MARCH 20, 2009 – NEW BEGINNINGS

Today is the first day of spring! Katie appropriately described our experience as a new beginning in more ways than one. We have been blessed with “new life” emerging all around us – from new insights, new inspirations, new zeal, new paint, new flower garden, clean carpets, shiny windows, exquisite workmanship (?!), and new friendships, however, we can’t say that for our bodies – new in the sense of discovering new muscles?! What is REALLY new is the new life we hopefully are helping to create for MISS MINNIE, who wants to move in today. She has been waiting TWO years to come back home. We quickly discovered that MISS MINNIE can teach us a lot about patience!

Besides new beginnings, March 19th is St. Joseph’s Day. This is second in popularity next to Mardi Gras here in New Orleans. We began the day with Mass at Mater Dolorosa Catholic Church. Four from our group helped the Sisters at the Lantern Light prepare for their St. Joseph Table. They helped serve over 300 guests!

Then the rest of us went to the worksite. We all were very busy putting the final touches on the house. We will only put in ½ day on Friday. Therese continued to till the soil and then planted many beautiful flowers and bushes in front of the house. Pegge continued to pull hanging vines from the fences in the back yard and helped Kathy spot, vacuum and shampoo the carpets. Katie was the “Detail Queen for the Day”, painting the lattice between the stained glass windows ALL DAY!!!

So then, after another loooooong day, we all headed to the Catholic Charities site for an appreciation dinner – St. Raymond’s Catholic Church. We prayed in the “upper (class) room” before we prayed and presented Kay and Tom with the Nano Lantern because they so beautifully lit up our lives with their inspirational lives and deep faith. Their prayer before we started our work this day, for example, inspired all of us. They talked about working together and used the image of two hands interlocked together, bringing together the strengths and weaknesses of each person, where one person’s strength cancels out another person’s weakness. The supper was nothing to write home about, however, the fact that we could be there together with 250 other volunteers and to honor Kay and Tom was more than rewarding. Each person from each group then put a hand print on a wall to add to all the many other volunteers.

Then we returned back to our apartment and prayed some more, always sharing from our hearts about what touched us and how we saw Jesus in our lives that day. We prayed our farewell over Sr. Mary Catherine from New Windsor, who is on her way back earlier than the rest of us because of a Community Discernment.

What better way to top of this wonderful day than to go down to the French Quarter. The three of us and the Presentation Sisters took a stroll down the bustling streets that lined the French Quarter. We stopped into some souvenir shops, coming out with new relics to show our friends back home. To end our evening rendezvous, we made a stop at the Café du Monde where we indulged in Beignets. For anyone who isn’t aware of what a beignet is; it’s a delicious French doughnut loaded with powdered sugar. Let’s just say at the end of the night we all looked like we took a powdered sugar bath. It was an evening filled with so much laughter, happy moments and memories that will last much longer that our beignets did!

Day 5 The Dawning of a New Faith Journey

Day 5: The Dawning of a New Faith Journey

Friday, March 21, 2009 was our final service day in New Orleans. Although we only worked a ½ day at MISS MINNIE’S house we surely made an impact. Therese slaved away at finishing up Minnie’s landscaping and garden. Sister Pegge and Kathy, the lay associate from Fargo shampooed inside the house cleaning carpets and furniture, while Katie wrapped up with painting the exterior of the house. We finished the house around noon and that is when Miss Minnie showed up! All the hard work that we all put into the house paid off a thousand times over when we saw the look on Miss Minnie’s face when she saw her new home! She was so grateful and thanked each of us for all we had done. And even though someone from the outside would just see a beautiful new home, it was much more than that. One must realize we were in a difficult neighborhood, where people are hesitant to warm up to newcomers. Yet, each day the neighbors were out on their porches, watching us work, and even getting up to clean around their yards! Everyday when we left, the neighborhood waved in such a way, we could feel the gratitude. In conclusion to our service project on Miss Minnie’s house, we blessed Miss Minnie and the whole neighborhood. It was sooo powerful! We packed up our supplies, said our farewells to Miss Minnie and Tom and headed to Café Reconcile.

Café Reconcile was packed when we arrived, but Mary Lou (a Presentation Sister who helps manage the café) found us a place to sit right away. The food was out of this world great! After our bellies were full, Mary Lou gave us all a tour and history of Café Reconcile. The Café was founded in 1996 by Craig Cuccia, the late Father Harry Thompson, S.J. and Tim Falcon. The goal was and is “to help revitalize Central City.” Central City was drug infested along with the whole scene of crimes and murder. It was so hopeful to see the little but mighty reconstruction development going on in the neighborhood. Now people from throughout the city are drawn to the area – revitalizing historic sites, building new housing complexes, renovating old buildings for office space! We were all so amazed by Café Reconcile because, not only was the food amazing, but it’s non-profit and welcoming; it also is set up to help at-risk youth learn “work, interpersonal and job skills.” Words cannot describe the abundant respect we all gained for the Café and anyone who works for Reconcile.

Later in the day Pegge led the entire volunteer group in a beautiful prayer service Jesus our model for service! We each painted a piece of a mosaic that when assembled together became the face of Jesus! We each shared a little part of what we gained from our experiences, how we grew spiritually and new realizations that we came to know over the week.

After our wonderful prayer and discussion, we headed over to the Presentation Sisters house for dinner. We had salad, pizza, cupcakes (Katie mistook a mini pecan pie for a candle – haha!) and of course, life-giving conversations with one another. Each person was then presented with a little flashlight which symbolized the “light of Christ” and a simple blessing was prayed over each person. After saying our farewells, we all journeyed back to our humble dwelling place where we began packing for our return home. Katie, Brianna and Natalie took one last stroll through the local area taking in all the sites and enjoying the time they had left with each other. After stepping outside ourselves and really looking at how we had changed over the week, we came to see that even though our journey in New Orleans was finished, it was the dawning of a new faith journey for all of us.

Day 3: St. Patrick’s Day marked the third day of our service trip. All three of us were sent to work at The Lantern Light/Rebuild Center. There are four Presentation Sisters from throughout North America ministering there: Sr. Vera from the International Union, Sr. Enid and Sr.Anna from New Windsor, NY and Sr. Marie from Newfoundland, Canada. When we arrived at The Rebuild Center, we met Sister Vera. Vera is fondly called THE SISTER. The others tease her, but she has been in the New Orleans area since 1980, so she is well known in the area. We delighted in her Irish brogue. After a brief summary from Sr. Vera about what her tasks were, we were then sent in different directions. Sister Pegge went off to learn about how the guests at the Rebuild Center received their ID Cards. These cards are important to find any kind of work, etc. The Sisters pay for each ID - $18 for a new one or $8 for a renewal. Katie and Therese helped in the kitchen, assembling sandwiches into bags. It was a good day because the food kept coming and coming – a truckload of food was delivered to the Center, consisting of macaroni, jamalaya, pasta, and a lot of mixed salad! This was truly a miracle of multiplication of loaves! This was a real bonus because they usually have to buy 80 pounds of lunch meat a week and slice it for sandwiches. 177 were served and on Monday, 219 were served! The numbers have doubled since last year. So…any donations are put to good use.

Then on top of that came three large bags of makeup which Therese knew where to store. Also, Therese assembled bags of toiletries for handing out. Later on in the day, the three of us walked out into the crowd of guests who were waiting for their ID cards, anticipating Lunch or just hanging out. We learned so much from visiting with the people. Each story was different, yet somehow they all had the feeling of strength and strong will. The face of the “homeless” is not predictable! Sr. Pegge spoke to someone who was working on the oil rigs and made $22/hour and now waits everyday for a phone call to return. They help each other – giving each other ideas about where would be a good place to stay – however there are only TWO shelters in New Orleans! The very cheapest rent might be $600/month! Katie spoke to somebody who had to evacuate from his apartment after Katrina. He spent quite a bit of time in Houston and JUST came back to New Orleans six months ago. He told us, “I just had to come home.” In the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, Katie and Sr. Pegge (with flute in hand) performed Irish tunes and melodic jigs. The guests seemed to truly appreciate the music and even attempted to try their hand at Irish dancing. Katie wooed everyone with her Gaelic song. Then after, one of the homeless came up to Katie and asked, “Explain to me about this St. Patrick’s Day?? I thought it was just about drinking!” So Katie told the story of St. Patrick’s miracles in Ireland to him. He was amazed.

After Dinner, Sr. Vera showed us the houses that the Center had built for those who have been left homeless, and looking to own their own home. We were in awe at how lovely the houses were! As we drove around New Orleans looking at the houses, we also distributed food to the Day Laborers. The workers were all so gracious for the meals they had received. It really made us stop to think about how thankful these people were, and how ungrateful we can be at times for small acts of kindness. It is so true that we learn so much more from the poor than they could ever lean from us.

Later in the evening, our whole group of eleven traveled to the Presentation Sisters house for a St. Patrick’s Day meal! We indulged in an excellent meal, superb conversation and all around good fun, or as the Irish would say, “Good Craic!” (Pronounced Crack, meaning fun or a good time!) At the end of the day we came together for our evening reflection and prayer led by Carla. We came to a definite conclusion that Day three opened our eyes, ears and hearts to the wonders God has made, in the most unusual places and on the most over-looked facesJ God is good, all the time!

AMEN!

Day 1 and Day 2 of Presentation Service Trip to New Orleans

Tom and Kay from Peoria, IL. Crew leaders who have worked in the Standing Rock Reservation area. They donate their time from Nov-April of every year.

The Presentation volunteers waiting to be assigned work sites for the day.

Presentation volunteers

The two "burly men" we encountered at that New Orleans, LA airport.

Therese, Katie and Sr. Pegge after getting blessed by the Presentation Sisters.

DAY ONE and DAY TWO
Presentation Sisters’ Service Trip to New Orleans, LA

SUNDAY, March 15, 2009: Sister Pegge Boehm, Katie Phillips from Trail City and Therese Perino from Aberdeen were blessed with “May the Blessing of the Lord be upon you” by many of the Sisters as we left Presentation Heights for Aberdeen Airport. Sr. Pegge’s brother, John, would be happy to hear that all three stopped at McDonalds for a coffee on their way to the airport. The flight from Aberdeen to Minneapolis to New Orleans was happily uneventful! (We’re glad we had that coffee earlier, the hot water didn’t work on the plane from Minneapolis to New Orleans!) It was the first time for all three of us to come to New Orleans. At the airport, we saw two burly men holding up a sign that read, “Welcome Finalists for The Millionaire Maker.” We took a picture, because we knew it would be the closest any of us would come to a million dollars! Sr. Mary Catherine from New Windsor, NY picked us up at the airport as we scrunched into the backseat with luggage and three others in a moderately sized SUV. We passed many areas still devastated by Katrina! We arrived at an apartment building – Mater Dolorosa - where we will “camp out” for the next week. There are 67 apartments in this complex. It used to be a school, and is renovated as handicapped accessible. It was flooded during Katrina, but has been since restored. There are 11 of us from all over the country – four (two youth, one Associate and one Presentation Sister) from Fargo, one from Dubuque, IA; three of us from Aberdeen; one Presentation Sister from San Francisco; one Presentation Sister from New Windsor; one from the international Union. We all enjoyed a piece of pizza for supper, then we received our orientation and everyone introduced themselves. We went to bed about 10pm.

MONDAY, March 16, 2009: Some of us didn’t do too well sleeping – a learning curve using cots. We made our bag lunches and headed off to receive our orientation from New Orleans Catholic Charities. By next week, they expect to pass a milestone – the 20,000th volunteer since Hurricane Katrina! They talked about their gratitude for all the youth – probably about 200 – from throughout the country: St. Louis, New Hampshire, Fordham, Mt.St. Mary in the East and then there was our group – Presentation Sisters and our friends. They told us that many residents received $40,000 to renovate their homes, however, the REAL cost actually came up to $100,000 and besides that, MANY, MANY got TOOK by the contractors! In fact, the house we worked in today shared a similar story. Miss Minnie told us the contractor absconded her money and her grandson’s money! Catholic Charities really wanted to help her because of what happened to her. We met her at her house this morning – Miss Minnie – and she was excited to tell us that she wanted to move in this week, however, the electricians still had to come to fix up the wiring, which was all mixed up in the renovation. She had new kinds of windows installed – you should be able to pull them out and clean them – however, they were closed shut – no way to clean them on both sides! Also, the copper tubing was stolen off of two air conditioners that were in the backyard, before they were installed. Also, someone came and stole all the copper tubing from underneath the house, so now she has plastic tubing. Many of these people are TRYING to reconstruct, but many times it is one step forward and two steps back, through no fault of their own. And to make it worse, the Louisiana state government, which is Republican, is refusing to accept Stimulus funds because they want to make a statement against President Obama. And you know who suffers with politics like that! Another lady likened the stealing, etc. to someone being stripped of their clothing, leaving them stark naked and vulnerable!

What did we do today? We were divided into two groups. Sr. Pegge and Therese were in the same group and Katie went another direction. Pegge and Therese painted, and cleaned up Miss Minnie’s house inside (good thing because it was raining all day!)
We’re all going to supper tonight at Sr. As I said above, she wants to move in this week and the contractors did such a shoddy job, so we spent a lot of the time, priming, painting and cleaning windows, bathrooms, kitchen. We can’t wait to see Miss Minnie see the transformation of her house! And we’re not done yet.

Katie went with another group of six volunteers to help clean up a house that was struck by Hurricane Katrina. Their duties consisted of painting, mudding and cleaning up around the house. They encountered a wonderful woman named Clara who told the group about her experiences with Hurricane Katrina. It was a truly touching experience.

Mary Lou Specha, a Dubuque Presentation Sister, who is the director of CAFÉ RECONCILE, a place youth learn how to cook, how to manage a business, how to comport themselves in a business environment. She came in 2005 for a service trip, liked it so much and moved here last June, 2008 to direct this program!!!

Getting Started!

This is the first try at blogging for the Vocation Outreach ministry! Look for blog postings about our service trip to New Orleans next week!