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Trips

A total of 35 working trips have been completed so far! Trips have been centered in Louisiana, however two were located in Gulfport, Mississippi. One thousand eight hundred fiftey people have traveled, 493 which have been adults and 546 students. There have been over 300 projects that have been completed or currently are being worked on. Initially, the work in Louisiana involved mucking and otherwise cleaning out houses. This consisted of clearing out mud from the floors and clearing out virtually all furniture, appliances and other belongings. The damage left behind by Hurricane Katrina has forced many of the homes to have to be striped to the bare studs. This is done by removing all drywall, paneling, flooring, wiring, plumbing fixtures, etc. After about a year, the work changed to rebuilding – putting in the plumbing, wiring, drywall – and then mudding, painting and otherwise preparing the home for occupancy. The work in Mississippi was similar, but also involved a substantial amount of roofing. Since the devastation in Mississippi was not as great (many homes we worked on were occupied), and roofing is a somewhat dangerous exercise, it was decided to concentrate on St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana in 2007. In 2008, we began to work also in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, adjacent to St. Bernard, where the devastation is as great, and the population even more needy. Most of the projects have been personal homes. We have also worked on churches; community facilities, such as the Battered Women’s Shelter in Chalmette; and public parks. OSC has also been involved in restoring the landscape of Louisiana, by potting Cyprus and Live Oak saplings to help restore the areas natural defense against future hurricanes. In January 2008, OSC began construction of a brand new house for a needy family who had no alternative to a FEMA trailer. With the help of Syracuse Habitat for Humanity we completed that home in three months. Later that year we began a second home that was completed in early 2009. These new home projects are a major commitment for OSC and require the support of our entire organization. Typically, trips consist of a 2-day drive down; 5 work days on site, with a half-day break in the middle of the week; and a 2-day drive back to Central New York. The break day often includes a tour of St. Bernard and the Ninth Ward, hosted by the St. Bernard Parish Historian, Bill Hyland. Occasionally, usually during the February or April trips, students have visited Chalmette High School and shadowed their peers during part of the day.