Members of the Appalachian MentorCorps and the Ohio Outback Conservation Corps, AmeriCorps programs of Sojourners are planning a service trip to New Orleans the last week in February. The AmeriCorps members will be doing recovery work with ACORN, the country’s largest grassroots organization which works for the empowerment of low and moderate income people.
Immediately after Hurricane Katrina, ACORN began organizing the people of New Orleans to rebuild their beloved city on their own terms. In response to a post-Hurricane Katrina city ordinance requiring that homeowners gut and preserve their damaged property or face demolition, ACORN launched in December 2005 its Home Clean-Out program, matching volunteers with homeowners to gut homes throughout the city. To date, the program has preserved more than 2,500 homes with the help of 15,000 volunteers from around the country and beyond.
Two and one half years after Katrina much work still needs to be done to bring New Orleans back to its pre-Katrina days. Only 40% of students have returned to the New Orleans public schools, only 60% of those evacuated have returned to New Orleans, and only 10% of the houses destroyed have been rebuilt and are livable.
The AmeriCorps members will be staying at Camp Hope, a converted school that is used as basic housing for volunteers. Camp Hope, which is run by Habitat for Humanity, provides a place to sleep, recreation space, wireless internet, meeting space, and 2 hot meals and a bag lunch for volunteers who are working in the greater New Orleans Area. The facility, which can house 500 people a night, is located in St. Bernard Parish, about 30 minutes outside of downtown New Orleans.
The Appalachian MentorCorps and Ohio Outback Conservation Corps are actively seeking donations from individuals and businesses in order to pay for gas and other travel expenses of the trip. To donate call Shelly Horvath @ 740.591.6649, or shellyhorvath@yahoo.com.
