Larchmont-Mamaroneck Teens Arrive in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS—Welcome to The NOLA Tree's  New Orleans blog. The NOLA Tree is a Larchmont based non-profit organization that operates teen volunteer community development programs in both New Orleans and New York.

For the next week, we're here in the Lower Ninth Ward with a group of teenagers, many from the Larchmont-Mamaroneck area. We're going to be sharing our experience on a daily basis right here. Read us each day this week.

Hey All...

We are in New Orleans!

Today went absolutely perfect. Everyone was at the airport early, and brace yourself, our plane arrived in New Orleans a half hour early. All the kids were terribly disappointed because they were all working so hard on their homework assignments and ACT and SAT prep (right).

We picked up the vans at Budget and made it to Camp Hope by 7:00. Camp Hope is our volunteer base camp, and the facilities are terrific. As you can see, we have Internet!  The rooms are clean and air conditioned, the people are incredibly friendly, and they've turned this abandoned middle school into a wonderful oasis.

Dinner was at the Parish Seafood Diner. We are so full. We learned how to eat crawfish and dined on some serious southern cooking.

When we got back to Camp Hope, we sat in a circle and talked for about a half hour. It's amazing how comfortable everyone feels around each other.

The biggest challenge is going to be to get everyone to go to sleep at a reasonable hour. Everyone is having too good of a time already. But tomorrow is going to be amazing...

Peace,

Phil Bildner and Ana Galan

Co-Executive Directors

The NOLA Tree