On the road! - Cedwyn

We're just about to take off for the airport. Mr. Kane just got back with a work crew from Momma Gaine's and the rest of us have cleaned the common areas and dorm spaces. It's been a pleasure and a privilege to spend the week with a great bunch of kids, and to get to paint a cool old building a most flamboyant lavender with purple trim. Very un- New England. Time to go!

And the journey continues......

Alright folks, we are on our way home. It has been a long wonderful journey with wonderful people who are truly phenomenal. Here we come New England!

A Letter To My Younger Self (Margaret)

If time machines exist, trust me I would send this letter to you. You need it more than I do now. Looking back on my past there are so many things I wish I could tell you, from what and who was a horrible idea to how everything will get better. Most importantly I want to tell you not to worry. Don't feel worthless or down because I promise it won't matter by senior year. Don't get hung up on who likes you and who doesn't, because you're going to find a group of people called NOLA Service Learning who will accept your weirdness and your quirks. You're going to become a part of something so much bigger than yourself and it's going to change who you are forever, even if you don't think it will at the beginning of that incredible week.

Someday you're going to be challenged to step outside of your comfort zone, and spend long days working in ways you haven't done before, or not for those extended periods of time. You're going to be vulnerable but you'll be helped along by the people around you, who will pick you up and help you keep going.

Someday you will see houses that have collapsed and house foundations where someone used to live. You will meet people who have had to start over completely but never gave up hope. They have lost everything, but they don't spend their days being materialistic. They are grateful for the home and family they have now. You will hear stories of people who haven't yet returned to their homes, and your heart will go out to them as you realize how lucky you are, and how much you really have.

Someday you will fall in love with an organization called Our School at Blair Grocery, even though you'll spend your days there digging trenches and making compost piles. The people there have started from scratch and are trying to rebuild their neighborhood, and give people something to come back to. It'll make you think, and it will feel like home. And you'll think it's the end of the world when you get paint all over your Blair Grocery shirt, but trust me it isn't, and you'll regret the time you waste being upset.

Someday you will meet children who have it so much worse than you ever thought you did. They will be sweet and fun, but they will have seen far more than they should have in their lives. They will be everywhere, from Blair Grocery to United Saints to the Community Center at Saint Bernard, and they will remind you that there is always something to hope for and something to smile about, be it basketball or fruit-juice-frozen-in-a-cup.

Someday you will spend an entire day digging and weeding and planting at a garden for a man who doesn't speak your language, but you won't let that stop you. You'll get very tired halfway through the day but by the end, after songs and rain and time with friends, you will fully understand how important what you're doing is, and how much it will mean to Marlow, the nicest guy ever even though you need to think outside the box to communicate with him.

Someday you will be so tired and exhausted that you don't even want to get out of bed in the morning, but if you do it will be worth it, and if you don't, you'll never know what you missed. Every single day you spend in New Orleans will make you a stronger, happier, more compassionate person. And for the first few days you might not understand that - you won't have the same huge and overwhelming emotional reaction you had (well. At this point it's you're going to have) in New York your junior year. But on the last night it's all going to hit you and you'll fight back the tears as everyone talks about what an amazing week they had.

Someday there will be more things you want to write about in this letter, but you'll realize that you don't need to share everything. You'll learn that some moments are private, and they will be yours and only yours. You'll learn how to be independent.

I so wish I could give this to you, and let it make everything better, but I'm not that worried, because from where I am I can promise you it gets better. And from here, it's just going to keep improving. I'm going to take what I've learned here and apply it to the rest of my life: A positive attitude and the willingness to serve others has more healing power than any medicine or doctor.

All I can really say is you're stronger than you realize, luckier than you know, and I'm proud to say you're myself.

Best of luck with the world out there,

You, writing from New Orleans, Louisiana in February of 2011

The Road I've Traveled - Sean Cunningham

In the past three years, service learning has overtaken my life in the most positive way possible. This being my last year, I have tried to make the best of it. So today, I took a look back and asked myself, have I fulfilled my initiative? I worked tirelessly throughout the day, still struggling with the question I had proposed upon myself. Have I done all I could to make a difference?

The answer was not made clear right away. Digging the stumps up at the Latino Farmer's Coop so a single man could support friends and family with fresh foods and vegetables was exhausting. But, like the saying goes, we all put our blood, sweat, and tears into the day (quite literally at some points). Although we were all very tired, we felt proud to have worked so hard in order to help this one man make his own difference in the world. So the question came up again, has my work had the impact I strive for?

Reflecting on the entire week, from food banks to farming to painting and digging, the answer became clear. The answer? No. As I recall all of the places I've worked these past years as well as all the people's stories I've heard I realize I could never possibly reach my initiative. The fact is the world isn't perfect and there is a lot of work to be done to better it. I will never be done with what I have started along the road less traveled. But, all I can do is try. Keep the service going, maintain an open mind, and always remember those who motivate, inspire, and push us to make that difference. By doing so, my personal challenge will become more clear everyday.

Before service learning, I never really did much. I was never really any good at sports and I definitely sing or play an instrument. So when my brother pushed me into this whole new world of community service, it changed me. I could not be who I am today without the experiences I've had and the people who have shared their stories with me. As one man said to us, I am because we are.

Amazing - Susan Hamel

To all the parents of our NOLA students: Thank you! You have amazing kids! It was a pleasure to work with each of them (and they did work) during our time in New Orleans. Mrs. Hamel

Humanity ~ Jillian Cormier

Tonight is my last night working with an organization that I have fondly come to know as NOLA. When it all began, at the end of my sophomore year, I felt like a balloon that was floating comfortably in God's patient hands, and I knew that he was waiting for me to find the place that he wanted to tie me to. These past two years, I have witnessed the devastation that has torn through a community to create a new one, and I realized that if anything, I have tied myself to the idea of humanity, a place where God's creation comes alive in an infinite number of ways. This week, I planted things in this earth to feed a growing community, I tore out nails to help rebuild another's livelihood, I weighed boxes to send to the hungry, I painted over someone's past to give them a clean slate; and all for the sake of humanity. It is this constant work in process which has changed my life and contributed to a multitude of tears, drops of sweat, and blood stains. And due to this monumental change, I felt, for a few blessed moments, God's ultimate love shine down upon me, and realized that there is nothing greater in this world, than contributing to the work which helps to make humanity better. Thank you, God, for tying my balloon to this idea.

What hard work is - Chris

I have been coming to New Orleans for 3 years now. Every year I have dealt with the same burning question that has plagued my mind: What is hard work? I have heard many different definitions of what work truly is from many different people. Yet despite my friends input, I have been unable to define it for myself. During my time down here I have participated in a wide variety of projects. They have ranged from changing light bulbs to moving mountains of moldy cat food. Each has had different aspects to them that make me further ponder what hard work truly is.

For example this week I helped out at the Community Center of Saint Bernards where I supplied food to elderly members of Saint Bernards Parish. This raised the question: is hard work determined by the benefit you provide for people? I also helped out at Animal Rescue New Orleans which demanded much of my focus as I was being constantly ordered on what food was to be given to which dog. Is hard work defined by how much mental energy is given?

Yet today, I believe that I discovered today what hard work truly is. I started off in Blaire Grocery where my group and I added onto a 15 ft high pile of compost. It was dirty work, but more importantly it was tiring. By the time we were done with the compost pile I was not sure if I had anything left in me and to add onto my feeling of fatigue, we were called to help with the construction of a garden for the Latino Farmer's Co-op. I was not the only one tired. Beyond my group which had been working hard all morning, the group that was building the garden was completely wiped out by ripping up stumps. This work proved grueling, and there were points that I was not sure if I could continue to give it a hundred percent. Yet at least if put to rest my question.

I realize now that hard work is something simple. It is the point when you can physically give no more. When you can look back and say to yourself that you wasted no effort and would not have changed your effort level if you had been given the chance.