Monday, November 10, 2008

Wolves on the Prowl

On Saturday morning on November 8th the entire freshman class of business students woke up bright and early to participate in some community service. There were also other people not affiliated with the business program but wanted to help out. We all met up around 8 a.m. to get organized and get some snacks. We then were divided into groups and sent away to different destinations to carry out our work. My group was sent away in buses and we headed to a small park where there was some cleaning to be done. When we got there it wasn't much of a sight but I expected much worse. The park was located in a rundown neighborhood that bordered the New Orleans prison. While we were at the park we started off ripping weeds off a fence that divided the houses from the park. This did not take very long so we proceeded to painting the benches black and this unusual pole that needed to be painted as well. After we had completed these tasks we sat down ate some snacks and gazed at a better sight than what we had arrived to. There was an angry rottweiler that continuously barked and seemed to want to attack us throughout the work but it didn't really seem to bother anyone. After that park we went back to the bus and made our way to another park. It wasn't until we arrived at our fourth that we found some other work to be done. Before we found this one we had gone to two that were almost spotless which was very surprising. The last park we did find though was in Holy Grove and it was a huge field with basketball courts. The park wasn't as dirty as I expected but there was still trash that needed to be picked up. We worked on this park for about an hour because it was rather large and then we headed back on the bus. From there we headed back to Loyola and waited for the barbeque to begin which was very good and had a live band. Overall I enjoyed the project even know I wish we could have done more. We overestimated the work we would have to do but it gave us the confidence to complete it diligently. 
Im not to sure what the organization we worked for was called because we were never given that information but they were all very courteous and you could tell they appreciated our help. One other social service organization that interest me is a non-profit organization called "Sweet Home New Orleans". Their mission is "to perpetuate New Orleans culture by providing direct services to the individuals and institutions that will carry them forward". They help people with case management, housing assistance, advocacy, renewing the music, financial assistance, and performance subsidies. "Sweet Home New Orleans" try to help the people of new orleans in order to enrich the culture in any way that is possible. 
A link to their website is http://www.sweethomeneworleans.org/?page_id=22    

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