Here at Beacon of Hope, we’ve been experiencing some true March Madness! Between neighborhood clean-ups, painting, and landscaping projects all over Gentilly, we are surprised we can even remember what day it is! In March Beacon hosted over 500 volunteers, assisted with neighborhood clean-ups in Hollygrove Dixon and St. Roch Bend, completed eight homeowner projects and have five more projects in the works. Thanks to all of our dedicated volunteers and to those of you who “nominated your neighbor” to receive a volunteer project! Although the Spring Break craziness is coming to an end, we still have work to do! Click here for more information on our volunteer program or if you’d like to request assistance.
At the beginning of the month a group from St. Thomas More Catholic Student Parish from Kalamazoo, MI worked with us for four days, helping to complete four projects. Their first project was painting a deck and fence for Mr. and Mrs. Wade, long time residents of the Milneburg subdivision of Gentilly. Hurricane Katrina hit the Wade family hard, bringing water as high as the roof line on their recently paid off home. After 3 years of working with contractors, they were finally able to return home. Beacon’s homeowner projects help to add those finishing touches that make a house feel like a home. Mr. Wade and the student volunteers painted the deck and the fence while Mrs. Wade and her grandkids helped keep the group going with lots of fruit and cold drinks. Thanks to St. Thomas More and MC Hammer and Nails from New York for helping to give the Wades a beautiful yard to relax in. To read more about St. Thomas More’s Alternative Spring Break, click here.
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After
In mid-March, Beacon of Hope helped host the two day Hollygrove-Dixon Neighborhood Clean Up, bringing 230 volunteers to the area to clean out catch basins and clear the easements of debris and overgrowth. Many thanks to the Hollygrove-Dixon Neighborhood Association and members of the United Methodist Church on Pear Street for helping organize, supervise and provide water, snacks and restrooms. Neighborhood Association president, Charles Bosworth, sent this note of thanks to the residents and volunteers:
“We had a terrifically successful Hollygrove-Dixon cleanup today. About 100 mostly young people showed up to clear trash and clean storm drains. The volunteers came from numerous part of the country, including among others, Texas, New York, and Ohio. We had a large group from St. Martin’s in Metairie. We Hollygrove-Dixoners give them a huge amount of thanks. And we thank Beacon of Hope in New Orleans for bringing in the workers, and providing work tools and supplies. It was a huge commitment from Beacon of Hope. And these young people will be working in other neighborhoods for the rest of the week. WOW!!!! We also want to thank our own Rhoberta Piper for coordinating this effort. She rounded up a goodly number of our residents to work with the kids and coordinate their work. NOPD was present the whole time, in the person of our neighborhood liaison, Officer Henry Newton.”