by Bill Bernard
6/19/2013

(Two new Habitat NOLA homes completed this past February)

Washington has doled out about as much as the area will ever see and has focused its attention elsewhere for some time now. But what about the good folks left holding the bag? There’s still a sense of urgency here, of vast importance and time is not on anyone’s side. There are still those that refuse to turn their backs and will continue to help the good folks of the Gulf Coast. Why go back? Why do so little for so few? Because we make a difference.

 (Looking like a neighborhood)

There were over seventy five thousand homes destroyed by that catastrophic storm and in eight years only a fraction of those have been rebuilt, restored or replaced. As a contractor, my first trip to New Orleans was four years ago when volunteers from the Pilgrim Church in Sherborn, alongside Habitat for Humanity New Orleans, helped build a small subdivision of fourteen homes on Ferry Street. I thought at the time it was futile, that even though we worked side by side sharing sweat equity with the new homeowners, the area would not thrive.

The following year we returned and it was the first place we wanted to visit, to see if in fact there was life. To my delight I couldn’t have been more wrong. This little street was full of vibrantly colored homes with bountiful gardens and flowers. Most importantly, there was a sense of pride in each home that connected neighbors and made these fourteen houses something more - a neighborhood.

(Holliston residents Bill Bernard and Matt Beaudett, NOLA 2010)

Volunteering in New Orleans gave me the opportunity to see the kindness of other volunteers firsthand. Working with recent college graduates like Jake Williams from Illinois and Jessica Bartlett from New Jersey, both Americorps volunteers, I found myself pausing and taking note of their will to do something for the common good of mankind. Jake, now an architect and Jessica a nurse, can't seem to pry themselves from the joy of giving back. When they wrap a smashed thumb, bandage a wound, or just suffer from exhaustion, they just sucked it up and kept on inspiring others to help those in need with their generosity and positive attitude. I had the good fortune to work alongside both of them this past winter for a few weeks working with Habitat New Orleans, a time etched deep in my heart in no small part because of people like them. They are two shining examples of the human spirit at its best and they are not alone. I came to find through my experience that there are countless folks like them - driven to help those in need like the people of New Orleans.

     (Northwestern College students preparing a new foundation, February 2013)
 

(Todd Derr from Sherborn learning the art of stair building from master carpenter Bill Bernard)

New Orleans may never fully recover from Katrina. So many took federal relief funds or in the unlikely event they were insured took money and relocated. Others could never prove ownership of properties because those old family homes had been handed down from generation to generation and thus lost all. But communities are reemerging from the rubble of bulldozed tracts of land, some old, some new, citizens working together for the common good, with our help.

(Northweastern College students hard at work. There were plenty of sore muscles and lots of blister but no complaints. Notice the pilings in the center of the trenches driven thirty feet below grade)

There are so many places in this world that need our help. First we must get involved, even if it’s in our own back yard. New Orleans is just a spec on the globe, a wonderful place like no other. But you don’t have to look very hard to realize that so is Springfield, MA, and more recently the devastation in Oklahoma and New Jersey before that. Let’s not forget the countless areas around our tiny planet. Serving others warms the heart and makes us true ambassadors of the human race.

(Pauger Street home that was relocated and renovated, Habitat's first attempt at a remodel/resale)

Sure there is some bad in it all. There is some bad wherever we turn, even in our own communities, and that’s not going to change anytime soon. In the face of so many in need it can be discouraging. But the real message here is one of hope, for hope will never disappoint us and that faith in its true sense is meant for all to share. Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” There are countless organizations and endeavors all over this world bringing hope to those in despair. Serving others warms the heart and makes us true ambassadors of the human race. Find a hammer, find a cause, make some time, repeat.