NANO for NOLA

"Spend yourselves for the poor."
- Nano Nagle

In the spirit of Nano Nagle, eight women from across the country gathered to offer a week of work in New Orleans, LA through the Presentation Sisters, rotating service opportunities with Catholic Charities: http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1174, Lantern Light: http://www.lanternlight.org/personnel.html and Café Reconcile: http://reconcileneworleans.org/  Each of these service experiences provided invitations for us to grow in human relationships, better understand poverty (in many forms) and continue the vision begun by Nano Nagle, foundress of the Presentation Sisters. 

In 2005 I was a college student.  I remember seeing the tragic images on T.V. daily as the media covered Hurricane Katrina's ravaging of New Orleans.  We discussed it in every class.  To be far removed and watching the events unfold on television is one thing; however, to be there, unimaginable.  Even making a spring break service trip to New Orleans five years after Katrina, driving through the impoverished Lower Ninth Ward felt surreal.  Homes yet to be gutted remain.  New houses built between dilapidated ones are visible.  And rows of homes still boarded up, stand depressingly, stamped with FEMA relief worker's spray painted messages of inspection dates and body counts.  The Lower Ninth Ward is now home to seemingly abandoned neighborhoods.  It felt like a ghost town, and it almost became too sad to look.  Not surprisingly, the more affluent areas of New Orleans, including the famous French Quarter (which I understand was spared flooding), have been rebuilt.  I was able to release a hopeful sigh when we witnessed Brad Pitt’s efforts to restore housing in the Lower Ninth Ward.  His “Make it Right” foundation is building an eco-friendly green housing district, constructing homes that appear futuristic in an area that had been left obliterated:  http://www.makeitrightnola.org
 

People who think or say Hurricane Katrina is old news and New Orleans is put back together again, have no idea how long it takes to get a city back on its feet.  I know I didn't.  There is still a long way to go and so much to be done.  Catholic Charities, Habitat for Humanity, Operation Helping Hands, AmeriCorps, and many universities and other volunteer groups, had young people spending their spring breaks in work boots and tool belts, rubber gloves and aprons, working to rebuild neighborhoods and nourish neighbors.  The generosity of these service groups was great; the desire to contribute, even greater. 

I won't lie, the week was tiring, but the results, profoundly rewarding.  We began and ended everyday with prayer and reflection, sifting through the spiritual gems that were gathered from our service.  We worked alongside young people with compassion, vision and hope, doing the work of the gospel and happily so.  We were in the blessed presence of so many whom, whether they realized it or not, are lighting the lantern and keeping it burning, going one step beyond.