate at Ft. Jackson park, a civil war ft taken over by the north, granting them control of the Miss. The park was surrounded by beautiful trees with a strong sun beating down as we ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We left the park and headed to the work site, passing through what once was the center of town. Seeing the demolished school, library and stores hit some of us hard, sparking more motivation within us to give back to this parish (county) in need. Pastor Turner showed us the building we would be working on for the next week - a center for future volunteers to stay in when they come to help out that is comfortable. We spent the next 3 hours preparing walls for sheetrock by hammering in stray nails and cleaning them off, while simultaneously cleaning the floors to prepare them for tiles. It was impressive to see how much we got accomplished. Tomorrow should be ready the sheetrock. We returned home, team A prepared a delicious kosher dinner of peanut noodles, mixed vegetables and chocolate cake, followed by game playing and a group reflection. Tomorrow should be another great day.

Day 3 written by Meaghan McNamara
Today, Brendy Hyme came to visit our group. I would start this entry stating that we began our day by waking up at 6:45 am and worked till 4pm, but it seems to me that today's work related even is blurred in comparison to several moments that truly fixed the foundations of this trip. First off, as I've said, we met Brenda today - she is a woman who has endured an endless amount of tribulations, not only as a result of the land devastation left in the hurricane's wake, but through her journey of self identity. Of her own volition, Brenda grew away from her ways of pre-judgment and towards the ability to read people beyond their complexions. Additionally, LA showed us its hospitality through state native Larry Spencer - our new friend hired to drive us from our living location to our working location. Larry did not simply sit in his drivers' seat, he shared his personal August 2005 experiences, provided the students with a much needed supply of ice and promised to arrive for work tomorrow, not only to drive us back and forth, but to pick up a hammer and join in on the relief party himself. It is the Boothville natives like Brenda and larry and Reverend turner who bare a tremendous amount of duty and the non-natives such as Rabbi Shalom, Preston, Adam and Jere and the peers around me that proved to me that Katrina didn't attack Black people or white people or rich people or poor people, Katrina bombarded LA relentlessly, regardless of race or class. It is sad for me to think that it took the annihilation of a beautiful place like Boothville to throw equalization in the face of its citizens and the citizens of America as a whole (and I still don't think that it did). But this is what God gave us to deal with and the unexpected yet truly inspiring response was for the citizens to unite in their community for a single common goal - bringing back Boothville. "Every board you nail is hope." - Brenda Hyme.

Day 4 written by Alexa Klorman
As the 6:45 am wakeup call sounded around the trailer, all of our aching muscles sprang out of bed, ready for another day of building. We all ate our breakfast, and prepared our filling and delicious lunch, ready to face our fourth day in the small little southern town of Boothville. This day was equipped with several more hammers, several buckets of nails and dozens of new sunburns. We proudly put the finishing touches on the siding of the house and began the foundation for the dining room / living room tiles. Some brave souls tackled the roofing and ceiling as others admired their allegiance and dedication to the job. We had the honor of meeting Pastor Turner's father in law, whose backyard was the chosen ground for our construction extravaganza. Although our fragile thumbs faced some good bruising from the hammers, the award goes to Rabbi Shalom who's fingers got into a little bloody trouble with a nail removal confusion (he's OK, no worries), but our encouragement and bandages got him back on his feet in minutes as he returned to the carpentry. As our day came to a close, our Bus ride took a Mardi Gras themed turn as our hard-working driver gave us beaded necklaces to finish off the day. As the smell of our Indian cuisine cooking and the sound of clinking poker chips fills the air, we all wait with bated breath to see what obstacles and excitement we will face tomorrow.

Day 5 written by Leah Orden
The day began like the others. A rush for breakfast and lunch. A rushing scenery of Boothville passing the bus windows on the way to our work site. It has become familiar, able to predict when to press record in order to catch a video of the rusted i-beam skeleton of a church. I wonder how the citizens of this area can pass this every day. It's like asking a rape victim to pass their rapist every morning, noon and night. The hurricane has not left. Fresh brick buildings cover up the spot where a previous building died. But reminders are everywhere: a house open as if it became sick and vomited its contents, a piece of metal roof lodged in a tree, rows of abandoned damaged cars lost in the brush, a boat beached where the receding water left it, a stand alone staircase with no home to lead to, a single brick wall, a windowless high school...

In the 9th ward of New Orleans, we were walking into a ghost neighborhood. A few brick buildings were rebuilt, but the rest wereleft standing but emptied as if never lived in. The wooden houses, the majority of the neighborhood, could not be called houses any more. Wall-less, roofless, windowless, not there at all. No sounds of families, nothing but a single car of people driving through to ogle the devastation. X's marred the ruins of homes - the number at the bottom was the number found dead only after the water had receded. The dates of inspection - 9/11, 9/21, 9/25 - so long after the hurricane. Our guide said she's once seen an X with 10 at the bottom.

Amidst this haunting sobering world of post-Katrina, exists a sense of hope and humor. The French Quarter was lively. My friend said, "the further down Bourbon St you go, the drunker they get." Mardi Gras lived, beads being thrown down to the street. Tourism stores became crowded easily, selling such things as "Katrina Hot Sauce- It'll blow you away" and a bumper sticker "I took my Chevy to the levee and the levee was gone!"

It is still New Orleans, but it is not the same New Orleans, it has experienced and aged slightly. For years, I have wanted to visit, imagined living here. I put it down as my preference for my Teach for America placement. Their public schools even now are being fantastically built from the ground up, envisioned, improved. I realize now that if I am employed here, live here, it will not be the New Orleans I imagined, it will be something real.

Day 6 written by Alexis Klorman
We woke up about 15 minutes earlier this morning. We all wanted to get to the site a few minutes before in order to be ready to work before the Southern Mutual Help Association arrived to inspect our progress. Before leaving for Boothville, we all decided to donate a few extra dollars to tip our amazing bus driver, but instead, we realized that we could buy him a citrus tree with the money - something he has always wanted but couldn't afford.

We were all tired from the night before in New Orleans, but we knew how important our commitment was to Souther Mutual, so we ignored our exhaustion and continued to work. As they were arriving, some of the groupwas adding finishing touches to the siding, some wiring and some working on the floor. When they finally arrived they were excited to see our progress and continuous commitment to the project. Before lunchtime, we finished the diding for the backside of the house, and of course that was very exciting for all of us. After spending about 20 minutes photographing our accomplishment we finally got back to work and focused our last 2 hours on the flooring, wiring and the siding on the side of the house. Around 1pm our group split, while some were needed back at the trailer to prepare our huge Shabbat feast while other stayed back at the site to complete as much as possible. It began to hit us all round 2 pm that the week was coming to a close and our work in Boothville was completed (for the time being). Around 2:30 we cleaned up, took some last photos and thought about our experience in Boothville. I could feel the different emotions fill the bus as we drove away.

As Shabbat quickly approached, the whole house got into the festive mood, cleaining, cooking and preparing the house for "shemira Shabbat." It was exciting and nerve wracking to know that we had such a short amount of time to prepare. We all got dressed up in our nice Shabbat clothes, sat around in a circle and began our service. In order to allow everyone to feel comfortable, Rabbi Shalom explained certain traditions and prayers. After our short but educational service, we ate our wonderful Mexican Shabbat dinner. It was a wonderful day filled with many great moments.

Day 7 written by Lydia Stamato
Animals need food and shelter. Humans, too, require these basic necessities. But ultimately, we want much more than that.

The house we helped to rebuild this week could have been built faster and better by a crew of paid professionals. A "house" for volunteers is needed, but it becomes more than simply a house when built by other volunteers. We have become a part of it, and it a part of us.

Actions, such as rebuilding the Gulf Coast, though necessary and good, become meaningful when the intentions fueling them are love, generosity, respect and justice.

Neither actions nor intentions is completely superior to the other. Both are necessary. To discover the point of balance we ask ourselves basic questions: What is it to be human? What do we want our life experience to be? What is important to us?

We have worked hard this week, but if we do not take care of our own selves - our bodies and our spirits - we will not be able to give of ourselves. We also need time to develop our intent. This is one reason why taking time to rest is not wasted time, but rather an opportunity to sustain and revive ourselves and each other.