A Week At St Bernard Project

The week working at the St. Bernard Project (SBP) was an incredible experience.  Ten of us broke up into three project teams and helped with an organizational staffing project, a social media project, and a website project.  Prior to coming down to New Orleans, we touched base with SBP about their needs and opportunities for us to help, but the real work started in ernest once we arrived.  Our first day, we toured SBP and met with their marketing team along with founders, Zack Rosenburg and Liz McCartney, to establish our project scopes and map out our tasks for the rest of the week.  My team worked on the website project and we spent most of our week mapping out their current website, tracking each location for updated content and contact info to be modified in the future, making specific recommendations for content, and creating a list of best practices.  

(What seems like a labor of love: our team's visual map of the SBP website - Diego, Paula, and LJ working hard)

On the last day, all three project teams presented the deliverables to SBP, receiving a very positive response.  It felt great to know that our work throughout the week made an impact.  As proof, we experienced a real treat mid-week while browsing a website page where we’d made a small recommendation to add more buttons - low and behold, the buttons had appeared that day.  And an hour after our final presentation, the social media team noticed some of its recommendations added to the SBP facebook page.  What a treat to see our recommendations turning into reality!  Everyone at SBP was so grateful to have us.  The whole experience underlined the net impact we made over a short period of time for an organization so important to the New Orleans community. 

There were four other main highlights from the week:

1) Visiting a house in the Lower 9th Ward currently under construction by SBP and its volunteers.  

 

(The SBP site manager explaining the work being done)

During Katrina, the water level came all the way up to the roof where the family had to be rescued by helicopter.  Six years later, they'll be coming home in time for Christmas if all goes according to plan.  

(An almost finished house)

2) Attending a Welcome Home party for the Dupre Family.  Again, this is the first time they've been able to be home in six years.  See the video in a previous post for the actual speech.

(The Dupre's cutting their SBP ribbon)

The house itself had been past down by generations and was originally constructed by the grandfather.  

(Our B-Corps St. Bernard Team)

Construction has taken over four years, in part because of theft.  Thieves continued to damage the house during the process, taking all materials - including the copper wiring in the walls.  Now, it's a beautiful new home.  

(Paul and Paula in the kitchen)

 3) Joining the entire SPB staff late into the night to help with a holiday mailing campaign (the beer, pizza, and homemade chili were an added bonus).  

4) Sampling the incredible food in the St. Bernard Parish area.  Crawfish, Po' Boys, Gumbo, Jumbalaya, fried food, and more.  The best, was the local favorite for BBQ: The Joint.  We came back multiple times over the week for real smoked BBQ, mac and cheese, pecan pie, and sweet tea.

(Happily stuffed)

SBP was an incredible organization to work for over the week.  What an honor to come to New Orleans and contribute to their work.  

- Kate