By Julie Campbell and John Monnat, AmeriCorps House Captains

“Hey! Here’s some more! Come and get some ya’ll!” Ms. Tess Lassai called out as she backed out her front door carrying five plates of sizzling catfish and the best potato salad I’ve ever had. It had become a weekly routine to expect some amazing creation out of Ms. Lassai’s kitchen, when she took her lunch hour off to come by and cook for the volunteer groups and house captains who were working on her house.

Ms. Lassai is a grandmother, police officer at a local school and matriarch of her block. She had received a grant from New Orleans Neighborhood Development Collaborative who had partnered with Rebuilding Together New Orleans to work on her home in Central City, where she had been for 15 years. The storm as well as contractor fraud had done some major damage to the exterior of her house, and over the course of 10 weeks, RTNO has worked with various volunteer groups to fix up the exterior of her house to create a warm, safe and dry living space. Groups from the Order of Malta, Goucher College, and Northeastern University all worked together to re-side, rebuild walls and soffits, paint, and reconstruct the entire front porch of her house, as well as build two stair access points and a deck for Ms. Lasasi.

After the first week of working on the house, it was evident that Ms. Lassai had a passionate vision and commitment to the house and neighborhood. She explained that she had bought the house many years ago with the dream of making a place for her family to meet, eat and enjoy being together. After climbing up on the roof to seal up a leak, I could look out over the neighborhood and see the worn yet vibrant streetscape, ranging from newly designed Tulane Architecture School houses and recently restored shotguns to the blooming yellow flowers on the roof of a house taken over by nature across the street. The guys on the porch down the street sat outside and talked all day as we worked and people would drive by to check out how the house was going. Rebuilding Together New Orleans’ presence in the neighborhood was intense yet temporary. The effect of Ms. Lassai, her family and her newly finished house on the block and Central City will last for much longer than the 10 weeks we worked there.

Ms. Lassai’s vision never wavered when confronted with the harrowing events which had affected her and it was this constant positive attitude which we were inspired by during our time working on her house. Ms. Lassai would always come back early from work and try and meet all the volunteers and thank them individually, inspiring those who worked on her house in a way which affirmed the sunny outlook we all had when working on her street. The synergy of positive attitudes around the house was evident at the end of the week when Ms. Lassai would bring out a big salad bowl and some fried chicken to a smiling, grateful and sweaty group of volunteers. It was truly a joy to see the mutual respect of both homeowner and volunteer, working towards creating a better place for one resident to live and thrive in her community.