Chuck goes to New Orleans

Chuck may as well be a super hero. I like to imagine that the pouch is more of a cape and that he goes around doing things that no one expected he would be able to do.

Go to the West Edmonton Mall Water Park? YES! While there did he face down big waves and plummet down scary waterslides that give whole new meaning to the word wedgie? YES! (Let's just say I'm very thankful for Chuck as one particular slide was enough to make you almost eat your shorts and I'm sure for those people who have to use that part of their anatomy any trip to the bathroom was probably painful.)

So what is the latest that Chuck did? Well Chuck and I went to New Orleans to help do Katrina relief.

Let me back up a little - I work for Boardwalk and right here and right now I'm going to lay down what is so awesome about working for this company. Several times a year our CEO spends a boat load of money and takes around 40 people to go do volunteer work. They used to go to Tijuana and work with YWAM (Youth With a Mission) but with the unrest in Mexico right now the new location this time was New Orleans.

So off we went to high humidity, crazy high heat, no local bathrooms and a room mate I've never met before for the whole weekend. There were long flights, foods we don't usually eat and hard physical labour which was tough on my precious computer typing fingers that don't usually see any kind of real work.

I think it is safe to say that the world has mostly forgotten about New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina seems like a lifetime ago and how could a city in the USA possibly need help 6 years later? When you drive down the street everything seems okay at first glance but then you notice most of the houses look like this one - broken windows, chains on doors and no one living there.

The build team I was on was doing mudding and taping in a house that belonged to a man named Milton. Milton is in his 80's and had to go to work to start paying rent so he could live in New Orleans - even though he's owned a house for almost 50 years. Right now that house is in the process of finally being fixed up - 6 years after the fact. This is a picture of Milton sitting with us on Saturday - he came for a visit to say thank you to the volunteers for working on his house. I'm surprised the picture turned out - it's hard to take a picture when your eyes are full of tears.

He used his cane to point to where the water rose on the house - it went right up past those stairs you see on the right and stayed that way for 2 weeks.

Imagine a community where your whole family lives close by. Both sets of grandparents are near and it's not unusual for your kids to be able to walk to several homes belonging to aunts and uncles. The tight-knit community became a huge liability during the flood - everyone lost everything and no one had anyone to turn to and live with during the rebuild.

On top of that the housing that was liveable now is renting at a premium price because of the lack of supply.

In comes the St. Bernard Project - the group that we helped out with. They do mold remediation and rebuild the homes from the bare studs. To say that it touches a persons heart would be an understatement. We heard from one woman (a deputy sheriff) that they were finding bodies in homes even 2 years ago - when your whole family is wiped out no one thinks to go looking for you.

Chuck did amazing even though the humidity was so crazy that I probably could have wrung water out of my clothes every night. I did change him on the Sunday but that was more for my own comfort and not because he really needed it.

He did great on all the flights - even flying through the night on the Friday. And I can safely say that without having gone through the surgery there was no way I would have been able to participate in this amazing weekend. There was no washroom facilities at the home - we had to make van trips to the local McDonalds. Luckily I had the best van driver of the group and that meant washroom breaks whenever our team needed.

I can say this - even if the only thing that had come from the past weekend was meeting my Edmonton team members and spending time with my co-workers from across the country I still would have called it a huge success. Helping out a family or two in need was icing on the cake really - or maybe it was the other way around.

Hmm...maybe I should get someone to draw Chuck in a comic book - he could be OSTOMY MAN!!! Even if I am never able to get the surgery reversal and even if I'm never independently wealthy and even if I never live anywhere other than my own little house, I am so blessed. The city of New Orleans is in my prayers and if you ever think that maybe you'd like to do the travel/volunteer option I totally recommend a trip to New Orleans and volunteering for the St. Bernard Project.