Spring Break '06

[bryanthompson]

Last week kicked some serious ass. A few friends and I volunteered to go to New Orleans to help with the Katrina relief effort. Our group was made up of about 80 students from Omaha and Lincoln. There were several other groups like ours that made up the whole group from Operation Blessing (http://www.ob.org/). In New Orleans, somewhere around 4000 other students had assembled and were volunteering as well.

Aside from the ridiculously crappy leadership at every level of the organization, it went very well. We were divided into groups of about 12-17 people, and we were assigned different projects in and around the N.O. area. My group was assigned to gut a house (about 2 blocks from the University of New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain) that had flooded. Here's a quick series of before, during, and after pics. Basically, we had to remove everything except for the studs and exterior of the house. All sheetrock, insulation, cielings, floors, tile, fixtures, windows, doors, etc., had to go.






We even weakened and pushed down the old garage, then moved every piece to the curb. Here's our finished pile after 3 days of destruction:


The lady that we did this house for hadn't lived in N.O. for long, but was obviously very intelligent and well off to begin with. She owned several other houses and commercial properties around the city. Politically, I agreed with most of what she talked about. It was really interesting to just listen to her talk about why she thought that all of this was happening, who f'd up, who should be the next Mayor, etc. I did feel like we should have been helping someone who needed the help a little more, though.

[bryanthompson]

Of course, you can't go to N.O. without visiting Bourbon Street. We quickly became the black sheep of our group, since we were the drunken sinners who stumbled back to camp at midnight . (I'm the short guy)


Thursday morning, the four of us packed up and drove down to Panama City Beach, where we hung out until Saturday afternoon. Panama City was totally insane. We checked out Club La Vela, which is the largest night club in the country. There were MTV DJ's and cameras *all over* the place. It was just crazy.

[bryanthompson]

ah, crap, I'm not even back for a full day and I go posting in the wrong forum. Who's the goose.

Please move to OT... sorry :|

[ilikemy944]

Yea, club la vela rocks
hehe...

[944 boy]

I actually have a friend who is in N.O. dooing cleanup. She is there for a few more months.

[livewirevoodoo]

Hand Grenades!

Tastes like grain alcohol and turns the world sideways. Must be why everyones eyes are red in those pics

[bryanthompson]

http://www.ob.org/programs/disaster_relief/news/2006/dr_2006_0322_SpringBreakKatrina.asp

SLIDELL, La. - A group of 65 students on spring break from the University of Nebraska traded their suntan lotion and days of frolicking on the beach last week for face masks and safety suits to volunteer with Operation Blessing’s disaster relief team in the New Orleans area.

[masraum]

Well, good thread, but not really what I was expecting. You almost got there, but then slipped back. More bikini's please.

Good work.

[gaijindabe]

That demo is hard work. Bully for you guys.

[bryanthompson]

Well, if you insist....

[Joeaksa]

Glad someone cleared up the drink! Thought it was a bong for a while. Read about those years ago...

More photos please!

[rattlsnak]

Being from Slidell myself, the people there cant thank you guys enough for doing this. I have been going back and forth from ATL since it happened to help my family and friends and see you guys (students) everywhere.

I wish more people would publish more photos like yours. It seems most people havent necessarily forgotten about Katrina, but they certainly dont think about it as much as maybe they should.

Yes, it is still very much a complete mess there. Most of my friends are living in FEMA trailers in their front yards while repairing their houses. Thats right, families of 4,5, etc living in one, two bed trailers for over 6 months now. Its simply uncomprehendible until you see it with your own eyes.

[bryanthompson]

This girl was definitely a crowd favorite

That girl in black actually won the contest

... here is her signature move

Over at the whip cream bikini contest, I had to get a 'that old guy' shot

5 of the 8 whipcream bikini contestents were actually Nebraska girls.

[bryanthompson]

Originally posted by rattlsnak
Being from Slidell myself, the people there cant thank you guys enough for doing this. I have been going back and forth from ATL since it happened to help my family and friends and see you guys (students) everywhere.

I wish more people would publish more photos like yours. It seems most people havent necessarily forgotten about Katrina, but they certainly dont think about it as much as maybe they should.

Yes, it is still very much a complete mess there. Most of my friends are living in FEMA trailers in their front yards while repairing their houses. Thats right, families of 4,5, etc living in one, two bed trailers for over 6 months now. Its simply uncomprehendible until you see it with your own eyes.

I can honestly say that I have never been around a bunch of more grateful and polite people. Wherever we went, people would tell us their life stories and treat us like long lost family.

I was really proud of our group of students... Yes, there was plenty of debauchery and crazyness at the party locations, but when the time came to get dirty and do some work, there was no complaining. Most of the people I went down with are planning on a return trip over the summer.

[masraum]

Yep, that's better, thanks.

[rattlsnak]

OK, Im done,.. thanks again,.

More Bikini pics,.. NOW!!

[johncj8989]

Chicks are cool and stuff.

[bryanthompson]

somebody shot the hangman, apparently.

About 5 or 6 Army dudes parachuted down onto this target on the beach, which was pretty cool.


Back to the N.O. pics.

When the water came up over the bridge, it made air pockets under the sections of the roadway and carried them away. They took the remaining sections from the bridge going into N.O. and moved them to the outgoing bridge, so they at least had one complete. You can see here some of the remaining mixed with the new sections.

Real close to where the levees broke... not much left at all.

The GPS on top of our Explorer read this +- 7 ft.

[Jims5543]

Bryan - That was really cool of you. What a selfless way to spend your spring break. Its people like you that make a difference in the world. Also, thanks for the pics.

You touched on this point though and it struck me funny. You were helping a lady who owns multiple homes and commercial properties? Why did she need "Free" help? I also have to wonder why it is taking students to get the job done when all kinds of money was donated to the red cross and congress has passed bill after bill earmarking money for the area.

Where is all the money going? You see, this is exactly the kind of stuff that makes you hesitate to donate to "charities" in an effort to help.

Maybe in the future I should just take a week off from work and go help too. Maybe sending money isn't the answer.

[legion]

Originally posted by livewirevoodoo
Hand Grenades!

Tastes like grain alcohol and turns the world sideways. Must be why everyones eyes are red in those pics

Yep. I have my plastic "grenade" proudly displayed on my bookshelf in my study.