New Orleans is Friendly and Warm and Caring

Wow! That’s all I can say about my morning today. So many things are running through my head I don’t know where to begin. I met such interesting people today that challenged my mind, challenged my heart and made me think about the wonderful country we live in. I met people in New Orleans that are totally amazing individuals and have made me reflect on my life’s choices.

Wait until you come out here, you’ll feel the same way by the warmth you’re greeted with and how thankful the citizens of New Orleans are to have the convention industry come back in full force.

The People

The first person I met was a cab driver that took such pride in being a citizen of the U.S. I needed to meet the Director of Volunteers for Habitat at a project site and I was advised it was about a ten minute drive out of the quarter. My driver was a little unsure of the address and asked if I minded if he used his GPS system. Note to self: get a GPS system so I can find my way out of brown paper bag.

This gentleman moved to the US 40 years ago from Bosnia. For awhile he lived in Cumberland, Maryland, not that far from where I am. He spoke about the love he has for this country and the opportunities it offers.

He’s so proud his two kids graduated from College and told them that you can be anything you want or don’t want to be when you live in the US. He even said if you want to be stupid you can be that too and you will be if you don’t embrace our culture and take advantage of the splendor and beauty this country has to offer. I told him my sister spent several months in Bosnia doing work and how beautiful she thought his homeland was. He was beaming and excited to hear that I knew something about his homeland. We live in a global community yet we so often forget that.

He told me he was here during Katrina but he lives in Metairie, LA so he wasn’t as affected. I told him where I was going and he talked about what fine works Habitat does and how proud he is to live in a country where citizens take care of their own.

Because he was taking me outside of the downtown area and it would be difficult to get a taxi back, he gave me his number to call him when I was finished. I did and tomorrow when I’m ready to go to the airport, I’m going to call him again. I want to learn more from him about his country and the land he calls home from his eyes. It makes me truly appreciate all we have here even though there are times when we don’t realize it.

Melissa was waiting for me among these brightly painted homes that were cute and “homey” and in the middle of some dilapidated, broken looking homes that were overgrown and abandoned – I was in the ninth ward – infamous for having people standing on roofs waiting to be rescued. Many of the homes still had the red painted markings from rescue workers following Katrina that indicated if they found people or pets or both.

But this neighborhood was coming back to life. It is known as musician’s village – an area that Harry Connick Jr. and Brad Pitt financially supported the rebuild of several homes – a place where 70% of the neighborhood is made up of local musicians – the lifeblood of New Orleans. But now they had Melissa, an incredible individual who has dedicated her life to helping others.

She was in her last year of graduate school at Loyola University working on her masters in comparative religions and then she evacuated because of Katrina. When she returned to school, she decided to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. It began to open her eyes to a whole new world. When the position of Director of Volunteers opened, she applied, got it and the rest is history.

The Effort

As Melissa told me, none of this was supposed to happen. She had a ten year life plan and this didn’t fall into that plan at all. She explained that many of the families who live in Habitat homes are first time home owners. They don’t give these homes away, they help families buy them by helping them get mortgages, teach them how to maintain them, how to budget and basically how to take care of themselves. These families are also required to give back 350 hours of volunteer time – sweat equity – to the program.

Melissa greeted the volunteers by name and boy did they love her. Her passion for this is contagious. She is proud of what she is doing and so excited to share her experiences with everyone.

She told me how Habitat is set up – did you know that none of the land is donated? Habitat has a real estate department that researches abandoned land and property that is in foreclosure. It was started in 1976 and have built or rehabbed more than 250,000 homes.

They rely on volunteers to do much of the work and have also set up networks of companies that are licensed electricians and plumbers to do this type of work. Habitat partners with groups such as AmeriCorps to provide project management at each site.

It’s an amazing opportunity to give back to the city in which you live as well as around the country.

PACE GIVES BACK

PACE is thrilled to partner with Habitat and hopes to get at least 50 volunteers to work on a project while we’re in New Orleans. Three years after Katrina, there are still areas that remind the rest of the State and our Country how we need to band together and support the efforts of this organization.

I know that when I attend the Professional Convention Management Associations annual meeting in New Orleans, one month before PACE, I’m going to participate in the Habitat program PCMA has set up – I think I’ll even look closer to home to do something.