As you approach, there is a small sign with an arrow pointing to the village. The sign is easy to miss and to most it looks like you are pulling up to an aging local stadium. But, there is *much* more here then meets the eye. Beneath the stands lives an wonderful vibrant community of energetic and compassionate volunteers from all over the country. It is truly an amazing place -- three square meals a day, showers, beds, air conditioning and a store house of generators, nail guns, ladders and various tools to help with the rebuilding effort.
What I enjoyed most about staying in the village was the people I met there. Each day I looked forwad to the time to share a meal and stories with the other volunteers. The first evening I met three older ladies that I had just arrived. The three Beth's were from the NYC area. One from Manhattan, one from the burbs and one from Jersey. One Beth was a retired social worker in the NYC school system. She is always looking for ways to contribute and recently read about Habitat's recovery work on the Gulf Coast and instantly wanted to get involved. She convinced her two friends to join her in the adventure by volunteering together for a week. The three flew in to New Orleans and did a driving tour of the devastation before arriving in Biloxi for dinner. All three were nervous about what the week would have in store for them and feeling humbled by the enormity of the task and their limited experience and skills. What joy to see the excitement on their faces a couple of days later when they shared the fun they had learning to use a nail gun!
The village is full of people of all shapes, sizes, ages and backgrounds. There are people here for a few days or weeks and those that have made significant time commitments. There are lots of young AmeriCorps volunteers. I also met an older gentlemen from a religious community that was staying for six months. Over in the ladies dorm I shared space with a sweet lady working with BFS Compassion First. She had been living in the stadium for 5 months and had made commitment to stay on another year as long as funding and volunteers kept coming. C- became my true hero of the trip when she shared the secret of how to get hot water for my shower!!!
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NOTE: The sign on the post marking the Katrina High Water Mark. The water would have been over my head.
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