Over spring break a group of Cabrini students took a trip down south to New Orleans, Louisiana. They volunteered at the St. Bernard Project(SBP). This organization helps rebuild homes that were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The organization saw the low and insufficient process of rebuilding houses that were completely destroyed by the hurricane.
With the support of donors and sponsors, the organization went from a three-person team to a nationwide organization. They seek to rebuild homes quickly, share building innovations, prepare homeowners for disasters, advise policymakers quickly after a disaster happens and advocate for the reform of disaster recovery.
Cabrini students attended church at the beginning of the week and went to a museum that gave them a background of the city. There are so many houses in the city that need to be rebuilt or repaired. It’s been about 15 years since the disaster had happened and the city is still not fully back to where it was.
Eight Cabrini students worked all week on the house that was assigned to them. They laying down flooring and painted the exterior of the house.
Ariana Yamasaki, a senior digital communication major, loved the experience and how she bonded with other Cabrini students on the trip that she didn’t know prior to this trip.
“We would do reflections every night to get the group thinking about why we were here and get us close to one another,” Yamasaki said.
Another student on the trip was Michelle Guerin, senior digital communications major really enjoyed the trip. She loved that she was able to do something to help a community from a natural disaster and be able to give a family a place to live.
Guerin spent the entire week paint if the outside of the house. ” You might think painting a house all week is boring but when you’re with a bunch of other people and all working together it was actually pretty fun,” Guerin said.
She continued talking about the background of why she attended the service trip.
“I really wanted to visit New Orleans one point in my life but instead of taking a vacation out of it, I wanted to give back to a community that was at its worst,” Guerin said. “I knew that Hurricane Katrina was a huge effect on Louisiana but I had no idea how bad it was.”
Different schools will spend about a week or so and work and do different things to get the house ready for someone to live in it. When the house is all done and ready to be put up for sale, Saint Bernard Project will take pictures of the house to show all the people who worked on it the finished project and what all their hard work has to lead up to. They are able to give a family a home to live in!
Aside from working, Cabrini students went to Cabrini High School within their week in New Orleans and learned more in-depth about Mother Cabrini as well.
Visit Campus Ministry on the third floor of Founder’s Hall to find out more about service trips.
I think it was amazing for the students to go there and build a house for the local community. We should promote such things so that everyone can become more empathetic.