logging the little things

2AM, Saturday March 24, 2006. My friends instant messaged me on the computer wondering why I was still up. Listening to the rain pitter-patter outside my windowsill, my hands busily packed sunscreen, towels, a toothbrush, soap, socks, a tape reorder to record stories, sunglasses, and countless other items I thought would be essential for the trip, I even brought reading from class. Shuffling through all of the items I wondered, did I forget anything? I replied to my friends, “I’m going with a 21 person workgroup to New Orleans. We are going to help with the rebuilding efforts there.” T-minus two hours before departure, I was processing the interaction with my friends via Internet, I thought about what was really needed and what I could do without.

4:15AM, Terry, one of the FCCB members picked up four students including myself from the Berkeley campus and we all went to Oakland Airport and flew to Los Angeles International Airport.

8:50AM. I used my cell phone to call my mom and told her, “Guess what?” She says, “You’re in New Orleans.” I said, “Not yet, but I’m in the same county as you.” She laughs and goes into her mother mode and lists all of everything I should be careful of. As I made my five minute exchange with my mom I thought about the luxury I had to go where I needed to go and get to where I needed to be and get in touch with my mom to tell her where I was.

5:00PM. The pilot just announced we are 81miles outside of Baton Rouge, LA and highlighted the Mississippi River. My two new acquaintances Joel and Aubrey from UCLA Campus Crusade for Christ are on a similar trip to volunteer in New Orleans. It seems that many students from California are taking time from their Spring Break to visit and help our neighbors rebuild their homes in Louisiana.

Along the journey from airport to airport, site to site, each person who heard about the group going to New Orleans said, “Thank you.” Our intention to help our neighbors was needed. We are not sure what we will encounter, but I am reminded from this trip of what I can be thankful for. I hope that as all of these perfect strangers come together as a community, we can help restore the access to conveniences that make up aspects of our everyday lives.
-Chau Nguyen

Thank You to All Drivers

Starting our travels before 4:00am was exciting, very wet and blustry and filled with anticipation. We all want to thank those great friends who were willing to drive us to the airport--Susan Billings, John Wadman, Carmelle Knudsen, Nick Kukulan, Lisa Chilton and Bernice Brisette.
It's 7:30 and we are about to enjoy our first meal togeher. Thinking of all of you -- Jonell

In LAX

It’s 9:48 am and we have just arrived at LAX and are now waiting for our next flight to take us to New Orleans. Most of the students are dead-eyed and tired from staying up all night so as not to miss our 4:30 am meeting time, while the adults look fresh and energized. By coincidence, we’ve bumped into another Berkeley group sent by Campus Crusade on the same mission. It is heartening to see all these students and adults come together with a common goal to have a different kind of spring break than the one that is publicized on MTV. As my eyes scan over our little group, I am struck by how different our backgrounds are and how little we know about each other. And I see, little by little, as we converse and discover more about each other, that we are becoming more synchronized, still different but more unified. I know that we are building bonds that will last much longer than this one week. -- Laurene Cheung

The Picture is at the gate at OAK getting ready to go -- Paul Hoy

FCCB Katrina Work Team Members

These are the members of the FCCB Katrina Work Team (asterisks identify
UC Berkeley students): Carson Baucher*, Manuel Buenrostro*, Chau
Nguyen*, Laurene Cheung*, Liza Cirolia*, Karen Costello*, Pat de Jong,
Shelly Dieterle, Andrea Ford*, Paul Hoy, Terry Jackson, Peter Kim*,
Annis Kukulan, Jonell Lucas, Mitsie McKenna, Pamela O'Leary*, Hannah
Reed*, Jane Stahlhut, Dorothy Streutker, Paul Tomasiello, Helen B.
Wadman, and Ray Wichmann*.

Final Group Meeting

Sunday we all got together to for our last of four group meetings. These meetings have allowed us to start to get to know each other and prepare ourselves for our week in the New Orleans area.

To organize ourselves for the work that needs to be done, we have divided up into four teams. Shown here is the "Kokua" team in the process of deciding on a name and a group leader.

Work Team to Leave This Week

The FCCB Katrina Work Team will be leaving for the New Orleans area this week to begin a week of relief efforts in the area affected by the hurricanes. The team, made up of members of First Congregational Church of Berkeley and students from the University of California at Berkeley, will be commissioned in worship this morning at 10 a.m. FCCB is a 2345 Channing Way in Berkeley (at Dana and Durant).
We look forward to hearing stories about this trip!
Phil Porter, FCCB Communications Coordinator