Boston College Athletics
Day 3: 2015 Devlin S-AFE Trip
January 08, 2015 | Devlin Student-Athlete Formation & Succe
Seventeen BC student-athletes have traveled to New Orleans to rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina as part of the Devlin S-AFE Service Immersion Trip. Each day, student-athletes on the trip will write about the experience.
Day 3
After another early wake up, we ventured again to Marais Street in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward to rebuild a house for the St. Bernard Project. We continued to work on drywall, but we broke into four small groups and each focused on our own part of the two-family home.
We have been working on the same house for the past three days and have been able to see just how much progress we've been making, which has been incredibly rewarding. We started off insulating the rooms, and not only have we finished putting up drywall on most of the ceilings, we've also finished putting up drywall on the walls of some of the rooms.
After an efficient morning's work, we were lucky enough to attend a St. Bernard Project "Welcome Home" Party. Lifetime New Orleans resident "Ms. Linda" had been displaced from her home after Hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately, she also fell victim to contractor fraud and wasn't able to rebuild her home for 10 years after being displaced. She's a model of the St. Bernard Project: working with their financial team to plan her life and utilizing the volunteer unit to rebuild her home. She was amazingly grateful and it was a great reminder of what we're working toward every day this week during this trip.
Later that night, we took to the beautiful Tulane University to watch their men's basketball team take on the Temple Owls in a big match up at Devlin Fieldhouse. It was cool to find out that we had a connection with Tulane because the same Devlin family that the field house is named for is the family that has been graciously supporting our SAAC trip.
At the game, we were treated with the highest respect and were escorted to the "Wave Cave," where they fed us with food and cold drinks. Tulane's Athletic Director, Rick Dickson, was a great host and made sure that we felt at home. Unfortunately, the Green Wave lost to Temple in a very close game, 64-56, but it was their "White Out" night and we were all gifted with white Tulane t-shirts that read, "White Out, Tulane Basketball." We really had a great time with their student section.
Even though Tulane lost, we had a wonderful time at their school and we want to thank them for letting us use their work out facilities. We also want to thank the Devlin family for supporting this service trip and for allowing us the opportunity to give back to our greater community.
We're excited to finish putting up drywall as well as building great friendships. See you guys tomorrow!
Keady Segel (senior, soccer)
Jackie Bai (sophomore, fencing)
Megan Bamford (freshman, sailing)
Kevin Bletzer (freshman, football)
