Louisiana

After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans a few years ago, I had the opportunity to travel down to Houma, Louisiana and help to rebuild and clean up the mess the hurricane had created. I decided to go and worked for a week in Houma with members of my church. We worked with MDS and did various jobs around the community including roof repair, yard clean up and removing of mold in the walls. The devastation down in Louisiana was immense and the lasting problems caused by the flooding would stay forever if they weren't addressed. This community was a part of the working poor in America, with jobs but unable to get ahead in life. As we worked I came to know many of them and appreciate the struggle they went through on a regular basis to make ends meet, and that was without the hurricane wiping things off. I started to become aware of how much these people were ignored and not thought about in the lives of most people. Becoming active in the national community and helping other people out is not only important to them, it is for the good of all of us.

When I was working in Louisiana, I began to realize that it's not enough to volunteer once in a while or just think about your own community. Especially now, moving people in the United States isn't about fixing up their homes, it's about becoming their friend and teaching them life skills and specific skills so that they can get a better job than the one they had. It is about doing everything we can to support this person and get them on the way to be able to take care of their family. Ending poverty isn't just going to be done by fixing up homes or by a government bill, it is going to take the national community waking up and helping out the poorest and the lowest in our country.