Alternative Winter Break 2012

By Heather McCutcheon, Volunteer Program Officer

While 2012 has only just begun, the month of January has already been an eventful and thrilling time for Rebuilding Together New Orleans! The beginning of 2012 has brought Alternative Winter Break volunteers from across the country to play a major part in the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans. Alternative Winter Break takes place after the holidays, during many college (and some high school) students’ break before classes begin again. Because of their dedication to making a difference in the community, even during their winter break holiday, RTNO has such a great appreciation for our alternative winter break volunteers.

Every year, our winter break volunteers have repeatedly returned to our city with much energy and desire to help rebuild New Orleans’ neighborhoods and communities. With their hard work and devotion, they have helped RTNO move numerous families back home. These groups of committed volunteers send teams year after year during their winter break, and some send even more volunteers back for Spring Break.

The volunteer groups, who have come on multiple trips to work with RTNO, aren’t hard to spot on site: they are eager to help rebuild our local communities, experience our local culture, and always hoping to return to our city. Their passionate energy is always brought to the work site, and helps push our volunteer groups through the week. Ultimately, RTNO can’t say thank you enough to these students for being leaders in their school community, sharing our story with their peers and leveraging large groups to participate in the rebuilding of our city.

This past month, RTNO had four returning groups from colleges and universities across the country. Over a two week period, these volunteers helped us put the finishing touches on McDonough Playground, two homes in Hollygrove, one in Mid City, and another home in Holy Cross.

During the first week of the year, RTNO was visited by Michigan State University and Wheaton College. Over three years, this marked the third year for both schools to travel cross-country and volunteer with RTNO. Michigan State University has sent over 60 volunteers, has helped on five houses, and given us over 2,000 hours of work. Wheaton has sent over 80 volunteers, worked 2,600 hours, and has helped us on three different homes. In addition, Wheaton sent students to work on the same house two years in a row, a testament to Wheaton’s commitment to helping us bring homeowners back.

And as a kick off the carnival season, the second week of January, RTNO was joined by a large group from Fairfield University and a group of InterVarsity members from the Boston area. InterVarsity finished our work on McDonough Playground in Algiers Point and went to work on a house in the Holy Cross neighborhood. Over the past year, InterVarsity has sent RTNO over 170 volunteers and has worked on 10 homes. Alongside InterVarsity, one of our largest returning groups, Fairfield worked on two other homes. Over the past three years, Fairfield has brought over 70 volunteers to New Orleans and in total has worked on five homes.

What an amazing milestone for these volunteers along with an incredible amount of work done in two weeks.

If you would like to learn more about scheduling a group to come volunteer with RTNO please visit our volunteer information page or contact our volunteer coordinator at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).