Spring Break Rebuilding New Orleans

I have arranged food and accommodations for Knoxville area volunteers who want to go to New Orleans over spring to help rebuild from Katrina in the 9th Ward. This is an historic opportunity to have a direct impact on saving a community in a great American city. Read about ACORN's work here.

We will leave Saturday, March 4 and return Saturday, March 11. Volunteers will need to sign some forms and have enough cash to cover gas expenses and personal spending on the road. This is not an official Pellissippi trip. Oh, and there will be a student video crew to immortalize you as you swing a crowbar like a pro!

We will stay in the four-star accommodations at Camp Algiers and work with ACORN, an organization that is fighting big developers to rebuild local neighborhoods without displacing the population. There will be opportunities to sightsee in the nearby French Quarter and possibly other parts of the city. “What will we be doing” you ask? Gutting houses. You’ll be decked out in fashionable paper suits, removing everything (in the house I mean) down to the studs so they can be dried out and demolded before reconstruction. Sexy!

Want to go? Email me, fill out the forms, and meet us on time at 8 a.m. at the front parking lot at Pellissippi’s main campus by the lake.

Can’t go but want to help out? Donations are being accepted to cover transportation costs. Email me for that too. A few dollars from you means more boots on the ground to save houses.

Update: I’ve created a new blog for the trip here