Volunteers Leading Effort To Rebuild New Orleans NEW ORLEANS, LA (wypr) - NEW ORLEANS 3
SMITH
AIR: 1/16/07
TRT: 3:51



INTRO:

Some University of Maryland School of Law students thought they could visualize the flood-stranded elderly waiting to be rescued, fending off looters and leaving what amounts to their personal histories in the wake of Katrina. WYPR's senior news analyst Fraser Smith reports in the last of his accounts of the law school mission.
BODY:

AMBIENCE: 00:00 through 03:00 or so Ambs footfalls, walking upstairs

Alysia Parish one of the Maryland students describes what was found at the Christopher Homes project on St. Charles Highway outside New Orleans.

There were water bottles, coolers and clothing on ledges outside the building as if residents had taken refuge to wait for rescue boats.

Inside, where the students have been cleaning and disposing of unwanted material, they found graffiti intended for intruders. One of them scrawled on the front door of a 5th floor apartment says, Do Not Enter, You stole enough." Alysia adds in the rest of the message:

TAPE: (XX SECONDS), 03:45
IC: "You loot, we shoot."

She leads on through the darkened stairway.

TAPE: (XX SECONDS), 00:45
IC: "Watch your step here."





On the second floor landing we meet Ann Lash of Catholic Charities which ran the Christopher Homes project on in this spot 15 miles or so from what might be considered ground zero neared Lake Pontchartrain. But the devastating waters here hit 12 feet or so and forced residents to flee when they could. Ms. Lash says the former residents are living now in 45 states. Many want to return when the buildings are habitable again.


TAPE: (XX SECONDS), 02:405
IC: "How long will it take? We say at least two more years."

AMBIENCE: More ambs of walking through the dark stair case: 00:7 08:15

Clayton Solomon, who started the project, says he and others came to New Orleans to help people - and as a kind of lawyer's image rehabilitation effort. Several of law school students offered similar motivations.

TAPE: (XX SECONDS), 01:10
IC: "The way then legal profession is viewed.

A spokeswoman for Catholic Charities says the law students have contributed some of more than 250-thousand hours of volunteer work since Thanksgiving of 2005 when Project Helping Hand began. More than 15-hundred homes have been gutted - and 12-hundred more on the waiting list. Other church and non-profit groups have their waiting lists and accumulated volunteer hours. The effort helps to explain why some here say volunteering is the one aspect of Katrina recovery that is working. Clayton Solomon won't claim that distinction, but he says.


TAPE: (9 SECONDS), 03:06
IC: "The best way to get things done is to get your hands dirty." 03:15

Other students say the lessons have application at home. Robin Clark, of Annapolis, says the work triggers sober reflections

TAPE: (XX SECONDS), 04:04
IC: "Being here reminds you of how much work needs to be done in Baltimore."

And Emily Levinson says the job of sorting through removing personal belongings like photo albums illustrates the storm's impact on lives.

TAPE: (13 SECONDS), 07:00
IC: "It's been heartbreaking we're going through people's personal belongings, throwing things out. Very personal and heartbreaking." 07:13

As dramatic as the landscape of devastation can be, Ms. Levinson said it might have been worse.

TAPE: (7 SECONDS), 05:38
IC: "I was glad to see it wasn't as much of the ghost town as I expected." 05:45

This was so, in part, because volunteers have been clearing away some of the worst examples of Katrina's power for more than a year..

I'm Fraser Smith, reporting from St. Charles Highway outside New Orleans, for 88-1 WYPR.


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