Northern ArizonaAcademy

Our Spring Break Community Service Trip.

Northern Arizona Academy students, parents, and staff recently returned from a Spring Break Community Service Project in New Orleans. The NAA Group spent 5 days working in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, an area of the city that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.  The rebuilding of the largely African-American neighborhood has been especially slow and difficult, as the area faced significant poverty, unemployment, and lack of opportunity before the storm hit.  Most evacuees still have not been able to afford to return to their homes, and many homes in the neighborhood remain in disrepair. 

We volunteered through The New Orleans Rebirth Volunteer Program which is a project of the Center for Ethical Living and Social Justice Renewal and First Unitarian Universalist of New Orleans. Students stayed in the volunteer center with volunteer groups from around the country and got a taste of communal living, dorm rooms, shared living space and responsibilities, and outdoor showers.

Our project was “Our School at Blair Grocery” which is a school and community garden being built at the site of Blair Grocery, one of the first black-owned groceries in the area. Nat Turner, originally of New York to New Orleans volunteer group, is the director of the school.  Student projects included building gardening beds, planting and weeding; building and maintaining vermicompost (worm compost) and traditional compost bins; cleaning, demolition, and construction; designing and painting a sign for the school along with students of Blair Grocery; and working with volunteers from across the country and from various organizations within New Orleans.

In addition to working long days, students also had the opportunity to experience New Orleans as tourists including trips to the Audubon Aquarium, an Air Boat Ride, and riding the St. Charles Street car to the French Quarter.