Teens Work on New Orleans Recovery
By Shirley Jinkins, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Jun. 24–ARLINGTON — A group of 24 Arlington teens will work a week painting walls and planting trees in New Orleans, but the best thing they will leave behind is a bit of themselves.
The Teen Leadership Council group was expected to leave Central YMCA at 2200 S. Davis Drive today. They will return July 1.
The Arlington teens are part of a massive rebuilding effort called the Habitat For Humanity/Baptist Crossroads Project, whose goal is to build 40 homes in 10 weeks in New Orleans’ 9th Ward. It was one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina.
“This trip is intended to benefit the people of New Orleans but also to get the kids out of their comfort zone,” said Peyton Tune, teen program director of the YMCA of Arlington. “None of them are under the impression that it’s going to be a vacation.”
Tune made a one-day trip to New Orleans about six weeks ago to film the devastation in the 9th Ward and include the footage in a report to the teens and their families.
“I don’t think you can ever be prepared for something like that until you see it for yourself,” said Pablo Romero, 16, a junior at Lamar High School. Romero said he is excited about his first trip to New Orleans despite the somber mission.
It is the first service trip in the 10-year history of the Teen Leadership Council, a 100-member group of YMCA young people that includes junior high and high school-aged students.
All 24 slots are filled, despite the $250 fee for each participant. Scholarships were available for those on a budget.
Katie Morton, who graduated from Martin High School last month, has already participated in New Orleans relief work and said she can’t wait to get started on this trip.
“A few months after Katrina happened, our church had a work day to collect supplies,” Morton said. “People came and donated three or four semis full.”
Jessica Milam, 15, passed through New Orleans on her way to the Orange Bowl in Florida this year. Now Milam, a junior at the Hill School of Fort Worth, is ready to stop and make a difference.
“There were trees half down and houses all open and empty; it was bad,” she said. “I think this is what they need down there, just a lot of people helping rebuild.”
The group will travel in an air-conditioned bus, and the entourage includes the 24 students, Tune, his wife and three other YMCA staff members. A YMCA board member plans to visit with the group and help with the project during the week.
Joey Medina, 16, a Martin High School junior, said the 12-hour bus trip will be long, but worth it. The group will stop along the way.
“It sounded like a really cool thing to do, and I’ve never been to New Orleans,” he said.
Medina has worked on two YMCA service projects locally, rebuilding a playground and sorting through canned food for needy families.
The teens will paint, landscape, install appliances and do other tasks.
They will share some hardships too, Tune said. The teens will sleep on the floor of the East Jefferson YMCA gym in Metairie, La., and because the facility’s summer camp is in full swing, the visitors must be out by 5 a.m. each day.
Students will get a chance to have a little fun, too, Tune said. Restaurant and movie outings, fan-boat tours of the bayou at sunset, swimming in the YMCA’s pool, and other off-duty activities will be scheduled.
Arlington YMCA Teen Leadership Council, www.ymca-arlington.org/tlc.asp
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Shirley Jinkins, 817-548-5565 syjinkins@star-telegram.com
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Copyright (c) 2006, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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