Students lend hands to fixing home
Homeowner Emanuel Odoms stops by his house in the Ninth Ward on Saturday (Aug. 31) as Tulane University students are working on it. Below, Gianna Lindemann, a first-year student, and sophomore Barry McGuire work on the interior of Odoms"s house. (Photos by Paula Burch-Celentano)
Inclement weather would be an understatement, but while lightning lanced across the sky and puddles deepened as they only do in New Orleans, inside a house on Independence Street in the Ninth Ward, Tulane University students participating in Outreach Tulane were a beacon of hope.
With over 1,000 students volunteering at about 30 sites throughout New Orleans, the 24th annual Outreach on Saturday (Aug. 30) was a citywide event.
“I thank God every day for the wonderful kids from all over the country helping me to come home.” -- homeowner Emanuel Odoms
“[By holding Outreach] on the first Saturday [of the semester], CACTUS encourages students to get their hands dirty helping the community early in their college experiences. Hopefully this sets a precedent of service for their time here,” said project coordinator Sarah Hostetler, a junior and co-leader of the team in the house on Independence.
I worked with Project Homecoming, which specializes in "full-scale rehabs of homes affected by Katrina,” according to Project Homecoming member Jason Chao. “We"ve completely rebuilt over 150 qualifying homes since 2007.”
Our crew painted and sanded the interior of the house, which was lucky, considering the rain pounding the exterior.
The most rewarding aspect of the experience was when the homeowner, Emanuel Odoms, dropped in to bring his dog out of the rain, thank the students and tell us his story.
After eight feet of water flooded his house in 2005, Odoms spent a month in Atlanta before returning to help his community. He allowed an organization called Common Ground to operate out of his mother"s house, providing neighbors access to paralegals, nurses and so forth.
When his daughter moved to Illinois for work, she reached out to Common Ground, which remembered Odoms"s commitment to helping the community.
“Common Ground contacted Project Homecoming, and they approached me about repairing my damaged house. I"m so humbled, and I thank God every day for the wonderful kids from all over the country helping me to come home."
Benton Oliver is a senior at Tulane University majoring in music, communication and German.
