Building in NOLA with the Saint Bernard Project

Building in NOLA has been absolutely incredible. Typically Bike and Build stops to build in areas we are biking through for one or maybe two days at a time. However SUS stops and builds in New Orleans for a week each summer. We are working with an organization called The Saint Bernard Project. The Saint Bernard Project is working on homes within the Saint Bernard Perish and they do some really awesome things. Our site supervisors for the week also happen to be past Bike and Builders who are currently in Americorps :):):) For the week the team has been split in two working on two separate build sites. Nate is my site supervisor for the week and we started out working on a house that needed to be finished. I spent the day doing odds and ends such as scrapping junk off of the newly installed flooring and making sure everything was swept and looking pretty. I worked with Dre, Mel, and Edie for most of the day. Others worked on finishing up railing on the stairs and scraping paint off of windows from a previous group that had volunteered but caused more harm than good.

On our second build day we headed to a new location that was close enough to bike to!!!! Again we split into groups according to tasks and I ended up taping off windows and painting for the day with Christine C. Alyssa, Edie, Kenan, and Josh A. ( Josh had chosen me as his person to pick on for the day! Lucky me lol) Painting in this house has been fun because we are literally painting the entire house. It's nice to see the transformation day by day and even hour buy hour. The home owner stopped by and it was nice to meet him. An elderly gentleman born and raised in NOLa. Unfortunately I don't really know anything else about him or his story because I was unable to talk to him for very long :( All in all the day was wonderful. Filled with lots of lunch time jokes, conversations over paint, and bonding.

After returning "home" for the day Steph and I walked to Walmart so that she could restock her food bin. ( She has a peanut allergy so she has to keep all of her food separate) The walk was nice and relaxing and it was good having one one one time. Walmart was a blast and we got a ton of food :) After arriving back at our host for the night we had dinner. Mark's parents cooked for us. Dinner for the evening was beans and rice and I actually enjoyed it. Kristen should be proud!

After dinner the leaders gathered the entire team for an announcement. It was then that we found out a leader on SC2SC, Christina G., was struck by an SUV and killed. It's hard to describe the whirlwind of emotions that we went through. Although I didn't know Christina it didn't matter. She was one of us. Although she wasn't one of my teammates she was someone's teammate. I am deeply deeply saddened by the loss of a fellow rider and my thoughts and prayers go out to the entire SC2SC team as well as the Bike and Build community and Christina's family. Hearing this news was not at all easy and it really just reminded me that what we are doing is dangerous. Each and every day that we get on the road, even if we as cyclists do everything right, there is always that risk. Many many prayers for peace of mind and healing of hearts. However, even in tragedy there is good. Seeing the entire team and Bike and Build community come together and love on one another during this difficult time has been a wonderful wonderful thing. SO MUCH LOVE. SO MUCH SUPPORT. We are a family and we will get through this together. It is with that mindset that we face each new day. We ride united for Christina.