St. Bernard Parish

I recently spent 6 days in St. Bernard Parish (suburb of New Orleans, Louisiana), working with Habitat for Humanity and other volunteer groups, who have an on-going project to clean up the residences of the town. It was a life-altering experience, and I feel very lucky to have been able to work with such a great team of people. Following is a partial journal of my experiences. For those of you who would rather not read through my ramblings, but have interest in the project or experience, go to the following websites, and/or drop me a note with any questions. http://www.habitat-nola.org/projects/st_bernard.php

My last day in New Orleans

Mixed emotions today.

I said most of my goodbye's last night (as most people headed to Bourbon Street, and were not likely up yet). Security closes the gates at the camp at midnight (if you show up late, you must find another place to sleep for the night), but I was inside the compound, talking with people until 2AM or so. We sat around a table eating moonpies (someone grabbed them from the kitchen tent), and telling stories about the week. Many of them had been here for weeks (Americorps teams stay on each project for 5 weeks at a time), and others were like me and were only there a week. It definitally felt longer than a week, and I made a number of friends who I hope to know for the rest of my life.

There are no cameras allowed at the camp (something about it being a federal facility, and if security saw anyone taking pictures/video, the tape would be confiscated & the offender would be forced to pack up and leave). Based on that, I am not quite sure where these pictures came from, but they resemble parts of the camp & one even resembles the Operations Tent at around 11PM or so. strange!








On my drive to the airport, as I was leaving St. Bernard Parish and entering New Orleans, I saw this sign & two of the cutest little girls on the side of the road. At first I just smiled as I passed, but then I turned around and bought a few boxes of cookies. I talked to the girls and their mother for a while, and then went on my way to the airport. Looking around a mostly empty airport, I wondered how many of the travelers were volunteers, who came to town to help rebuild, and also caused a small boost to the economy. It was a very sureal experience for me, and something that is very difficult to describe, but something that I am very happy to have been a part of!!

The last 'work day' for me in the Parish

It is Friday, and last night I drove over and met a few members of the tools team who were at one of the two businesses open in town (both bars). There were five or six voluteers at the bar, talking about their experiences throughout the week. I was amazed that the locals (behind the bar, and some of the patrons) were all treating the volunteers like they were rock stars. It was amazing how greatful they were that these people had left their lives & came to a town the did not know, and were working so hard. One guy in the bar (Gary) kept buying the group drinks, everytime there was an empty one. :-)

I have mixed feelings about leaving for home tomorrow. On one hand - I am very excited to get back to my home and family, and on the other hand - there is still SO MUCH to be done here that I would enjoy staying on as long as possible.

When I arrived, I was originally very dissapointed that I was not going to be able to help 'gut' the houses because of my broken finger. But, it turns out that each team of 10-12 people takes 1-1.5 days to gut a single house, so had I been doing the work, I would have finished 2-3 homes this week. Instead, by working on process improvement, and ensuring efficient tools deliveries, my work helped the teams to successfully finish 170 homes in this single week!!! That is 170 families that we helped get one step closer to being able to move back into their homes!!! All of the process work I did will continue to be used, and will help the camp scale (up or down), so my work will continue to help, which is an amazing feeling. I feel so lucky to have been able to be a small part of such an important, and needed project!!

We met with Colonel David Dysart, who is in charge of the entire recovery project, and one of the things he told us was that FEMA told him that this was the 'best-run volunteer project that (they) had ever seen', and they wanted copies of all of our process docs. They are going to distribute our docs to other recovery projects going on around the gulf coast, in hopes that some parts of what we were doing would help them as well.

I drove around in the neighborhoods a bit more today, and here are a few of the pictures that I took. It was interesting that a bunch of the homes (some of which had not yet been cleaned) had for sale signs on them. One of the last pictures was the spongebob that I saw on a pole, that seemed a bit out of place...

spending Thursday in the field

By Thursday the processes that I have implemented are fairly well on their way. Things are running as smoothly as possible, and after the initial tools trucks make their deliveries, I decide to take out a 'roaming' tool truck. I fill the bed with miscellaneous tools, some water bottles, extra radio batteries, etc., and ask Andre if he wants to ride along with me since he has been in the neighborhoods quite a bit & could help navigate.

Navigating the streets is very difficult, as most of the street signs are missing, and finding accurate/up-to-date maps is also hard, but we make do. While driving around, I see more of the markings that are on each home, left by the first-responders, looking for bodies. There are markings on some of the homes referencing pets (dogs found, dogs heard but not found, cats found, etc.). Very interesting & eerie reading what was found when and where.

While cruising around, we have a number of calls over the radio for a number of items that we are carrying, and make the deliveries as quickly as possible. We spend a couple of hours making deliveries, and then are stopped by a team of volunteers who tell us that there is a resident on another street who is very upset at one of our teams, because some debris has apparently flown from one of our debris piles & broken his windshield. On the way to the site, we see the fire chief (his radio battery is dead, so we give him a new one, and fill him in on what is happening). We then head over to see if our team is ok, as the resident has apparently been shouting at them for quite a while now.



Maybe it's just me (and Andre), but it seems strange that a resident would bring his new lincoln town car into this neighborhood, where there are debris piles in front of nearly every home, and while the winds are very strong (like today), and not expect something to happen to it. While we are talking to the team, we notice no fewer than 10 piles in sight, and there is no way that the person could blame our team (or even the pile at this particular house) for any damage, but he is convinced that it's their fault.

After the chief talks with the resident, he has the police come by for a report, but tells the resident that it is obvious (by the discoloration of the film in the window) that the crack had happened many weeks earlier. The resident continues on his rant, and we continue on our qwest to supply out teams in the field.


Shortly after lunch time, a decision is made to pull the teams (very quickly) out of the field, as there are very strong winds back at base camp, and there is even a tornado warning in a neighboring area. We make the decision to have the tool trucks dispatched immediately to recover as many of the tools as possible before the storm hits, and before any of the neighbors (or other construction teams in the area) walk off with any of our stuff. To help, I decide to also use the bed of our truck to pick up as many sets of tools as we can, so that the 3 tools trucks can make fewer stops & get everything back to camp as quickly as possible.

It was amazing to me that there are still downed powerlines (this is why there is nearly no power throughout the town still), and vehicles & boats spread everywhere... below are a few more of the pics I took on this day.

HumpDay

We pick up a few new members on the Tools Teams: Drew (driver), Ashley & Liz (both assistants). The three are all from Americorps, and hit the ground running with tools deliveries, and are up to anything that is asked of them.

The day goes pretty well, although we need a few items (ball hitch for Big Red, supplies for 'No Parking' signs which will be used in the new tools area that we're moving to because of growth, and other miscellaneous things), so I drive into a nearby town (Slidell), which has a higher elevation so most stores are still open. Find a couple of Walmarts, AutoZone (tire plug kits), and a mobile home company that happens to have the correct sized ball for the trailer we will be pulling with Big Red (2 5/16 ball, and a 2" receiver). The trip takes me a couple of hours, and when I'm heading back, all tools deliveries have been made, and all teams are fully operational in the neighborhoods.

I drive around some of the neighborhoods to see the conditions that the teams are working under. I am again amazed at how many cars I see, and how much debris is still everywhere. There are a few trailers in the front yards of some homes, which is where the homeowners are allowed to live while gutting & reconstructing their homes. There are boats down many of the streets, and even homes which have been pushed into the middle of the street that you have to navigate around to get through.




There are also advertisements on many street corners, selling gutting or re-construction services. I am amazed at how much work is still left to be done, and it is obvious that the gutting of homes in St. Bernard Parish will easily go on until at least December 2006, and possibly beyond that. I've heard rumors of a goal of 5000 homes gutted by June 1 exists, but it's not clear how they will actually get there that quickly. Either way, there are ~26,000 homes to be gutted, so it will take quite a while to finish.

A few more random shots I toook while cruising around...

Tuesday is a lot like Monday...

Tuesday is a lot like Monday, except that I now know my way around a bit better, and have some early versions of process documents (and action item tracking) in place. With the continued growth, it becomes clear that the tools trucks (which we have borrowed from the county government) are going to have to support even more teams than they have in the past. We contact some local carpenters, and have them retro-fit the trailers to support 20 teams (up from 15 teams) per trailer. It will take all week to complete the work on the six trailers that we have, and I will need that time to also locate another two trucks, so that each trailer can be in the field the following week (during the week I was there, we only used 3 trucks & 3 trailers (plus big-red)).

It becomes clear that a number of the tools are now missing. It's not clear whether they were simply left behind at the work sites, swept out along with the debris at the homes, stolen by others working in the neighborhoods, or broken & thrown out. I implement a tools inventory tracking system, and have the tools teams fully stock their trailers before leaving Tuesday AM, and complete an inventory tracking form before re-stocking at the end of the day. This process should go a long way to helping ensure that each trailer can fully support the growing number of teams.

FEMA is not wanting the site to grow, so it is not yet clear what will happen with all of the volunteers who have already signed up for next week. There are not enough cots & the site is not approved for the number of people coming, but we continue planning for all of the volunteers and need to ensure that each truck and the tools process is in place to support the maximum number.

Over the radio that I use to stay in contact with the tools trucks (and any of the field teams that might need us), I hear many calls each day regarding many of the items that the teams are finding. Many homes with 'natural gas odors', causing the utility companies to be called to show up on site to ensure everything is off. Mercury or other toxic chemicals found, causing the fire department to show up onsite (at all times, we had a number of fire teams in the field along with our cleaning teams, ensuring their safety, etc.). I was also surprised at the number of weapons & ammunition that was being found each day (causing yet another agency to show up at the site to safely remove everything). Although, I guess I should not have been surprised, considering the fact that EVERYTHING these people owned was often left behind in the rush to evacuate.

Another long night spent preparing for the next day, and continued process improvement. Here are a few random shots that I took throughout the town...

my first day of service

3/6/06

I wake at 5:30AM local time, and decide to quietly head to breakfast (nearly all of my tent-mates are still asleep, so I must find all of my gear in the dark. Walking to the mess-hall, i see that there are a number of people already up & preparing for the day.

After breakfast, I head over to where the tools trucks are, and get to meet the teams... I meet Adam (Tools coordinator, an 18 or 19 yr old kid, who is very bright, and has decided to take off a semester (at least) of college, to help out), drivers: Bertrum, Ryan, and Spencer, and tool truck helpers: Frank, Andre, and Ariel. Each of them are Habitat for Humanity volunteers, and are ready to get going.


Each truck pulls a trailer which has been customized to hold enough tools for 15 teams (each team has 10 members). Tools include things like: Axe's, Sledge hammers, crowbars, flatbars, brooms, pitch forks, rakes, large shovels, ladders, hacksaws, utility knives, plumbers wrenchs, ductape, pliers, channel locks, wire cutters, and screwdrivers. In the 'truck pool', we also have a big 5-ton Red truck, that is used to move around large items. During the week we use it for moving many wheel-barrels to 'stash spots' in the neighborhoods.

I come to find that the previous week had 200 volunteers, this week has 400+, and there are over 1100 signed up for the following week. These numbers do not include all of the other volunteer organizations which are also using Camp Premiere, and sharing in the use of the resources here. Groups like: Americorps (an AWESOME org, which allows people to obtain some level of college loan debt-relief for service, and were the backbone of the program driving many of the functions like: Operations oversight & coordination, Team leadership and coordination, etc.), Samaritans Purse (a privately funded disaster relief organization), and a number of large religious groups who brought team members in to help anyway they could.

With this level of growth, it quickly becomes clear that the project is losing some efficiency based on the fast scaling that they are going through. Which happens to be an area that I have some experience with, having been a part of three quick growing start-up companies. I realize that there is a need for process improvement & grab a notebook to start taking notes.

This is a very busy day for everyone, and I spend it addressing all sorts of mini-crisis that pop up (flat tires, tools trucks not delivering tools fast enough, etc.), making notes all along the way. I also spend a bunch of time in the Operations Tent (the only place where I can use a computer to build spreadsheets & process documents), which is the central coordination point for everything that is happening. There I meet Melissa & Emily, two Americorps volunteers, who are very dedicated to the task at hand, are very smart, and have tons of energy. These two are responsible for coordinating everything (where each bus is to drop off teams, which houses have paperwork completed & are ready for gutting, where all teams are at all times, etc.). In addition to the Americorps teams, the fire captain is also often in the tent, along with a number of other folks responsible for planning the jobs & ensuring the approriate paperwork and notifications are complete for the upcoming jobs.

A few shots of the Ops tent (batteries and radios which are distributed each day (note the beads at the back of the table, which I used as keychains for the tools trucks (in keeping with the mardi-gras theme)), the computer and printer that I used until very late every evening, a whiteboard used for tracking the locations of each team, and some maps).



I spent most of the evening in the Ops tent (until around midnight or so), preparing for the next day.

hoping to contribute

I fly from Phoenix to New Orleans, landing around noon local time. I decided to rent a car for the week, so that I could drive around (given the opportunity) and take in some of the area sights. I have been to New Orleans a number of times in the late 80s and early 90s, and have a bunch of great memories of the area.

While at the airport, I think back to the news in the days following hurricane Katrina, with pictures of the hundreds of people who were staying and/or being triaged on the airport grounds. All of those people have now gone, and it seems apparent that there are far fewer flights & travelers within the airport as well. It is the week after Mardi Gras 2006, and I barely see any hints of it.

As soon as I leave the rental-car parking lot, I can immediately see evidence of katrinas destruction. There are businesses along the airport road which are still damaged (many still closed). While driving to the freeway, I see something that seems strange, but will become a very common site for me throughout the trip - massive broken-down cars piled in one place beneath the raised freeway roads. It looks like a scrap-yard with no fences to protect the cars.

I opt for the shorter (non-freeway) route to St. Bernard Parish, and drive through somewhat eerie, deserted streets. There are many destroyed cars in the roads, in yards, and even see a truck atop a large tree. Every home and business that I see after leaving the freeway is empty, and most have very apparent damage. I am surprised at the number of abandoned & damaged vehicles that I see on every street, and under a number of freeway ramps. It is very eerie driving through these areas, even though it is the middle of the afternoon. One image that really captures my eyes, is that of two very mature trees which have been toppled...

After a 20 minute drive, I arrive at Camp Premiere (a federally-run Tent City) housing a number of contractors, volunteer groups, and, as I later find, a number of local families who have no other place to go.

St. Bernard Parish was complely devastated by Katrina: 100% of the commercial, and nearly 100% of the residential structures received damage. Of the 69,000 residents and 25,000 households, there were 128 casualties and only 3 houses were spared damage. Only 11 houses were habitable after the hurricane. Because St. Bernard Parish is 1/2 feet above sea level, flood insurance had not been required.

I had originally signed up thinking that it would be rewarding to go and get dirty, while helping out people in need. After injuring my finger (a flag-football injury from a month earlier), I did everything I could to be able to put on the required protective leather gloves (I even had my Dr. build a smaller splint), but it was not to be. Even with the small splint, and scouring every Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, and Ace Hardware store near where I live, I could not find a suitable work glove that would go over my finger. UGH! (btw - it just happens to be my right middle finger, causing many to laugh when I show them my splint) ;-)

Upon arrival, I am directed to the parking facility by security (U.S. Federal contract Police), and asked to visit the registration tent to sign-in, and receive my credentials. While registering I inform them that I have a fractured finger and need to find suitable duties. They direct me to a "special operations" sign-up sheet, and I am told that someone would be contacting me.


I am assigned to Tent 11A (Not sure how many tents in total there are, but most are 15-person tents, filled with cots, lights, a few electrical outlets, and climate control. Having climate control is critical, as it is very hot & muggy during the days, but very cold at night... although, it turns out that not everyone's 'comfortable temperature' is the same, and in a tent with 14 other people, it seems to be up to whomever sleeps closest to the thermostat wins.

After dragging my very heavy duffle bag to 11A, I notice that there are no free cots, and all seem to already be fairly close together. i walk back to registration, and they suggest that I simply grab a cot from 3A (a currently unoccupied tent), and 'make it fit' in 11A. Not quite the accommodations that I often experience, but I'm here to help, not to be comfortable! :)

I spend the next few hours touring the facility, and sitting through a 1.5 hr orientation (teaching people about N-95 Respirators, mold, what to do when you find: live snakes and rats, dead domestic pets, weapons & ammunition, and many dangerous chemicals (many of each of these items were found during the week that I was there)).

Anxious to find out what I will be doing, I head over to the Habitat tent, and am directed to Tom Pfalzer, who is responsible for Special-Ops. Tom asks me many questions about what areas I have experience in, after hearing that I have enjoyed working on vehicles since I was young, he gets VERY excited, and says that I will be responsible for vehicle maintenance and repair of the Parish (county) vehicles which are used to pull trailers full of tools to the neighborhoods where the teams are working. He asks me to show up at 7AM to meet the Tools teams, and to get a handle on how things operate. Off to bed now.