That’s right, New Orleans, Louisiana!

Some charity work was long over due for myself, so my friend Ashley and I hopped some planes to New Orleans and got to work.

We were working and staying with “Hands on New Orleans,” a charity organization that helps put volunteers to work in a number of ways across the city.  In exchange for volunteering, we got to stay at their bunk house (which was stocked with food) for a mere $25.00 a night…an awesome deal if you ask me.

We wanted to stay busy and try a bunch of things, so our first day we worked at a mission making lunch for about 150 people.  After the food was prepared they needed our help reorganizing their food/supply pantries.  Organizational skills are in our blood, so we were in heaven.  We finished in no time and they didn’t have any other work for us to do, so we decided to drive to Baton Rouge for our free afternoon.  It took about 1 1/2 hours, but it was a beautiful day and a beautiful drive and I got to see another state capital!!!  Baton Rouge is a quiet little city, so it’s funny that the state house looks like a ridiculously huge sky scraper, but the view from the top is pretty impressive.  There was also a free state museum next door that we took advantage of.  We learned so much about the unique culture of the area, complete with local food styles, creole influences, jazz funerals and Mardi gras customs.

Baton Rouge, State House

Our “oil spill response” task was cancelled for the next day because the fishermen were going back to work, so there weren’t any boats to take volunteers out on the water.  We were bummed, but at least it was cancelled for a good reason.  We did some chores around the bunk house and then took the streetcar headed for the French Quarter to do some sight-seeing and shopping.  That evening we were helping out at a Halloween party at the children’s museum.  The kids were a handful, but we had fun and got out just in time to see the parade go through town.  The costumes and floats were pretty cool!

Our last day of service was spent at the Lower 9th Ward Village.  We were supposed to be rebuilding houses/yards, but we showed up so early, we were asked to help make t-shirts for the volunteers.  So we were taught how to silk screen and for 8 hours, that’s what we did.  They also fed us a delicious catfish lunch and got to meet a few of the other volunteers, some of which came from all over the world.

making t-shirts

We were pretty happy that in addition to doing some fun and diverse community projects, we also had plenty of time to explore, especially around the French Quarter.  It was a delicious trip.  Besides the local catfish, we also got to experience seafood gumbo, jambalaya, bread pudding, benyays, and fried alligator!  Mission accomplished 🙂