NOTE: Dispatch #2 from Jaywalker’s expedition to New Orleans, Oct. 17 – 26, 2010. Thanks to Buckley Bailey-Gates, residential manager at Jaywalker Lodge, who is serving as our correspondent and photographer in the field.

We showed up for our first day of work, and they split the group in half after a short orientation. Turns out the non-profit parish we’re working with was started by a man who spent six days on top of his roof waiting for rescue in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Driving through the neighborhoods, I notice that most are spotted with condemned homes, which look odd juxtaposed against houses that have obviously been restored. The house my group was working on still has the remnants of the spray painted “X” amidst an array of indecipherable numbers. These graffiti style instructions were left behind 5 years ago by rescue workers – an image now famous because of Katrina.

I’m so impressed with our guys, who not only worked their asses off, but did not complain, and seemed to enjoy themselves.

After eight hours of restoration, it was a slice of pizza in the Garden District, followed by an NA meeting. We drove to the Bridge House, a treatment center in downtown N.O. for the meeting, and were greeted by a plain unmarked white van (identical to ours) full of women in early recovery. They informed us that the meeting location had changed, so we followed their lead. Most of us were impacted by culture shock during the meeting – Carbondale is such a bubble (my favorite bubble).

Come join us, I’ll try to update as often as I can.

Tags: jaywalker lodge-men's rehab-new orleans-service expedition