And not a bad one in the bunch!

Today the student site leaders and myself toured the 5 sites where we will be working over the next week. We went from Biloxi to St. Bernards Parish and back.

A very quick recap:

HandsonNetwork-Gulf Coast (Biloxi: While we did not get into East Biloxi, the area around Pass Road and the Airport is looking much much better. Most garbage is cleaned up, and some construction has started.

The site is largely unchanged since before. One large improvement from my last trip ois an extra 2 showers. I do not know how many people are here today, but it seems the least of my three trips. That will change quickly however!

CampCostCare (Long Beach): housed in a gymnasium on a fairly rural road, this is where over 100 of our volunteers will be staying. It is clean, rural, and well organized by a great grop of people led by Van.

Handson Network-Bay St. Louis: this is being housed in a school across from A church. This site has been in business for a while but is now sort of doing a joint venture with Handson. Today Handson was putting in showers for volunteers. The site is being led by Fr. Sebastian and Beau from Handson. The area is devastated beyond words.

Handson Network-New Orleans: again this site is just coming on line. The multilevel facility has unbelievable potential. They are working on the fringes of the Garden district. This site is definitely going to be operational for years to come. While I would not like the running environs, this looks like a site where you can make a big impact on an area very quickly.

Common-Ground in Violet (St. Bernard Parish). This area is easily 4 months behind. Gutting work is still going on as the people's suffering continues. This will be the most primitive of our camps as they are still running on generator power!

What great camps. We never expected to have such a great set of camps to work with. Upon leaving every camp today, I always felt envious of those staying to work.