University of Richmond Athletics
Wo Men's Lacrosse: Summer Adventure Series No. 1
08/09/2013 | Women's Lacrosse
The Richmond women's lacrosse team has been very active this summer not only on the field but off the field as well. Throughout the next several weeks the squad will be sharing their summer adventures to let you know what they have been up to this summer.
Summer Spider Adventures: A series detailing some of our Spiders' summer adventures. Follow these posts to learn more about a few Spiders and what they have been up to this summer!
Summer Spider Adventures 1: Junior midfielder Anna Jeszeck serves in New Orleans, La.
Hi all!
Over the summer, a few childhood friends and I completed a service project in New Orleans to work on rebuilding some of the damages that remain from Hurricane Katrina. Through the United Saints Recovery Project, I embarked on a weeklong journey of rebuilding houses, gardens and other community areas in need with my friends.
Our main project was to refurnish the outside of a monstrous house. In the aftermath of Katrina, the owner was being denied home insurance until the house was renovated. Each day we woke up bright and early to work alongside various church groups, sisterhoods, high schools and locals to renovate the house. Our volunteer work included sanding, scraping, shackling and painting around the house.
My friends and I were worried at first having no prior experience with tasks that involved such demanding manual labor, but we approached the task fiercely. By the end of the week we were professionals! The project manager called us the roof cats because we bravely took on the roof every day.
The most eye opening part of the experience was realizing how broken down the city had remained. Tourists would never know how damaged the city still is because the French Quarter was the main area of concern to get back up and running. However, Central City, where we stayed, was lined with boarded up houses/schools and abandoned children in the street. The part that impacted me the most was meeting so many different and great people.
Every day I was surprised by what I learned or who I met whether it was a local driving by to thank us for our services or one of our project managers sitting us down and reliving stories from the hard times of Katrina. We worked with groups I would never have expected to spend time with, but we all were there for the same reason; to help others.
My friends and I plan to go back if we get the chance next summer, but for now we will stay in touch with our project's progress through the United Saints Recovery Project Facebook!
