God's Hands Left Behind

We arrived today with a sense of anxiety and anticipation: What will we do today? Having been on a trip once before, there seem to be allot of old memories of things that were accomplished, and the hope that our efforts will be as good, if not, better, that each prior trip. Yes, that is a bit unnecessary, as every moment we give is well received by the people that we touch, but it's a nice goal to shoot for.

Our distination was St. Raymond School, a Catholic School converted into a staging area for housing rehab. in the New Orleans area. They are working on mulitple houses, equiped with a volunteer staff of young people converted to project managers, and several professional contractors that have given up their livelihood to make a differnece in New Orleans. Most come as novices, and it appears that they will leave as semi-skilled, housing experts, with a bit of Christ's grace spilled on them for life!

Our task for today: clean-up of the facilities. While seeming somewhat mundane compared to rebuilding houses, the fact that the building materials in the facilities are numerous and necessary for each job requires allot of organization, and after each group volunteers or completes a project, there is a bit of random replacement back at St. Raymond of materials. In addition, new materials come in daily. In other words, it's like our home: after a week, there is a need to clean up after living.


I briefly noticed in the gathering area for the day that past attendees of this place had placed their hands in paint on the wall behind us.........


In the place of what once were classrooms were scads of materials used for rebuilding: drywall mud, screws, paint, beading, doors, insulation, tiles, molding, windows. For the most part, there were general areas, but the items are moved in and out as needed, and after a few weeks, the place gets a bit upside down. Our Army of 12 came ready, following the orders of our project manager, Bethany, with a goal of making tidy the rooms full of "stuff". The efforts by all were concerted, and in no-time, we were getting things in order. But.........how do we make a lasting impression on the peoples of New Orleans? I mean, this is not recovery work. This is much like cleaning our basements every once in a while.


I wondered through the gathering area to get a drink, and noticed there was periodic writing under the the painted hands on the wall.........


Pondering the situation, several things became apparent to the more skilled in our group: we need shelving. Lots of molding, beading, wood trim have a tendency to become scattered, and between Mark Meyer, Curt Martel, and Zack Maus, the braintrust of woodworking was in full swing. Before the end of the day, the "door and wood" room was equiped with what many lumber yards would consider a great rack for holding trim and the like. Several minutes later, there was room for all the wood trim, and more in this part of the building.


At lunch, I noted that the people who were here before us came from all over: Valparaiso, Canisius, Portland University, Marywell College, Columbus,OH, Grand Rapids,MI, Arizona.........


As we wondered into what once was the sanctuary of the church and was now a large materials area, a request for more shelving was sent our by Bethany, and the woodmen went back to the work of shelving to hold corner bead and added trim in a second room. Maybe our impression was taking hold. This place was going to be tops and clean when we were through. Those who followed would find good use of well build shelving, as our contribution to St. Raymond (who at this time I think might be the patron Saint of building materials!).


I sat at lunch and pondered a Christo moment about the wall of hands: allot of these hands on the wall have been left behind by people just like us. No idea what they could contribute, no expectations of reward or acknowledgement for their work. Just a simple idea that we can all make a difference. And they left their hands on the wall to simple say that they have stopped by to give a little bit of themselves. Seems they left enough for people like me to know that there is something better here as a result of their work in this community.......I guess the effort to help is a bit contagious!


Right before we left, a couple of the project managers came dragging in from their work. One of them looked over his right shoulder at the "lumber yard" shelves, turned on his heals, and wandered back into the doorway of that room. "Cool!", he said, in a quiet and drawn out voice. Then her turned again to the tool room where he was originally going, and I heard a bit of "wow" from him as he explained to his colleagues that the shelves "really rock" and are "sweet".

We were not afforded the opportunity to put our hands on the wall, because that was there for someone else (and the wall was very full). But we got something just as wonderful: every person who draws a piece of wood, moulding, corner beat, dowel rod, etc...from the shelves will have a little boost from the 7th mission group from New Orleans. Maybe that saves a moments in looking for something. Maybe that creates some order in chaos. Maybe that is God's work through our hands.

David Alexander