You Don’t Often Hear “No” in New Orleans

Before the May 2015 trip to New Orleans, it had been 7 years since I had been to the Crescent City. I had spent about 4 months in the area rebuilding with Habitat for Humanity as part of an AmeriCorps NCCC team, and I have been waiting 7 years to go back. It may very well be America’s most unique city, with food, music, culture, and liquor laws that are hard to match anywhere else, but what struck me most on this trip is how rare it is to hear “no” in New Orleans.

I noticed it on our job site. We worked with the St. Bernard Project renovating homes that had previously received subpar repairs. In the Flanders house we were assigned to, we spent the week hanging drywall. When the site supervisor asked if we thought we’d be able to finish a room before the end of the day, we never said “no.” We buckled down and got it done (no matter how poorly the ill-advised fried chicken lunch sat in our stomachs).

I noticed it after work, when we would head out to explore the city. There is so much to do, it was hard to say no at the risk of missing out on something great. While we were sweaty and dirty from work, we couldn’t say no when our site supervisor recommended Jazz in the Park, a summer concert series, and we drove there straight from the site. Our initial Google search for the Country Club, another recommendation, returned some surprising results, but it ended up being a perfect place to relax and unwind after work.

I noticed it in the residents, too, specifically the owner of the house we were working on. When her estranged husband’s health began to deteriorate, they reconnected, and she agreed to become his caretaker. She assumed this responsibility on top of the two jobs she is currently working. She just asked for one thing: a tub she could come home to soak in after work. The St. Bernard Project said “yes,” and, with the help on One Brick and many other volunteer groups, she will have that tub and a completely remodeled home before the end of the summer.

When I’ve asked anyone who has visited New Orleans if they would go back, not one of them has said “no.”