The photo to the right is where the people volunteering for Habitat park their cars. This is the first thing that I saw when I arrived this morning and I think it is the perfect image.
What a success today was! I am so happy that I decided the best idea was to get my own place so that I could help out with other groups around the city besides Common Ground. CG (Common Ground shall now be CG) offers cheap, basically free, room and board for their volunteers who need and request it. I was going to sign up for this until I started thinking that I wanted the full expreience of New Orleans. I wanted it to truly become a part of me, become my home. Hence the want and desire to get a place instead of board with them, CG.
The full exprience I knew I would want to involve myself in consist of searching for and finding other great groups within the city that do various things and help in numorous ways. Such as Habitat. Or the Fringe (Theatre) Festival coming up. Or have the chance to go to the VooDoo Music Festival. And go out to the Quarter when I want. Basically, I wanted freedom that I don't think would have been acceptable if I would have boared with them. They may have been open to such, but I know that I would feel guilty if I went off and did my own thing. So it has all worked out swimmingly thus far.
Back to Habitat. Sorry. Tangents.
The warehouse that they are housed in, at least this main one, is a huge building located in the Bywater part of the city. Groovy. I hadn't the slightest on where to go and what to do, so I just strolled in and said hello. Luckily everyone was really nice and helpful and I soon was directed to the right parts of the vast and never ending warehouse.
The "ReStore" Store.
This is the place that I helped with today. Basically it is the "store" part of Habitat
that takes in donations from local people and businesses and resales it to the people who are in desparate need of the various materials to rebuild their own house. Of course the prices on all of the materials is very low, and the profits go towards the materials needed to build the Habitat Houses built. So the money isn't going to waste and most of the people running around are volunteers. Like me. Like Frank. And those kids from a local high school. Some of the longer term volunteers, like Charlie and Erin, have become employees- who I am sure recieve a pretty low income from all the hard work that they do.
It is open from 8.30 to 4.30 and there was no real "introdution" or class about the goings on. Just "to work"- which I kind of appreciated. Within ten minutes of arrival, the two newbies to the place (Frank and myself) were put to work cleaning up the tile area of the store.
Frank is from the East Coast- Jersey, I believe. He is currently living in Boston and working there. While we were rearranging tiles and tossing broken ones, he told me that he comes into Nola every year for about a week to help out with some local orginization. It was such a great way to spend that first hour, talking with him.
Around 9.30 we were paired with two of the more exprienced workers and went out on the "daily route" to pick up various donated goods from both people and businesses. I headed out with Charlie. He has the best name: Charlie Brown. NO JOKE! He gave me his card and when I read that I couldn't believe it! The peanut jingle is still playing in my head.
Pick Up ONE
Our first pickup (my FIRST pickup!) was at a private residence and what a donation the lady made! We made our way to the Garden District, found her house and she showed us what was ready to take. I couldn't believe what she had for us and what GREAT shape it was in!
The List (-what I remember- at least):
- five Ikea closed cabinets, wood
- 2 taller, white cabinets
- various pieces of wood
Since we where there about an hour moving all of it around, she kept adding to the "give" pile.
"Could you guys use a couch?"
"SURE!" The couch is going to make someone REALLY HAPPY!
"And what about this TV?" "!!!!!!!!!!!" I'm freaking out. That TV was bigger "than the blue banana". Around 60 inches.
"And this chest, it is broken. But it is more appealing, I think." "Awesome."
She was so nice and helpful. I couldn't believe that the TV she had on and seemed to be watching before we came to the house, she was not donating too! Crazy. Crazy.
Charlie, luckily, called one of the guys to come and help with the TV and couch. I was so thankful because I knew that I would not be able to lift either of those things.
Pick Up Two
We had lunch before our second place at a famously popular vietnamese food resturant before heading over to Lowe's, our second place to pick up. Amazing food, to be sure.
(I am going to gain so much weight here! NOOOO! But, YAY! -to good food, at least. Ha.)
At Lowe's we headed to the back and met with Craig, who lead up to 3 big boxes of Chauk. (Can you even imagine how USEFUL this with be for people just starting to rebuild their houses?! That is so exciting! And I labled the prices and they were only $1.oo per tube. There were just over 200 tubes. Cool.
Pick Up Three
We called the guy and he wanted up to come Thursday instead. So no pickup three anymore. Back to the main warehouse.
Back at ReStore
As soon as we returned, Charlie gave me a chore list and I was more than happy to oblige him. By this time there were a lot of people browsing the selection and that made me happy! I was having so much fun doing my chore list and talking to everyone who would talk with me. Hehe. People were asking me questions I wasn't sure how to answer, so I pointed them to the right person in which to find the answer.
All of them were so completely different. People you both would and would not expect to find there. Old. Young. African-American. Causasian. Dominican. Spanish. Persian.
It was great. Nice looking people, who you think wouldn't be there.
The conversations that I had throughout the day with the fellow workers and volunteers, along with the people shopping at the store are what make it even more rewarding to me. Those exchanges are worth more than any amount of money per hour that I could be paid doing something else, somewhere else.
I feel so lucky have joined in with them at the ReStore and really hope that I am accepted in with the family of long-termers. I cannot wait to see what all good comes from this adventure!
Yay for good people who have donated their things to Habitat: they are giving life and endless hope to people who really are in need of it.
I am blessed and beyond thankful for my own placement in this whole thing. And I know how lucky I am. And everyday I wake up, I remember where I've been and where I come from. And send thankful vibes out into the great Beyond.
Big Smile, k.
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