Brandon Donohoe

Today was the first day during the trip that I truly experienced first hand, the full extent of damage that the hurricanes have had on New Orleans and the surrounding areas.  I had seen exterior damage to houses but today was different.  There are the houses that obviously have damage and you could see it with a quick glance at the outside but I was surprised to see that in most areas these houses were relatively few.  My first thought was that there had been an incredible amount of progress, (and there has) but not to the extent I had initially thought.  Today I gutted a house and I was able to, for the first time, see the inside of a house in a normal neighborhood. The house, along with many others in the neighborhood, was rather nice and looked to have a minimal amount of damage.  Upon entering, however, I could tell immediately that I was wrong.  These were not living conditions.  The amount of rot was overbearing.  This started me thinking about all the other houses and wondering, despite the looks of the exterior, if all of the other houses were as bad off.  I began to notice the orange "needs construction" signs on many of the surrounding houses.  It was then that I realized that the extent of damage was much more widespread than I had anticipated at first glance and in preconceptions I had had.  The people of New Orleans still need help and I want to be a part of it.  There is much to do and we are only slowly chipping away at it but hey, every little bit helps.