Postcard from New Orleans

Dec. 16, 2005
Dear MC Friends:

Well a week has flown by, and it is time to pack up the vans and head back to Marietta College. This morning we woke up as usual and headed to Delgado Community College, but since we were such a large group we had accomplished all of the goals that had been set for us already. So we helped clean out a breezeway, sanitized the walls, and then said our goodbyes.

For lunch we went to a Mexican restaurant called Chevys, where Gary the physical plant director at Delgado met us to thank us for our dedication and to say a final goodbye. We then went back to the compound to clean up, pack and allow the drivers some rest before getting back into the vans for the long drive home.

Around 6 p.m. a 1993 MC alumni, Rebecca Blake who works at Tulane University came to talk to us about her first-hand experiences with Hurricane Katrina and her losses. During the storm she and her son fled New Orleans for a few days expecting to return within the week.

When she was able to return home she discovered that her house had withstood 4 feet of flooding and had 2 feet of mold in it. Rebecca and her 6-year-old son are now living in temporary housing and she is attempting to make this Christmas special for her son, who lost all his toys due to the flooding. Rebecca also told us that she lost 90 percent of her clothing, but she has received tremendous support from her family in Connecticut, who send her weekly packages.

We depart for Marietta around 10 p.m. Friday and expect the trip to take between 15 and 19 hours. Once we get back to MC we all plan on writing a collective article and trading pictures. Overall this has been an eye-opening experience that has changed everyone on the trip for the better.

• Manda

Manda Scheub is a sophomore from Grand Rapids, Ohio. She is writing a daily postcard from New Orleans to relay what she and the 37-person traveling party from MC are doing at Delgado Community College and in New Orleans from Dec. 11-16.