Fifteen members of String of Pearls went to New Orleans in February for a service learning trip. Several service projects were performed in the devastated Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood, from clearing brush on overgrown lots to removing debris from a destroyed house to helping build a community garden. Participants report that the work was tremendously rewarding and was done alongside local residents who benefited from our collective labor. Additional learning came in the form of tours of sustainable housing being developed in the area and also of the ecology of the lower Mississippi River basin. Trip coordinator Evan Yassky concludes, "Mostly we learned from each other, about the value of dedication, teamwork and lending a helping hand to those in need."
The group consisted of parents and their b'nei mitzvah or post-b'nei mitzvah children. The five day trip was coordinated through New York based Jewish Funds for Justice and focused on helping a local community in their continued struggle to rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were the most extensive disaster in the history of the United States. Despite $7.5 billion of federal funding, Louisiana's Road Home program, which makes grants to help homeowners rebuild, delivered funds to only 2.5% of the 115,000 applicants they attracted in January 2007. 80,000 Mississippians are still living in FEMA trailers. Billions of dollars allocated for relief and rebuilding are stuck at the state level, not getting into the hands of those who need it.
Read the article about the work done by String of Pearls members in the New Jersey Jewish News.
At the same time, the outpouring of time and money from the rest of the country sets a new standard for how community service makes a difference. With the help of volunteers, entire houses are gutted and re-built, clinics are run, and hope is brought to Gulf residents. String of Pearls participants were honored to be part of this process.
Service learning trips to Louisiana and Mississippi provide insight into the scope and breadth of the disasters, an opportunity to hear stories about what happened there and why, and the chance to make concrete change to improve people's lives, all in the context of Jewish community values.