Hands-on Work Succeeding Where Government Has Failed

Written by Lisa Hartman, member of First UU Church of San Diego and UUSC's volunteer regional coordinator for Pacific Southwest

I recently returned from New Orleans, La., where I participated in a service project to rebuild housing and office space for the Welfare Rights Organization (WRO), one of UUSC's partners in the Gulf Coast. Director Viola Washington and her small staff work to link disrupted and displaced survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita with services and resources to help them return home and/or improve their living situations. WRO’s membership seeks to monitor policy and advocate policy changes on issues that affect members’ lives relating to welfare.

I, along with five other volunteers, hung drywall, repaired exterior holes with siding to protect the structure from further weather damage, did carpentry, painted – anything required to reopen the office and transitional housing space so that Viola could return to her office. Her husband James, a radiology tech, took time away from his job at the VA Hospital to instruct us. He, through necessity because of Katrina, had become a self-taught carpenter.

Working together as a team in the heat and humidity and sharing peanut butter sandwiches on the porch were a spiritual practice for me. “Chop wood, carry water,” as the Zen Buddhists say. There is a connectedness amongst peoples of all backgrounds, and I felt knitted into that connectedness.

This five-day project was supported by the UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast Volunteer Program. For five nights, 11 volunteers were housed on the second floor of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans. We cooked together, slept in dorms together, traveled together, made decisions together, worked together, played cards together, and met in the evenings to discuss our experiences together. My life has been enriched by being with those other people, many of whom I had never met before. I look forward to other opportunities to contribute what I have to offer and share with others in service.

Two years after Katrina, I am alarmed and saddened to see that city, state, and federal governments have neglected rebuilding efforts in neighborhoods that were severely damaged by the storms. One late afternoon, while walking through the city, I approached a mother and her son – they were sitting on a dirty sidewalk, asking for money. After giving her what little I was carrying in my pocket, I had to remind myself that this is America, the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world. She and her son are citizens. I am a citizen. I have a son. I could be her – dependent on the generosity of others to feed my boy.

Our government systems have failed. Nearly 125,000 New Orleanean families remain without permanent housing – some living in toxic trailers, some sleeping under bridges, some camping on the streets and in gutted-out buildings. Other residents simply cannot be located. Half of the schools have not reopened, as they succumb to a rapid state of decline, are eaten by mold, and blanketed by tenacious ivies. The financial district is a ghost town. New Orleans, home to generations of families, has been all but forgotten by the government. This is a travesty.

The Senate is now considering S.B. 1668, The Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act, co-sponsored by Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Mary Landriue (D-LA). This bill helps low-income families by providing permanent affordable housing. It will also help people get back into public housing. We can encourage our senators to support this bill. It is time that we demand that our national government step to the plate.