From Saturday, November 25 to Friday, December 1 2006 a group of 43 students and 4 staff members from Carleton College went to the Gulf Coast to help with the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans and Biloxi, LA. In these pages I'm recording a few thoughts based on my participation in the trip as well as posting some photographs. There are also links about how to help with the volunteer effort in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, several recommendations for books I've found informative, and lists of organizations that are helping with the rebuilding effort.

Like many people I had wanted to go to volunteer as soon as the storm hit. But I could not get things together to go until this trip. I worried that by going now it would be way too little too late. A friend from grad school, George Leaman, who was born and raised in New Orleans, reassured me that people in New Orleans would be very happy to have people come and help, for no matter how short a time. He also stressed that I needed to see with my own eyes what was happening in New Orleans. He was right. I had read that the rebuilding effort was slow, but I also kept reading stories about how the city was "coming back." So I was not prepared for what I saw. On a tour with my friend George, we went to every area of the city. Though the Upper and Lower Ninth Ward and Saint Bernard Parish looked the worse, I was shocked to see that nearly every district—the exception was the French Quarter and the surrounding area— had large sections that looked like disaster zones. The trip was really an eye-opener for me, and I think for the other people from Carleton who participated.

The city currently does not have a rebuilding plan in place. Residents of the Ninth Ward are particularly concerned that their area will be eliminated in favor of housing for higher income residents. The people of the Ninth Ward whose houses are gutted are not even sure if they will be able to rebuild and stay there. They will need to petition the city for a rebuilding permit and there is no guarantee that their request will be granted. We saw that residences for lower-income renters are being eliminated in favor of higher-end apartments and condos. As the New York Times reported in November, the city is tearing down better quality public housing and erecting poorly made buildings in its place.

Though I was dismayed to see the lack of progress in rebuilding, it was also amazing to meet some New Orleans residents, especially people from the Ninth Ward (since this is where we lived and worked), who lived through the storm and are working hard to help the city come back. In spite of everything, including a sense of extreme frustration with the lack of progress on rebuilding the city, so many people I talked to were determined to be part of the city making a come back. On one street in the Upper Ninth Ward, I saw a house at night that was all lit up with Christmas lights. The house was the only one on the block, and the only house where someone had moved back, for many blocks around. This resident's ability to celebrate the spirit of Christmas in spite of everything that has happened was amazing to me.

I was also inspired by the evacuation story of a friend, Rosanne Adderley, who is an associate professor of history at Tulane University in New Orleans. Roseanne was in New York City when the storm hit. Her cat sitter was not able to arrange for the evacuation of her three indoor cats. After many hours of searching she found two of her cats 12 days after the storm hit in the Animal Rescue Shelter in Baton Rouge. She and a colleague spray painted her colleague’s car with the name “Humane Society Rescue” in order to gain entry into New Orleans and see if her oldest cat, Creole, was still at her house. After not finding Creole there, Roseanne returned to the animal rescue shelter in Baton Rogue, determined to keep looking for her cat. When Roseanne was talking to a shelter worker about looking for her missing cat, Creole, a medic heard her and asked if she was Roseanne Adderley, the owner of Creole. It turned out that her cat was there in the Intensive Care Unit! Creole died a month later. But it was amazing to hear that Roseanne found her cats and that they survived so long without food and water. We met many people in New Orleans who, like Roseanne and George's family, as well as residents of the Ninth Ward, are determined to stay and help the city come back.

On the trip we also met some wonderful volunteers, many of whom went to New Orleans or the Gulf Coast as soon as the storm hit and have been there ever since trying to help the area come back. Please see the links page for further information on how you can volunteer. Roseanne's Episcopal church, Saint Luke’s of New Orleans, is very active in helping the neediest people gut and rebuild their homes. Click here for information on how to volunteer with Roseanne’s church or see the links page.

You may think that it is the government's responsibility to help the citizens of New Orleans. Of course, in an important sense you are right. But volunteer groups can also play a very helpful role in helping people get their lives back at a time when the federal and city government have not lived up to their promises to help the citizens rebuild the area. Political action groups also can play an important role in trying to make the government accountable for its failure to help New Orleans come back. You may be fully aware of the situation in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. But if you are looking for more information on the area, I hope these pages will be helpful. As my friends in New Orleans tell me, the region will need help for many years to come.