The St. Bernard Project

I spent my spring break in New Orleans, Louisiana and it was one adventure filled week. At first glace you might think I went to NOLA for bourbon street, St. Patrick’s Day and all the spring break festivities however, I decided to go to New Orleans for a different reason.

  I made the 8.5-hour trip (well actually 11 because the rain caused floods) to the gulf town with UNT Alternate Spring Break, more specifically with UNT Greek Life. Our community partner was St. Bernard’s Project, which is a nonprofit aimed at the rebuilding of devastated homes from hurricane Katrina and Rita. They have two categories of rebuild: owner occupied and opportunity housing. With all of the homes ruined during these disasters, one of the most affected populations was the low-income renters. New Orleans is still unable to supply the demand of housing, so rent has nearly tripled since 2005. A new project through St. Bernard’s Project called “opportunity housing” fixes homes for these low-income families to purchase a home at a reduced price with options of renting and rent-to-own as well. Their motto is “to bring people home” because their sole goal is to provide someone affordable housing that was displaced in the aftermath of a disaster. It has been over 10 years since Katrina but there is still a great need in the area of New Orleans. As you drive you can still see vacated homes, destroyed buildings and water lines over ¾ on homes and city buildings.  

*Fun Fact: St. Bernard’s Project is now a national nonprofit partnered with AmeriCorps that has stations in Texas, Missouri, Louisiana, New York and New Jersey that rebuilds affected homes in the wake of hurricanes, floods and tornados.*

Reading this you might wonder why someone would give up time I could be at the beach to go on a service trip. For me though, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I decided to apply for this trip first because it was with Greek Life. The people I ended up going with are from IFC, PanHellenic, MGC and NPHC representing 9 chapters in total. I wanted to get connected with people form all branches of Greek life and to meet new people I otherwise wouldn’t get the opportunity to. 

The second reason I went on this trip was to help learn about disasters, their impact on communities. As an emergency planning major, I was excited to see if this is something I can see myself working with more in the future. The actual work is something I never have experienced before. Our Site-Sup, Anna, taught us how to tile floors, hang doors, and clear grout lines. I was teamed up with Barrett and our job for all 4 days was to finish tiling the shower and the floor of the downstairs bathroom. By the end of each day, cement was all over us (tiling is a lot harder than you would think). But through it all, we had fun and I learned a lot about myself. I am so proud to have left that house better than we found (especially that bathroom because it is beautiful).

            We worked in the mornings and had a chance to adventure around NOLA giving the trip a great balance of heard work and great fun! Getting to know everyone on the trip and exploring a city I have never been to made the trip even better and I would recommend the program to anyone in the future. I wouldn’t have wanted to spend my spring break any other way and can honestly say it has changed my life and perspective on the world.

Roni Fraser, PC Fall ‘15