Teammates

Here is a picture of me and some of my teammates! From left to right:

Kate,18, Maryland
Me!
Jodie, 23, Illinois
Deirdre, 22, New York

This picture was taken while we were volunteering at the NBA All-Star weekend down in New Orleans. We spent the day down in the Holy Cross district in the Lower Ninth Ward...perhaps the hardest hit area in the city. We helped paint houses and also helped assist in running the event and manage all the volunteers. We even got to work with Lebron James and Jason Kidd! I am not a basketball fan but I have been told that are a pretty big deal...haha.

I must say though, the NBA volunteer event, which was a city wide ordeal, actually left a bad taste in my mouth. It was nothing but a huge publicity stunt and very little work actually got done. The hot shot basketball players showed up for all of 30 minutes and didn't even put a dent in the work that needed to be done. Lebron James took 30 minutes to scrape paint off of a window that I could have done in 5 minutes. They spent most of their time on camera talking about how much the NBA cares about New Orleans and how glad they are that they can be here helping. It left me feeling angry and frustrated by the whole event. It also left me with little hope for the city of New Orleans. I fear that the rebuilding of the city has become too much of a pop-culture cause and in effect, little work actually gets done as people are too busy patting themselves on the back for menial contributions. Okay, I know I am being cynical but it just felt frustrating to see such a huge and powerful organization such as the NBA but on such a front for their efforts. It felt like the NBA was there more for good press than to actually help the people of New Orleans.