Outreach Tulane is day of work and reflection
Tulane student Jamie Logan pauses in her volunteer work tidying the New Orleans Mission on Saturday (Aug. 29) during Outreach Tulane to chat with President Mike Fitts, who also performed public service on the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina"s landfall. (Photo by Sally Asher)
The morning air was thick and hot as I climbed onto a bright yellow bus destined for the New Orleans Mission. It was only 8 a.m., but already 1,000 student volunteers had gathered on Tulane University"s uptown campus for the 25th annual Outreach Tulane day of service. Although many of us had volunteered before, there was an unspoken awareness that today would be different.
The date was Aug. 29, 2015.
To most, it was just another Saturday morning. To residents of the Crescent City, however, it was a reminder that the lives of countless New Orleanians were forever changed when Hurricane Katrina decimated the city exactly 10 years before.
The floodwaters have long since drained, but the New Orleans Mission, a nonprofit organization providing services for the homeless population, was nonetheless in the midst of repairs. The small collection of New Orleans Mission buildings is located at the heart of Central City, a neighborhood that kisses the border of the more affluent Lower Garden District. The mission provides shelter for nearly 300 people and feeds more than 600 men, women and children on a daily basis.
My group entered the women"s quarters with a handful of cleaning supplies, and I soon found myself climbing bunk beds to dust windows and scrub furniture in a way that I never had before. Tulane University President Mike Fitts joined us at the site, stopping to pressure wash the steps of the office building with a second group of students.
Afterward, as volunteers gathered at A. L. Davis Park for lunch, Tulane students and a group of Central City boys started a pickup game of basketball. Those who sat nearby soon began to cheer in support.
New Orleans undeniably lost a lot in the storm. But that day, I realized that deep down, the heart of the city beats on, waterproof, within its people.
Jamie Logan is a junior majoring in English and classical studies with a minor in psychology at Tulane University.
