Gonzaga Alumni Service Project Blog
Here are the last two video’s I took in NOLA. Tom and the other side of Chuck (LOL)!
It was a wonderful experience for the whole team! I would recommend a trip like this to anyone! And challenge you to do it. People were so grateful that we were there to help, from the car rental guy to the neighbors of Ms. Shirley. New Orleans and the area really need our help.
Our last day of work has finally arrived. I think everyone showed up a little tired and very glad we only have to work till noon. Painting, painting and more painting is the agenda for today.
The morning started off great, the weather was nice and everyone went about their painting duties. At one point Ms. Shirley came out to take pictures of our progress and exclaimed as she looked up to the second floor “My GU is gone”. That’s definatley the best quote of the day! (check out one of the videos in Day four) .
Around 10:30 am the clouds rolled which usually means…RAIN. And rain it did. It poured buckets for 15-30 minutes. It gave us a break but not before most of us were soaking wet.
Ms. Shirley surprised us with cake, ice cream, home made pralines and a raffle of gifts. She is such a nice lady and wanted to express her appreciation for our help this week. It’s been our pleasure to help her!
So if you haven’t guessed, the rain washed a lot of the fresh paint off the house. The rain let up for 15 minutes then came back so we packed up early. The front of the house was the only part to stay dry in the rain, so the crew concentrated their efforts into getting it done.
Tonight all the volunteers are getting together for dinner. I’ll post more videos and comments from that…so stayed tuned.
Today at Ms. Shirley’s house color finally went up!!! The front and back are almost done with their first coat of paint. The sides of the house still have some priming left to do and that will happen tomorrow with the help of the 40 foot extention ladders. Yikes!
The weather today was great…didn’t seem as hot as it has been…I’m not sure if that is because we are getting use to the heat and humidity or the fact I was priming on the shady side of the house. :-) It also was the first day it didn’t rain, which is great when you are trying to paint!
After work today the whole group went on a tour of Frederick A Douglass High School which was the first high school to re-open after Katrina. The tour was given by Jake Quinton ‘08, who is teaching with Teach for America. It’s a beautiful old school with hard wood floors and glass paneled wood doors.
It’s hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day working. This week has really gone by fast. Please check out the video’s of some of the volunteers and what their favorite part has been.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29q8eFWLDTM[/youtube] 
It’s another lovely day in New Orleans…The weather is HOT and humid! It only rained for a few minutes today and we had cloud cover for most of the afternoon. What a relief! The Wednesday Wall has hit the group today. We are in good spirts but most of us are really tired from the hard work and the heat…mostly the heat!
We tried to get the whole house primed today and we did pretty good. I’d say about 65% of the house is primed and ready for paint. I spent most of the morning on the roof with Michele. It’s extra hot up there and I don’t think I have ever sweat so much in my life. I’m extra tired tonight so I’m keeping it short. Enjoy the video’s from today!
This evening our group was invited to dinner in the Lower Garden district. It’s a beautiful part of New Orleans where the homes are giant and are in the process of being rehabed. We toured two houses, one that is just in the beginning stages of rehabilitation and one that is closer to completion and livable. Both were amazing!
Day two started out with Matt and Brady trying to figure out how to put the scaffolding together. With a little help from Kate, one of our team leaders, they soon figured it out and spent most of the day scraping paint. As you can see in the video, the houses here are really close together which makes the job a challenge!
On the other side of the house Mike and Tom gave the neighbors tree/bush a haircut. It had grown over the walkway and was resting on the house. Now they can scrape and sand and then paint.
The rest of us joined in the fun of scraping and sanding in order to be ready to prime after lunch.
We had a nice lunch break with almost everyone sitting out front on the steps. Yesterday the mosquitos were bad so no one wanted to be in the grass. We had a longer lunch than usual as it started pouring right before heading back to work. Some of us hung out inside while others stood in the rain and enjoyed. The rain is refreshing but sure makes for a muggy day. When the rain finally stopped and the sanding was finished, we started to prime.
We didn’t prime for long as the weather did not cooperate today. It started thundering…then the lightning showed up kind of close and what would thunder and lightning be without buckets of rain. Hopefully tomorrow will be dryer so we can get the house primed!
It was an exciting first day! Twenty alumni, friends and parents have joined together for the first ever Alumni Service Project. We are working with Rebuilding Together to help put Ms. Shirley’s house back together. The house was damaged during Hurricane Katrina.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjdcZ2acIxs
The group spent the day scraping paint from the house. We have just a little left to do and then we get to start painting. I think the work is fun and the workers are great! It seemed to go by pretty fast considering it was at least 85 degrees with 85% humidity…which made it feel like 100! We were lucky enough to get some cloud coverage today and a little rain which cooled things off for a while.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtOb3_II5No
That’s it for now…I’ve got to go drink some more water. And get the paint chips out of my hair!