visiting an old friend...

It was an official day off for the Hands On volunteers, so, even though the WMG team was ready and willing to tear down some walls, we spent our first day in town exploring the French Quarter and visiting our old friend Shirley instead. Some of you may have heard about Shirley from our last volunteer trip in April. A waitress at the Coffee Pot restaurant in the FQ, Shirley had evacuated the city before Katrina hit, but due to the aftermath, was unable to move back into her apartment, and in April was still commuting all the way from Baton Rouge to work. She was happy to still have a job, but suffering in a million small ways from having her life turned upside down. As with everyone we'd met, Shirley was extremely grateful for the presence of hundreds of volunteers in town helping to rebuild, and after serving us a delicious meal of catfish poboys, expressed her gratitude to us in song... "take me to heart, and I'll always love you..." We recognized it immediately as Aretha Franklin's "Do Right Woman" (a Rhino legacy artist), but it was imbued with a special poignancy in light of all she'd been through. It brought most of us to tears and was one of the most powerful experiences of our April trip. Of course, Shirley was high on our list of things to do/people to see in the French Quarter, and we were relieved to find her still there at the Coffee Pot today. It was a very happy reunion for all of us -- she told us that she had found an apartment in the city three months ago (prices are more than double what they had been pre-Katrina) and that her life was improving. She serenaded us with another song, "Amazing Grace" this time, because "it's Sunday" she said.

After our visit with Shirley, we caught some amazing street performers and happily plowed some money into the local economy before heading back to Hands On. Jason, Drue, Dana, Jean, Rachael, James and I all worked for a few hours on a house across the street from the Hand On home base... cleaning up debris from their new roof and painting. Tomorrow the real heavy lifting begins!

Amanda Smith, c/o Becky