We are not talking Scarlet
O’Hara’s home in ‘Gone With The Wind’ since there was no hurricane like Isaac,
which greeted our volunteers last year.
This year, it is ‘Tara Knights’ which take center stage at Christian
Brothers Volunteer Community in New Orleans.
This year all three of our
volunteers, Erika Enlund, Travis Wain and Lauren Zanfardino are Tara Knights,
members of the original Iona College fraternity, dating to the founding of the
college. This is the first time that all
our volunteers are Iona College graduates!
Lauren, from Syosset, Long
Island, New York flew to New Orleans with her Mother and Dad on the 24th
of August; we hosted her
parents through the 26th on their first visit to the Crescent
City. Lauren’s parents had an opportunity
to meet the Brothers, stay at the house, experience the neighborhood, drive by
Langston Hughes Charter School where she’ll be ministering, and see a bit of
the city.
Erika Enlund arrived from her
family home in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, on Tuesday night, and
after doing a bit of unpacking, helped us host 30 guests from the United
Kingdom on Wednesday evening during their mission trip to New Orleans with
Ursuline UK Connections. Lauren and Erika
must have done this before; they helped set up and entertain, with ease, the
Ursuline Sisters and the young women, and Lauren handled the audio visual
demands; there was a movie shown as part of their evening with us.
The movie: “They Would Not Be
Moved” is a moving chronicle of several women’s religious communities who
suffered greatly during Hurricane Katrina, but recommitted themselves, in
Faith, to the People of God in this part of God’s Kingdom.
As part of their orientation,
on Thursday and Friday, Lauren, Erika, and Br. Bob visited a number of places
where members of the Volunteer Community have worked over the years. Lunch at Café Reconcile was part of the
tour. Lauren and Erika saw Br. Joe
Fragala’s picture there.
Travis Wain arrived home on
Saturday morning, and in the afternoon, orientation continued with a meditation
on the Icon of Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice, and pizza for dinner. [Luckily,
Theo’s on Magazine Street makes a good gluten-free pizza—a necessity since one
of our new members is on a gluten free regimen.] And Br. Charles found a French bakery in our
area that had gluten free offerings. Who
knew?
Sunday all went to Mass at St.
Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Pontchartrain Park; which coincidentally
featured in the movie shown to the Ursuline group on Wednesday night. That afternoon Br. John spent several hours
with the Volunteers on the Province’s Safe Environment Training: “Pathways to
Hope.”
On Labor Day, we continued orientation
with a review of the Handbook by all of the community and a thorough discussion
of expectations about prayer and community life. In the afternoon, Erica, Travis, Lauren and
Br. Charles went to see “The Butler” at our local theater, The Prytania, and
then the volunteers grilled burgers and hot dogs which we ate in the “Map Room”
downstairs. With the recently repaired
AC in that area, and as a result of Br. Bob’s work, helped by last year’s
volunteers, it provided a great place for our Labor Day community gathering.
This week, Lauren is involved
with the Notre Dame Americorps Volunteer Orientation that is using the Blessed
Pauline Room on Tuesday and Wednesday; she’ll go to her school on Friday. Br. Bob is handling the Americorps paperwork
with Erica and Travis for their programs.
Our volunteers from last year
are keeping in touch, for which we are grateful. John Petrullo flew to Madrid to teach English
this year; Matt Beben leaves shortly for Ethiopia where he will work with the
Salesian community.
BLOG 09.03.13
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