


I was unable to attend Wolves on the Prowl with the rest of the business program. However, my teacher, George Howard, allowed me to volunteer through an organization of my choice. As it turns out, I found a volunteer project in central city that I was able to volunteer for the following week.
On Saturday November 15th, I met up with some 300 other volunteers at the W.J. Guste School building to build a playground and paint a mural at their school. In order to make this possible, three different non-profit organizations, KIPP, KaBOOM!, and New Orleans Non Profit, came together to help. Each of the organizations played different roles in the process. KIPP specifically works with W.J. Guste School along with 65 other schools, providing them with outstanding educators and building partnerships among parents, students, and teachers in order to better student's chances of going to a good college. When it comes to the actual production of the playground is when KaBOOM! steps in. KaBOOM is working to provide playgrounds within walking distance from every child nationwide. Lastly, New Orleans Non Profit posted a blog to get the word out there and recruit volunteers.
Before the volunteers began working, we were served a small but filling breakfast to energize us for the day of work that lay ahead. I figured that since I have a little bit more artistic ability than muscle strength, I would help paint the mural. We painted the mural in the courtyard portraying a group of angels overlooking three children in the city.
I had a great time painting the mural because I got along very well with the other volunteers. If I had to guess I'd say their ages ranged somewhere from 7 to 50. Although we were such a diverse group of individuals, the common interest of helping others allowed us to all form a strong bond while we worked. There was music playing so we were even able to dance and sing while we worked, making things even more fun.
Pictures can be seen above of the mural, playground, and a handful of the volunteers that participated that day.
When I realized I wouldn't be able to participate in Wolves on the Prowl, I had to search for another organization to volunteer for. The search was hard because I wanted to help at every place I found. However, there was an organization that stood out to me in particular.
I'm a big environmental freak. I go out of my way to recycle things and pick up trash, am a member of the Earth Club, made my family start a compost pile, and hate people who leave water running when they don't need to. The organization I found is called Green Light New Orleans. They are trying to reduce New Orleans' energy use, subsequently preventing global warming "one lightbulb at a time". Their program works by sending volunteers to different low- and middle-income households by changing their old fashioned incandescent bulbs to modern, compact fluorescent lighting. According to Green Light:
If every household in the United States replaces one light bulb with a compact fluorescent light (CFL), it would prevent enough pollution to equal removing 800,000 cars from the road. In addition to the environmental benefits, a CFL uses 75% less energy than an incandescent bulb and lasts 10 times longer, thereby saving money on a home's energy bills. Each CFL will save the user more than $45 over the life of the bulb.