Habitat for Humanity Failings?

There is a Page 1 story (registration required) in todays NY Times about Habitat for Humanity's struggles in New Orleans. The gist of the story is that Habitat is ill-equipped to handle a job like cleaning up after Katrina because their mission is small-thinking (build a few houses at a time) and New Orleans needs big thinking right now. My favorite quote is:

Its (Habitat's) mission often seems as much about providing spiritual fulfillment to its volunteers as it is about improving the lives of homeowners.

(Remind you of anyone?)

Now I think this is too harsh, but perhaps only slightly so. Habitat is extremely focused on improving the lives of the people in New Orleans. And their efforts are rejuvenating the Upper Ninth Ward (and other areas). But the amount of effort needed is truly daunting and the demands of building and rebuilding 200,000 or so damaged homes is bigger than Habitat can achieve. Still, they should not be the only answer -- just part of it.

One issue Habitat's has is its reliance on "Fly By" volunteers -- people who come in for a day or two at most. A typical day at Habitat is 30 minutes organizing at the main site, 20 minutes organizing at your specific house site, an hour training new people on what you are working on that day, finally four hours of work (split by lunch) and 30 minutes "rolling up". So each day is a half day in reality.

Now, when people like myself come down for several weeks, that process is much improved. We can skip the initial hour of training and free the house leaders to do more. But there is always a new set of people each day and it takes so much time to indoctrinate them.

Perhaps a better solution is to have significant number houses on which longer-term volunteers can focus (and move quickly) -- and a smaller number of "Fly By" houses for the one day people. Of course, to make that work, Habitat needs a large set of longer-term volunteers. So, when I go back, I am looking for people to take with me.

Round 1, Final Thoughts

Friday's New York Times had an article (registration required) on flight of young, middle-class professionals away from New Orleans -- suggesting this was the newest threat to the survival of the city. A key point was that employers were also leaving the city and that would increase the "brain drain". In fact, New Orleans had been undergoing this exodus for years before Katrina -- it has just accelerated since the storm.

But on Saturday, several letter-to-the-editor appeared, arguing the point that while some people were leaving, more were coming in or combing back. Many were people who wanted to help rebuild the city. I think the great people I worked with at Habitat are just those type of people. And I bet some of them stay in New Orleans and make it their home.

With a few days back now to reflect on what I saw in New Orleans, I think the city will come back very strong. The culture remains strong as ever. Great food, great jazz, the seedy fun of Bourbon Street, the East Village feel of Frenchmen's Street, the antebellum grandeur of the homes on St. Charles Street, the racially agnostic crowds to see the Soul Rebels Brass Band at Le Bon Temps on Magazine -- it is all uniquely New Orleans and so worth the experience. I can't see this changing any time soon and with each passing day, I think the city will revive.

It will be hard and there will be setbacks -- but the renaissance will be worth enjoying. And I am going back to help this year (in the Spring) and in the future.

Back Home

I came back home this week, leaving New Orleans to face a new issue -- their first deadly tornado in 40 years. After toiling under 70 degree weather (sometimes on the roof), the ice and cold of New York is quite a shock. But at least I could help shovel the snow/ice for the wife (a major concern I had was we'd get a huge storm and she'd have to shovel herself). I guess I will have to wait until it is warmer before I go back (and I do plan to go back if the wife is okay with it).

In my time in New Orleans, I saw several houses go from having no roof and or walls to having shingled roofs and sided walls. But, I never had the chance to see a house get finished. That, I think, is the piece de resistance for a Habitat worker. Instead, I will have to just show you a picture of the finished houses. These are in heart of Musicians Village and were the first to have people living in them.

I really liked the fact that they adopted the New Orleans style -- with their brightly colored exteriors and large (relative to the house) front porches. They really do represent a beacon to the neighborhood of hope and progress. As soon as a Habitat house is started, repair and construction on surrounding houses begin. In this, the effect of building one house magnifies to the whole city.

Matthew 5:14-16

Several people have emailed me to tell me that the biblical passage to which I referred previously is Matthew 5:14-16. I am thankful for the help but more grateful that people are reading the blog.

Here is the passage (as sent to me):

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

h/t Chris, GeorgeK and others

Habitat Heroes

So many people have said very kind things to me for what I am doing (and for that I am very appreciative). Everyone I have met in New Orleans is appreciative as well. But there are people here who really deserve great praise for their efforts. People like:

• Gail from Minnesota, who took time off from her job to work for a month
• Mark (from Chicago) and Andy (from Boston), who are consultants who quit working for six weeks to come down and help
• Matt, from Oakland, who is here for a month and staying at Camp Hope (with limited heat and water) for the experience
  
• Eric, from Houston, who is waiting for his contractor license in New Orleans and is working every day while he waits.

Their commitment and effort is so impressive and it was great to meet them and work with them.

The most impressive were the Habitat staff that have committed a portion of their life to rebuilding New Orleans. I wanted to laud them for what they are doing.

People like Karyn (pronounced "Car eN"). Karyn obsessively learned every one's name on the first day (when she had 100 people working with her) and remembered mine a week later. She was a long-term volunteer who took a job for Habitat to stay on and help.

Or Rachel. She spells her name incorrectly, but patiently taught me how to use a circular saw and mitre saw. Rachel always looked for me every morning to say hi and thank me for coming out. Here is Rachel, early one morning, smiling as usual...

Then there is Ann (shown here with David, who I have mentioned before). Ann is building her first house for Habitat and having a great time doing it. I helped raise the roof with Ann. Every day, she made us introduce ourselves and get to know one another. She inspired us to work hard and then relax "as hard as we can" so we could work hard some more.

I also loved working with Kaitlyn. She always was doing something crazy and fun. But her heart is as big as her insane side. And she was always finding a way to make volunteers feel good about their effort.

I admit that at first, I was wary of Jerod. For one, he drove this car that looked like it had been in a can crusher (he was rear-ended he claims) and he was always saying something bizarre. But, in reality, he really cares about doing a great job for the people who will be living in the homes. And that car provided us with our roll-up (when we wrap up for the day) concerts so it was all good.

Finally, there was David (pictured twice above). David is a long-suffering Cubs fan who has been working for about 3 months in New Orleans. My introduction to David was when I went onto his roof (we were putting down tar paper and then shingles) and freaked out. But I got over my fears and soldiered on, helping us make good progress. I ended up working with David for an entire week and he recognized my talents as a leader so let me run with the siding efforts. Here is proof that David knows what he is doing (my sided wall!)

It is really an honor to work with these people and certainly a key part of the Habitat experience. They are such heroes in my mind for what they are doing for the people of New Orleans.

Be a light to the world

Billy, one of the head people from Habitat gave us an inspirational talk this week. I had worked with Billy before and he was one of those people who just knows how to make you feel at ease. When we were raising the roof, Billy helped guide our efforts (as our house leader Ann was raising her first roof). One time, I did something wrong and Billy noticed. Billy comes over to correct me -- but how he did it was so impressive. Billy first confirmed my name and then thanked me for all the good things that I had done so far. Then, after making me feel good about myself, Billy kindly told me I was an idiot (he actually gave very sound advice in a constructive and polite way).

As you can tell, Billy has this incredible manner of dealing with people and so I was very interested in what Billy had to say. Now, Habitat for Humanity is a religious organization and most of you know I am not so religious. But Billy's message, while based on the bible, is universal to all of us. His simple message was -- don't complain and be a light to the world. It is based on a biblical passage that Billy referenced and I don't recall.

I personally don't like whiners. Life is tough for everyone, deal with it and move on. Whining is just an immature, selfish act to get attention. And there are so many reasons to complain when working at Habitat (see my first day post). So, Billy struck a cord. But he went on to talk about also being a light to the world. Inspiring the world with your attitude and joy. I liked the idea and walked away feeling motivated (as Billy does well).

As I walked away to my group, I saw Latetia -- the day one homeowner-to-be (see http://jim-miller.blogspot.com/2007/01/owwww.html). Latetia was wearing her green-paint stained jacket. I veered away from my team to talk to her. She gave me a great big hug -- like we had been friends for years and asked me how I had been. We talked for five minutes and again, I loved to hear her talk about her life and learning everything about how her house was being built (I hope her house is painted the green of her previously black coat!). I think I would whine about working my 350 hours to get my Habitat home (and worked with some people who did just that. But not Latetia -- she sees it as an opportunity to better herself.

Maybe Latetia complains sometimes, but I don't think so. I'll probably never see her again -- but she is a memorable person. She is, as Billy asked us to be, a light to the world.

Supervision and Demolition

After a few days of small volunteer numbers, Carmax and Sherwin-Williams bused in over 700 volunteers (props to them for making the effort, it was impressive. Buy your next car from Carmax and paint your house with Sherwin-Williams paint.) When we have 80 or 90 volunteers, we have about 40 people for 10 Habitat staff. With 700, we had 200+ for 5 staff -- quite a difference.

But given my "experience", David (our house supervisor) asked me to drive the effort of a small team. I was able to basically lead a team of 10 Carmax volunteers in siding a house. After a week of construction, I am now a team leader! Perhaps I am overstating -- but it was kind of nice to give instruction and correct mistakes, instead of making them. I only made the "Holiday Inn Express" joke once. (They asked how long I had been doing this -- and I said today's my first day, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Lame, but my jokes usually are.) We did a pretty job good -- but we'll see if David wants me back tomorrow.

The other thing I have noticed is that home demolitions seem to be happening all around. My original thought was this is a good thing -- people are working on getting their land ready to rebuild. But I read some and it appears that some of the demolitions are Government-driven. Homeowners are given about a year to return home. If they do not, the home can be demolished. I understand why -- but it seems that so much of the process is unclear (insurance payments, aid payments, levee decisions, etc are just not decided) that I would expect more leniency. I think there is a huge amount of rebuilding occurring and that is great. I hope that all levels of wealth are being treated well.

(Side Note: We are working on Texas Roadhouse Homes for Habitat. Texas Roadhouse challenged all their restaurants to sponsor a complete home for Katrina reconstruction -- and it appears they came through. So, show some love to Texas Roadhouse as well!)

Lower Ninth Ward

Warning: This is a long post with many pictures. I think it is an important topic so I wanted to do it justice.

As mentioned before, I am working with Habitat in the Upper Ninth Ward. The Upper Ninth was damaged -- but not as devastating as the Lower Ninth. This is because the Industrial Canal, that splits the Ninth Ward, had a levee break on its East side and flooded the Lower Ninth. (The Upper Ninth flooded from a different levee break.) The following picture shows an aerial view of the break.

The dark square area (with a finger pointing down) on the left edge is an empty lot where Habitat's Musicians Village is now (in the Upper Ninth Ward). Due East is the main levee break on the Industrial Canal. A key point is the fact that where the levee broke (and all north) are homes. With precious few exceptions, none of the homes close to the levee are standing any more.

Today, I was stopped on the Claiborne drawbridge (at the bottom of the picture, where the word "Image" is) and took this picture towards the northeast.

The road on the left runs down the levee. You can see the slabs, where homes used to stand, but there are almost none left. About 15 blocks long by four blocks wide, there are maybe ten houses left where 200 or so used to stand. I was told that a thirty foot wave swept into the neighborhood when the levee broke, lifting the houses off their slabs or pedestals and slamming them into trees, cars, and other houses. The houses that remain look something like this,

this,

and this. You'll also notice the blue house in background. The dark spot is a repaired roof, from where the people inside broke open the roof to escape the flooding.

Another view of an roof that was the escape route for a family (this house was father away from the canal).

Here is a closeup of what is left of a home. You can see the stairs leading to a stoop, the cinder blocks that raised the house, and some sort of sculpture in the front yard.

Yes, the Lower Ninth was a poor area - but nearly 60% of the people living there owned their own homes. They were mostly employed and were contributing members of the great city of New Orleans. They were extremely unlucky -- in that the levee broke on their side of the canal -- and I think, for the most part, they want to return to their land (most don't have an inhabitable home any more).

The most hopeful sign was a FEMA trailer, just 2 blocks from the levee. The reason this is hopeful is that FEMA trailers can only be put where there is electricity and potable water. Eighteen months after Katrina, the Lower Ninth Ward finally has electricity on its most damaged streets. How can this happen in America?

Mardi Gras!

After being visiting New Orleans for over 20 years, I finally experienced a Mardi Gras party. The Krewe du Vieux kicked off Mardi Gras with the adult-themed parade, aptly named "Habitat for Insanity". My Habitat workmates, Grace, Joanne, and Barbara, and I attended and had a very fun time. The trio are so nice, hard-working, fun-loving, and, like me, wanted to come down to help. It was very enjoyable to meet them and make some new friends. Here are the ladies, pre-parade...

The parade was a bit late in starting, but once it got going, was a blast. Typical Mardi Gras parade (from what I have seen on the television), except for the biting sarcasm and overt sexuality.

Here is Barb, getting some love from a special friend.

I especially loved the digs at politicians of all flavors. This is the committee-to-elect Congressman William Jefferson passing out some "cold" cash.

In true New Orleans style, parents held their kids on the shoulders to see the sperm swim by.

It was really fun and yes, I caught some great beads.

Afterwards, we had a few drinks at Pirate's Alley and met many locals. There, like everywhere, the people are incredibly friendly and invariably, so appreciative when they find out we were here to help rebuild. One young guy shook my hand three times and later gave me a hug. He was almost in tears I think. And that has been the norm -- locals are so thankful. It really makes you realize that, while working at Habitat, you may be building one person's home -- but you are helping to rebuild a city as well.

Happy Mardi Gras!

Raise the Roof

As 2 Live Crew says,

Everybody hold your hands high, wave them side to side
We're going to raise the roof and get this party alive.

We returned to the Wednesday site today and finished the job we started that day. That's right, we raised the roof for real. It was very exciting for a non-construction person like me to actually do something that made a demonstrable difference in the house's structural makeup. Here is the house before our work,

And here is the (nearly) completed roof,

My job was toe-nailing the right side of the trusses to the frame. Easy stuff really (but no nail guns so some physical effort involved). I learned cool tricks like putting in a guide nail (instead of chasing the truss all over the frame) and how to walk and work on the outside of the frame. And I was able to play some more Skil saw games as well!

On the human side,

• I met a soon-to-be-owner in Robin from Minnesota who has been in New Orleans for 3 years (so was only here a year before Katrina). Robin has really committed to New Orleans I think and it is cool to see her out here working and planning to live in Musicians Village. Living in the Upper Ninth Ward, Robin will be in the minority for the first time in her life I think.
• We heard about the Peters family -- married for 60+ years and done with the "sweat equity" time and their house is 2+ months away. 30+ grandchildren and great spirit and committed to rebuilding in New Orleans. If that doesn't make you smile, you aren't human.
  
• There was a young boy, maybe my daughter's age, riding his bike by our site today. He rode up and down the road, sometimes stopping for an hour to watch us work. Initially, I was amused but we realized he is probably the only kid in the area -- so he has no one to play with and a 20 foot long FEMA trailer to live in. He seemed happy, but it has to be hard to him. He should be hanging with his friends and playing -- not learning how to build houses.

Every day, there is hope and sorrow here.

Rained out, doubleheader tomorrow

Due to a very rainy morning, our work today was canceled. Apparently all inside work has been done due to a very cold and rainy winter in New Orleans (damn you, global warming!) Tomorrow looks better and so there will be pictures.

Heading back to the hotel, I drove out Canal Street (one of the main business streets in New Orleans), past the French Quarter, Uptown and eventually to Metairie. That drive made me feel pretty good about New Orleans finally recovering from all this. Sure, there were some signs of destruction (an actually pretty cool looking bay window from a San Francisco-style Victorian row home, painted in pink, with basically no house attached to it). But overall, it looked like the city was coming alive. Many businesses open and others with signs proclaiming they would open soon. And then there is Metairie, a classic American suburb with many people driving SUVs. I know Mandeville, Kenner and some of the Westbank cities are the same way. Those suburbs will bring business and life back to New Orleans.

Of course, New Orleans also lives on tourism and the French Quarter. I finally made it down there last night and, while relatively empty, it was clear business was returning. Though some, I think, should stay away. (I am sorry, but a Country bar called Bourbon Cowboy in the French Quarter - well, that is just wrong.) I ate a fantastic meal (actually, I was treated to a meal by some great volunteers from Boston and San Francisco who I have worked with every day -- thanks again!) at NOLA. And though NOLA was semi-empty, the staff was really enthusiastic about the recovery of their city.

Eugene, one of the staff, grew up in the Upper Ninth Ward where our work has been done. He said it was very hard for him to go back there now, as he remembers houses that he used to visit and hang with families and friends. But now, the houses are destroyed and so many of the people he cares about are gone. Still, he is confident (a self-described go-getter -- which I believe) that he will be fine and so will the city.

And, even the Upper Ninth looks like it may come back. While there are only about 10% of the houses currently occupied, you can see that people are coming back. This is especially true of the Habitat areas, as a Habitat community is surrounded by FEMA trailers and occupied houses. I know it will be years and years before this area is fully back -- and it will take a great deal of work by locals, volunteers, the Government and others who are helping. But I see signs of hopefulness, even in one of the worst-hit areas.