Restoration

When I planned to come to Camp Restore in New Orleans twelve years after Hurricane Katrina, I thought it would be for housing restoration. Having spent only one week down here it is already clear to me the amount of physical work that still needs to be done. I’ve learned many people who were affected by Katrina left New Orleans and they never looked back. This explains the abundance of broken, left behind buildings and homes. Abandoned houses stand next to restored ones, which are across the street from new stores and around the block from forgotten restaurants. A few days ago, I was driving back from the drug store with Sinan, one of the German interns, he pointed out the window and claimed we live next to a shopping center! To my dismay I found myself staring at an empty strip mall. We then agreed it was, in fact, no longer a shopping center but just a vacant building. All of this physical emptiness and abandonment seems like enough work to deal with, but many of the restoration needs are not just fixing buildings, but also providing mental and emotional encouragement. Therefore, in addition to Camp Restore’s construction work, many of the volunteers here are sent out to local non-profits and community partners who work to renew New Orleans’ people and spirit. Native New Orleanians are called y'ats because the common greeting here, “where y’at?” These y'ats are the ladies who will call you baby and sweetie and the gentlemen who will hold the door and welcome you in. The restoration work here is preformed and organized by these y’ats, because they really just want everyone who comes to and lives in New Orleans to feel peacefully at home. Service is performed everyday by y’ats and volunteers working in schools, food banks, animal shelters, thrift stores, coffee shops, community gardens, churches, car washes, homes, senior centers, parks, and clinics, and there is no shortage of people to serve. Camp Restore houses around 3,000 volunteers each year. As Pastor Goodine, Camp Restore's director, says, these “people come here voluntarily, pay to come, and come here to work” so they obviously have compassion in their hearts for the ministries here and the healing of the broken. While there may be a community of hurting people in New Orleans from hurricanes, flooding, or hardships in life, there is another community with the desire to heal just as Jesus did. Every year these volunteers perform acts of service to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, rejuvenate the tired, inspire the lost, and uplift the forgotten. I came here thinking the only restoration was physical construction but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Building is only a small part of the work done by the staff and volunteers here at Camp Restore. They really live up to their motto here of restoring faith, home, and community. Perhaps the volunteers that come can receive personal restoration just as they offer it to the city. I am so excited to become a part of the family here at camp because I know that whenever I am sent out to pull weeds and move mulch or sort clothes and sweep floors, I will return to a support system that is grateful for every minute of service I and all the other volunteers are able to give. So, if you ask me “where y’at?” I’ll be here in NOLA, restoring and being restored. Until next time... we’re just taking it minute by minute.

Prayer and Praise:

- Please pray for Texas and everyone affected by Hurricane Harvey

- Please pray for New Orleans, as flooding could happen if Harvey heads our way

- Praise that Madison's birthday is on Wednesday. Pray for a fulfilling, healthy year.