Hop’s Blog

Saturday morning, De Pere, WI — Our group of volunteers from Our Lady of Lourdes leaves today for an overnight drive to New Orleans to help in the continued cleanup and rebuilding after last year’s Hurricane Katrina. We don’t know exactly what we’ll be doing, or what conditions are like. We do know we’re stying in an abandoned middle school that was flooded during Katrina. Some in the gymnasium, some in bunkbeds in old classrooms. We’re not sure how many others will be stying there, but we do know there’s a grand total of 9 showers to share.

Last night, Father Tim Shillcox held a mass for us and our families. He described a recent photo he received of the Northern Lights and how that type of phenomenon may have been what led the Wise Men to Bethlehem. They, too, knew not where they were going, but simply set out to follow the light. And Father Tim rather aptly pointed out that in order to find a guiding light (or to shine brightly yourself, for that matter), one must first plunge into the darkness.

And so we 34 ordinary people do just that, too. We head into the darkness not only of a long night’s drive, but of a strained and devastated area and people who continue to know great sorrow and an unknown future. We hope to not only bring a little light into their darkness, but to find a guiding light for ourselves, as well.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 6th, 2007 at 9:23 am and is filed under New Orleans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.