A little drama today... the massive maintenance induced canellations for our airlines left us without a ride home Saturday. My friend, Verna, at MTS travel who has booked 8 or 9 trips for us in the past, spent hours getting us rescheduled on different flights with a different airline. We won't all be traveling together (we'll come home on 4 different flights, but if all goes well, we'll all be back in Chicago before dinner Saturday) but we will all get home. For those wondering when they can pick up their family members at O'Hare, Deb Curtiss in the church office has the moderately complicated schedule, so you can call her for information. More than likely you have already spoken with your friend or family member, but Deb has the information if you need it.
You can't help but be impressed with several groups of people here --
-- those for whom St. Bernard Parish is their ancestral home and who are determined that it will come back fully to life
--people of "means" who had the opportunity to leave and build a new life somewhere else, but who decided either to stay here or move here because the parish needs doctors and teachers and nurses and other professional/technical people
--the Americorps "kids," college age kids for the most part who choose to learn and serve in ways that help them accumulate experience and make a huge difference in so many lives
--the folks at "Camp Hope," a Habitat for Humanity sponsored dormitory/meeting center for volunteers that has converted a former middle-school campus into a center that can house, feed, and accomodate a dozen huge groups at a time.
The work continues. One more day of work, then a picnic with the people at the St. Bernard Project, then the homeward bound adventure.
