100 Houses Completed

It has been another amazing week in St. Bernard Parish. We completed the 100th house on Friday, so yet another milestone has been realized. And with the number of volunteers ready to shoot past 1,000, we are moving on toward the goal of gutting 5,000 houses by June.

When I left my job to come do this, I was hoping for two things: to help people that need it, and to meet people willing to do the same thing. I've been fortunate in that I'm not 1/3 into the year, and I've accomplished both goals. For example, this week we met another one of the families we came to help. Marion and Pete Oldenburg, and their daughter Karen came to their house on our last day there. They spent most of the day with us, and what an emotional day it was. Marion asked me not to take any photographs of her debris (the debris photo shown here is not from Marion's house), but she did allow me to photograph her and her daughter with our team. She was so thankful to us, but I have to admit that I feel as though I am in her debt for allowing me to experience this.

This is simply the most rewarding experience of my life.

I mentioned my other goal was to meet people willing to help others. Well, I've done that. I did it in Kauai, Baton Rouge and at Camp Premier. I was nervous after we had such a good group last week, that we could never be so lucky again. How wrong I was. Katie, Tom, Patty, John, Don, Eddie, Will, Lynda, Aaron and Crystal are as amazing a group as I've ever met, and I think we're now family. Once again, I feel I'm in their debt for allowing me to know them. There is a downside to meeting people this wonderful, it is that you eventually have to say goodbye.



The camp continues to grow, and the faces continue to change, but the mission remains the same. As well as the rewards.