Operation Southern Comfort

 

Reflections from Operation Southern Comfort

 

“This past week I gained a lot of knowledge about myself and others through the experiences I encountered.  I learned that there are no specific skills that a person needs in order to plant trees or dry wall.  I met a lot of new people and many friendships were planted.  I am happy to have gone on this trip with people who I go to college with so that my experience at school will be that much more profound.  I am very grateful and feel so blessed to have been given the opportunity to go on this trip and would love to do it again with the same people or different.

‘Be the change you want to see in the world.’”

 

“Operation Southern Comfort was nothing that I expected it to be like.  Helping others who cannot help themselves opened my heart to many.  Projects were completed from house repair to finding funding for those who could not afford materials.  Hopefully over time I meet those I helped on this service trip again.  Thank you for this opportunity.”

 

“I have always wanted to come down to New Orleans after Katrina and am very happy I had the opportunity to come down with Le Moyne-the trip really opened my eyes and I learned a lot about other people’s lives and their situations after Katrina.  I am taking a lot back from the trip and hope to tell others about what I witnessed first hand.  I plan to attend this trip again and hopefully become a leader.”

 

“It’s not often that I step back and worry about others.  It’s so easy to get caught up in every day activities.  Weeks like this allow me to see the difference that I can make in the world.  I also take many things for granted, but working with people who have lost everything helps me appreciate all that I have.”

 

“After attending many different service trips, I found this one to be very different than the others that I experienced.  I really enjoyed all the work sites we went to and all of the people we had the privilege of meeting.  They all had such great stories to share.”

 

“My week in New Orleans was an outstanding experience.  I met a lot of new people and learned a lot about myself.  It caused everyone to step up to the plate in different ways that would not normally happen.  It’s hard to believe that people in our own country have written so many basic necessities like water and a home.  Helping people is a great feeling and knowing how much they appreciate it is an even better feeling.”

 

“Before I came on this trip I never really had any conception of what the world was like outside of this tiny niche I grew up in.  I was raised with food, shelter, money, and a structured health and family.  I grew to learn, however, that not everything in life is what I knew it to be, and the older I got the more I was able to understand what was happening in the world, but I knew that to truly understand something you had to experience it first.  Coming on this trip was my opportunity to experience first hand the tragedies that have plighted the city of New Orleans for the past six years in the aftermath of one of mother nature’s most destructive forces, I was able to take back some understanding.  Working for these families over the past week helped me learn more than any book or documentary.  I was able to see, feel, and sympathize with those people.  After seeing these people’s attitude on life after what happened to them was life-changing.  The enthusiasm and joy the Miss Courtney shared when she visited the work site was indescribable, I don’t think I will find a mirror to her emotions and the gratitude shared for our help.  It wasn’t until the last couple of days that everything hit me and the past couple days have left me in a flurry of emotions that I can’t really explain; it’s a mix of sheer joy and utter disbelief.

            There is one thing that truly inspired me throughout this trip and that is hearts of each volunteer and their passion to help.  I’ve grown worrisome over the past few years that society as a whole has grown more and more selfish, and the more concerned with a tv star than helping save another’s life.  To see student help really gave me the hope that I needed to see, and it’s people like this that gives me hope that the world can still be a good place in the future. “

 

“As college students the life we lead can be very selfish, we take everything we have for granted and don’t think about the simple things in life!  Going to New Orleans humbled my heart and made me thankful for everything I have.  Going into spring semester of senior year, I am entering with an open heart and new appreciation for what I have been given-Rebecca Gray.”

 

“You don’t have to be the strongest or the best with tools as long as every time you pick up the hammer or paint brush you are aware of why we are here and what we are doing.  This trip is more than putting up walls, it’s about rejuvenating a community, and bringing hope and counting every blessing you have.”

 

“Sad, happy, emotional, fun, but epic were just a few words that I would use to describe my trip to New Orleans.  As a boy growing up in Texas during Katrina, I rarely noticed the new students from New Orleans taking over my halls or the Tulane football team practicing on my field.  However, I now see the devastation that the Hurricane brought and the tragedy that these people have been through.  I am so grateful that I went down.  The inspiring people that I met, and the people that I wish to touch again.  New friends and memories have started my new year.  I’m forever grateful to the people that I have touched. 

‘For what it’s worth it’s never too late or too early to be whoever you want to be.  There is no time limit to this thing.  You can either change or stay the same.  I hope you change.  I hope you make the best of things.  I hope you see things with a different perspective.  And feel things you’ve never felt before.  I hope if you don’t like who you are that you start all over again.’- F. Scott Fitzgerald

thanks for the memories, OSC #37 Cam Green”

 

“Although I have ventured further down the rabbit hole then I had originally intended and dirtied my fluffy white tail, I have emerged enlightened.”

 

“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something.  I can’t accept not trying.”

 

“Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation.”