Lauren Laboissonniere

This year’s trip to Louisiana was not at all what I expected it to be. Last year we worked with a group of Habitat for Humanity volunteers at 6 different locations in Slidell; the groups did framework, tiled kitchen/bathroom floors, painted entire houses, and gardened. This year, we arrived at the village where we would be spending the next week working and helping Mack make the village safer for future groups.

For our first work day in the village, the group split up to complete two major tasks: cleaning out the soon-to-be game room and weeding/organizing the back yard. At the end of the day we looked upon all the work we had done and didn’t feel too excited. There was a huge rubbish pile in the middle of the main room and two large donation piles in the back yard. 

We couldn’t see the work we had done yet, so it was a bit discouraging. Sensing everyone’s frustration Danielle and Mallory decided to have a meeting with everyone to brainstorm what needed to be done. We were able to come up with a list of tasks we would like to accomplish while still in Louisiana and we also made a list for future groups to work on. The next day we started working on that list and we were finally able to see everything we had done.

I was in charge of painting the game room, but we realized that we needed to putty the gaps after we had already begun painting. Kara lead the puttying with Ashton and Kyle, all of whom were awesome at the job. We got a first coat of paint on all of the walls (three blue and one accent green-in our awesome Habitat colors) and the putty job was done by lunch. We’ve allowed everything to dry so that first thing in the morning we can sand the putty so it’s flush with the walls and we can complete the painting job.

Although this trip did not start out as I had expected, I have been having a great time working and experiencing Louisiana with everyone here. I couldn’t have asked to work with a better group of people and I am so excited to see how all of our work turns out. By tomorrow evening we should be done and it will be great to see everything we have accomplished. Hopefully next year’s group can continue our work and Mack will be able to have a safe location for youth to come hang out. 

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.