Please add my support

Patti,
Please add my support and encouragement to all the youth and adults who gave their time to work and help other in New Orleans. I think it has been a tremendous effort!!!
Christine Hearth
KEYS Project Director

Proud of the students

I must say that my heart is saddened that I could not make the trip this year, but my heart is proud of the young people in our schools and community members that gave a week of their lives to impact the lives of others. The entire week you all were working in the heat of "nawlins" and I was in an air conditioned room on overload with information and plans on how to make OCHS a better place for students; however, I could not stop thinking about you all down there, helping those families rebuild their lives. Seeing these pictures rekindles my spirit of how truly remarkable the students of Owen County are and how blessed I am to have been placed here. I am glad to hear that plans are in the making for next year, please count me in! I cannot share enough about how proud these students make me, their efforts are recognized, appreciated and will not be forgotten. Thanks to the TAPP, KEYS and community supporters who help these events happen for our students...you are all truly a blessing and you have changed lives, that I am certain of!

Owen Rocks

The youth of Owen County give me hope for a better world . . . their dedication and commitment to the project is an inspiration. They are working toward a better tomorrow and they inspire me to do the same. Additional kudos to the adults who used precious vacation time to work hard instead of relax. Owen County rocks!
Mary Pat Behler
NorthKey Community Care

Congrats

Congrats on your 2nd year in New Orleans! i am constantly awed by the
shared passion in your community! the sweat, the tears, the commitment, the
challenges, the laughter and the life long friendships are all a memorable
part of this journey. i admire and am inspired by your team! looking
forward to pictures from next year!

cindi koetzle
Northkey community care

Keep Strivin'

The pics are fantastic and so are you guys! What a tremendous blessing you wonderful young people (and those older guys too) are to the folks of New Orleans and to your own community. I am in awe of your commitment to doing things that matter and make a real difference. I’m so glad that as a KEYS partner we get to be associated with wonderful people like you.

God is with you and will be with you even more. Keep Strivin’ and Thrivin’!

Ed Muntel, CEO
Northkey Community Care

Home Again

We are home. Sorry the blog and photos didn't work this year as they did
last, but the wireless connection we had wouldn't let me post the page. Here
are the first of many of the pictures as well as blog from Alexa Howard.
You are welcome to send your thoughts about this trip to be posted on the site.
Please email me at
pattimclark@bellsouth.net to get your thoughts included.
We had a great week and everyone was talking about "when we do this next
year" before we ever left New Orleans. Stay posted. Patti

A Veteran Speaks Up

As a "veteran" of New Orleans SERVE trips, I have a lot of expectations for
this summer. Some of them may be a little unrealistic, but it's good to keep
them high! I wanted of course to have lots of gutting and demolition jobs,
but as that has turned out we mainly throughout the week have been doing
trim-work and finishing jobs. This proves for much patience (which I need to
gain), so that's probably better that I had that job to begin with! But
today we had gutting after lunch, which was the work I love. You get to see
immediate progress, and get an accomplished but grimy feeling afterwards. My
last thoughts rest with the 9th Ward, we visited that area yesterday and my
mind still goes back to it today. Last year, all week, my groups worked
there, and we got to see how truly awful the conditions were. The kids that
hadn't ever seen it wanted to and so we drove by. It was really shocking to
see that nearly nothing has changed, the X's are still on the doors and the
houses in shambles. Since we have been working on more affluent houses and
areas this year, I was hoping the 9th Ward would be making progress too.
Maybe it will take just one more year, for that area to be seeing progress
too.
Alexa Howard