Day 6 - Saturday

Bright sunshine greeted us on our final work day - although the temperature wasn't as welcoming.

Today's bloggers are Tim Walsh and Cailin Byrne.


Tim Walsh

Today was a freezing cold day by New Orleans standards. The day started off normally by waking up at 6:00 and leaving the hotel by 7:30.

Unfortunately because it was Saturday, our awesome greeter at the hospital elevator, Miss Betty, was not there to say hi to us as we left. As we arrived at the worksite it was a balmy 50 degrees outside. My group which includes Cailin, Matt, Kelsey, Mr. Perry and me went to our third house off the week were we were doing odd jobs to prepare it for its framing inspection. The work was light and it was a nice way to end the week working for a half day.













Then in the afternoon we went down to the French Quarter to finnish out this amazing week. We walked around for a couple hours buying overpriced t-shirts and watching various street performers. The highlight of the afternoon was Bourbon Street which is interesting to say the least. Downtown New Orleans is such a unique place which is completely different from the major cities we have in the northeast.

We finished out the day at the New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood restaurant were we stuffed ourselves full of hamburgers, hush puppies, and complementary soft-serve ice cream. We all said goodby to Avery who is the director of RHINO and made our trip so incredible.

It has been amazing week and we are all proud of all the work we have accomplished.


Cailin:

So today was our final day here in New Orleans. It was so weird not having Morgan here with us today. My team (Kelsey, Matt, Tim, and Mr. Parry) went to a third work site for today. We worked on preparing a house for an inspection by doing little jobs around the house. I filled holes with caulk, while Kelsey, Matt, and Tim put up bevels under the roof. I also helped to put a security lock on the doors. We also carried sixteen foot two-by-fours to the work site. The work day went by way too fast because thing we knew it was time to go.









We met back up with the other team and saw how far they had come with the wood flooring that they have been installing all week.




























We all headed back to the hotel to clean up and then headed out to the French Quarter. We were given about two and a half hours to walk around and shop there. We all went to a cute little café for lunch and then wandered the streets looking for cool stores. It was amazing hearing and seeing all the street musicians. Some of the music we heard was incredible and very New Orleans. While the guys stopped to watch a magician, us girls strolled in and out of boutiques. We found the coolest music shop called Peaches full of vintage vinyl records from a whole range of genres. Hannah and I also bought some beautiful handmade jewelry from a street merchant. We of course stopped to buy some beignet mix. For dinner we out to a burger and seafood place with Avery. We all ordered and reordered the crawfish queso dip because it was so amazing.

Sadly, tomorrow we head home. Just like last year, I have built up a connection to the homes that we worked on. I want to stay and see them through to the end when the owners move in. It is the best feeling in the world to know that you are making a difference in someone’s life and not just building a house. You are building a home, somewhere where a person can go to in the evening after work and feel safe and happy. I have had such an amazing time this past week with my friends and wish that I could come back next year for a third time.

Goodbye, New Orleans. It’s been a blast!