Wouldn't this be a great DU Project ?

[Catchawave]

A Meet Up in St. Bernard Parish !!!


Volunteer Opportunity in the Greater New Orleans Area

Habitat for Humanity wants to alert volunteers of an opportunity to work with the St. Bernard Parish Recovery Project in Louisiana. This opportunity is being coordinated exclusively through St. Bernard Parish. Please see below for more details.

Situation Background St. Bernard Parish, located to the southeast of New Orleans, remains one of the most devastated communities in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. St. Bernard suffered significant structural damage to 100 percent of its residential and commercial units. Not only was it victim of torrential rain and winds, but a massive storm surge left nearly all of the parish inundated. The citizens of St. Bernard Parish need your help to recover.

The Plan The parish launched the St. Bernard Recovery Project on January 12th, 2006. The first phase will consist of removing debris from storm-damaged and previously flooded homes.

Please note that this is not a Habitat for Humanity project. St. Bernard Parish is coordinating this effort . Habitat for Humanity is one of several organizations that have been asked to make this opportunity known to its volunteers. This effort is being organized by St. Bernard Parish and Homeland Security professionals and will be one of the most comprehensive community recovery projects ever undertaken.

Those willing to donate their time and abilities are asked to commit for a minimum of six days . St. Bernard will house volunteers in a tent city and transport them from site to site. In addition, the parish will provide three meals a day, shower and laundry facilities and wireless Internet capability.

St. Bernard Parish will coordinate the volunteer effort in removing health and safety hazards from homes and hauling the debris to the curb.

Committed volunteers must wear:

Eye goggles
Steel-toe boots with steel shanks (to protect soles from nails)
Leather gloves
Volunteers should bring four pairs of work clothes .
In addition:

Volunteers must have received tetanus vaccinations
The EPA, the DEQ, the LDHH, and the ATSDR all recommend that volunteers wear N95 heavy respirators .

If you suffer from asthma, reactive airway disease, mold/spore allergies, a compromised immune system, or are pregnant, on steroids, undergoing chemotherapy, have leukemia, or are an organ transplant recipient, you will not be permitted to participate in debris removal.

The opportunities to work on this project will be great. Officials have estimated needing at least 2,000 volunteers per week for several weeks.

If you are interested in volunteering, you can register for the St. Bernard Parish Recovery Project by going to the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity website at http://www.habitat-nola.org/projects/st_bernard.php and clicking on the registration link: http://www.habitat-nola.org/projects/st_bernard_signup.php

Please note that this is not a Habitat for Humanity project. The New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity is offering registration sign up as a courtesy to the St. Bernard Parish Recovery Project .

Media Notice : If you are a member of the media and wish to cover or volunteer with a Habitat for Humanity build on the Gulf Coast, please contact Joedy Isert, director of Public Relations, at 1-800-HABITAT, ext. 2330, or [e-mail] . Joedy can help you make arrangements and provide additional background information.

Please Note: Please do not respond to this e-mail as it will return to an unmonitored inbox. Again, due to the huge numbers of willing volunteers (for which we are very grateful!) and our limited staff resources, we are not able to respond to individual replies.


In partnership,
Operation Home Delivery Team
Habitat for Humanity International

[Vincardog]

1. Kick for NO

[Catchawave]

4. Whew, ya meant New Orleans, dint'ya :) ! ?

At first I just saw the post for NO, like, "no" ....:hi:

[Vincardog]

8. no no no I meant New Orleans I just tagged it so I could get back later

Now where do I get the shots and shoes?

[Catchawave]

11. M'darling when you kick for NO....LOL.

I thought that said "no"....sorry for my DU paranoia :hug: I mourned Chuck Norris's passing in the Lounge for 15 minutes before I was let in on the joke!

Last time I checked, Kmart has the boots and yer local Doc-in-the-box has the shot.

Are you serious about the volunteer thing?

[Vincardog]

12. YES If I can work out getting the GAS money to get down there

I an planning a trip to Pensacola later maybe I can fold this into that.

[ultraist]

2. That would be the coolest DU meetup, ever.

Senator Edwards will be in NOLA, partnering with Habitat for Humanity, for a rebuild NOLA project over Spring Break. Several universities are coordinating this with Opportunity Rocks:

Alternative Spring Break with John Edwards: http://www.opportunityrocks.org/springbreak/

[Catchawave]

3. We can do this !

And thanks for that link, am putting it out to the college kids NoW :hi:

I'll see if this thread gets more support, so I can cross post it in other DU forums.

[gryphon]

5. Passing it on

Looking to join myself, if I can find a way to get from northern Ohio to NOLA, and passing it on to all my friends.

There's a place in the registration pages that asks about groups volunteering, should any other DU-ers be interested. *not to subtle hint* X3

[LisaLynne]

6. That would be so cool!

Woo hoo!

[lostnfound]

7. A great idea! I can't volunteer but would contribute to a DU house

we could then challenge our counterparts to do the same...
oh, wait, we don't have any counterparts...!

:party:
:bounce:
:kick:

[Finder]

9. Irony...

I was just exhausting my brain trying to decide which charity would be appropriate to do fundraising for in New Orleans and took a break to visit DU.

Thanks for solving my issue. Gotta love DU.

[Jason9612]

10. That's a good idea....

Good thinking.