Love At Work - Madison Youth In New Orleans

My four boys and I just returned from our spring break. We were looking for something different we could do since their dad was unable to take the time off from work and that opportunity was presented to us a few weeks ago. We spent the last 6 days with The Hilltop Rescue Mission, mucking out houses in the St. Bernard Parrish of Louisiana. The Parrish sits beside Lake Pontchartrain and was one of the areas devastated when the levees broke. FEMA has had 8500 volunteers succeed in mucking out 200 homes. Hilltop Rescue has had 2500 volunteers and has succeeded in mucking out 1800 homes. The St. Bernard Parrish alone had 36,000 homes affected by the flood waters. The need is desperate. So many look at the inefficiency of FEMA and begin to rant as rave and to who is to blame for the lack of progress in these areas. It is not the fault of this president or the one before but of a system that we as Americans have asked for as we looked to the state and federal government to meet our needs. Needs that if not met to the fullest extent of our expectations and our twisted idea of our rights and what is fair cause us to run the courts for just compensation. A system that is forced to cross every ‘t’ and dot every ‘i’ a thousand times before moving forward. Progress is made at a snails pace if progress is made at all. This was a fact that hit me between the eyes while our group worked on Mrs. Gloria’s home in New Orleans. Mrs. Gloria, a widow, is 75 years old. Her only daughter lives in China her only son is still debilitated from cancer and under a doctor’s order not to enter the home. Mucking out her home was such an honor. We were able to find many treasures she thought lost forever including her china covered in mud but unbroken and were able to give her some closer to the home she has lived in for over 30 years. She is unable to enter the home without the aid of a walker. A couch blocked the front entrance and a dryer blocked the back door. The refrigerator had tipped over and lay on its side blocking the entrance to the kitchen. The back yard was blocked with two trees that were uprooted during the flood so the home had remained as it was after the flood until we went in on Monday morning. Mucking a house requires emptying out the contents. Everything must go. Every article no matter how bad the smell! The refrigerators often overturned are the worse. The contents, long spoiled and mixed with the water from the flood, seep through the seal of the door with every movement the appliance makes as it is up-righted and wheeled out of the home. Once the contents of the home are removed the building materials are removed as well. Sheet rock, flooring, cabinets, sinks, and toilets, everything down to the wall studs. The process of mucking out a home can take a day or two but in the case of Mrs. Gloria’s home we spent four days working on the full process due to the two massive trees that had fallen in the back yard. During the entire process our group was watched and photographed by FEMA security guards that sat directly across the street from the property. It was frustrating I believe, even to them, that their hands were tied in so many ways. Nothing could be done without the proper paperwork. Bathroom facilities are a precious commodity in any of these areas and even a simple request for our group to use of their bathrooms was denied because we had to have proper authorization from the proper channels before we could set foot on FEMA controlled property. A clear and simple example of why we are witnessing such a vivid lack of inefficiency in New Orleans. FEMA is the product of a government system we created. Its inefficiency did not happen overnight but over much time. We can not fix this problem today or tomorrow it will take time. Nothing will recover the wasted money or resources poured into the areas along the gulf coast that have been so terribly devastated. Now is not the time to debate the cause or affix blame. It is the time to find the time to get the job done. We freely open up our check books when what they really need is for us to roll up our sleeves. Remember the numbers and who is getting the job done – FEMA has used 8500 volunteers to muck out 200 homes – Hilltop rescue has used 2500 volunteer to muck out 1800 homes – in the St. Bernard Parrish alone 36,000 homes were wiped out by flood waters. Hilltop Rescue needs you to volunteer your time. They provide food and lodging. All you need to do is sign up, up date your tetanus shot and bring a good pair of steel shanked mud boots. It is the easiest thing and the hardest thing you will ever do. Not every home owner is as gracious and appreciative as Mrs. Gloria but all are in need. Help the Gulf Coast find a way to move on to what ever lies ahead. So many questions remain as to the future of the communities wiped out by the flood waters but at the very least help these families find some fragment of hope, closure or whatever they need to find the peace that left them as the flood waters swept through their lives. Hilltop Rescue has a website that can tell you more _www.hilltoprescue.org_ (http://www.hilltoprescue.org/) - our groups activities and the activities of the group that relieved us and are currently in the area can be viewed at _www.madisonstudentministry.com_ (http://www.madisonstudentministry.com/) scroll down the page for daily blogs from week one and two of the Louisiana trip. Picture links are included. Don’t miss the photographs from our last day of week one. We toured the area along the levy where the first breaks occurred. We had heard of a shrimp boat in a subdivision but didn’t really believe it until we saw it for ourselves. Sincerely, LaVern Vivio U-Turn LaVern Clear Channel Nashville, Tn