Brianna Maljanian

This past week we stayed at the Lower Ninth Ward Village to help Mack fix the place up. The center will eventually be used as a place that the children of the community can come to. But when we got there, everything from chairs to lamps was in piles and we didn’t know where to start. On our first day we sorted through a lot of it and put it outside. It felt as if we were just moving things around and not making progress, and everyone realized that we needed to change things up.

We knew we had to have a group meeting in order to get anything done because there was so much to do. We were initially expecting there to be tasks set out for us to do when we got here, but we quickly realized that no one was going to tell us what to do. We knew there was so much to get done, it was just hard to know where to start. I took two and a half pages of notes during our meeting last night of just our ideas. That showed me and everyone else how productive we really can be as a group, and I thought it really brought us together. It really showed today when we got right to work at nine. There were so many different tasks going on and so much got done. I helped to paint the game room, reorganize the library, and sort the miscellaneous items that have been stored at the Village. At the end of the day, the library looked like an actual library and it was really satisfying for everyone who was helping out. I learned that it is so important to take action instead of waiting for someone to tell you what needs to be done. All we had to do was sit down and look around, brainstorm, and take action.

Listening to Mack speak is always a pleasure. He has the biggest heart out of anyone I have ever met, and is so passionate about making the Village a place that is safe and fun for children. I love that he has all these ideas, and he really needs people like us here to help push to make these ideas happen. It still amazes me that this many years after the hurricane the Lower Ninth Ward looks as bad as it does. I have been so honored to be a part of helping making it a better place. Mack always calls us his heroes, and we really are because we continue to give him and the community hope that their home will be restored.

For more information about the Lower Ninth Ward Village please visit their website here and if you would like to make a donation, you can do that here.