Permanent Teams and Our First Assignment

The last two days have been long, tough, and emotion-filled. Wednesday was a day of both excitement and dread as we awaited the revelation of our permanent teams while not wanting to leave our temporary families. I am absolutely amazed at how quickly the bonds for Temp River 1 have formed and the love and friendship that we have for each other after only a week and a couple days. I am definitely sad to be leaving these awesome friends, though I know we will still have some time together for the rest of the month and when we return for project transitions. On Wednesday night, however, Temp Team 1 came to an end for me, and River 5 became my permanent home. River Five consists of 4 former members of the temp team, which is awesome. Drew, Brittany, Joe, and Mario are joined by Neva, Molly, Nora, Dianca, and Eric, and led by Team Leader Allie. We spent the day getting to know one another and beginning bonding. Starting over will be a struggle, but I am sure that the friendships will grow strong throughout our time. At the end of the day came the revelation of our first project! River 5 will be joining River 2 in Chalmette Louisiana, 10 miles from New Orleans to work with the St. Bernard Project. St. Bernard parish was the first to be declared unlivable following Hurricane Katrina 5 years ago and continues to rebuild. To date, the St. Bernard Project has built over 270 houses in addition to gutting and rebuilding homes. Our group will be trained and serve as building site supervisors for construction, gutting, and rebuilding of residences in Chalmette. I am extremely excited to return to the Gulf Coast after 2 previous rebuilding trips shortly after Katrina. The 6-7 week stint will provide the opportunity to do so much more than we were able to do in the 4-5 days trips. More details to come as we begin our briefing on the project, but we already know that our housing is conveniently located next to a laser tag arena. Not sure it gets much better than that.