Days 3 and 4 (Monday and Tuesday) were workdays in which the two buses switched jobs. On alternate days, they worked in the Lower 9^th Ward or out on a levee on the Mississippi in St. Bernard’s Parish planting more Cypress trees to act as a block on future storm surges.

Robert Green lost his three year old grand-daughter and mother within 12 hours while trying to stay alive as their house was swept from its foundation following a breach of the levee about 200 yards from Robert’s house. As you can see from the pictures, he has since built a new home with the help of the “Make it Right Foundation” and National Relief Network. Livonia students sanded the exposed wood on the bottom ‘lattice’ work and then brushed a clear coat on it for protection from the elements. They also sanded and painted metal railings.

Working all day Monday and half a day on Tuesday, Livonia students planted more than 5,000 cypress seedlings near a levee along a wetland that borders the Mississippi River. This is an important job and could only be accomplished at this time of the year. In the warmer weather the alligators would be active and we would not be able to work safely in the area. We worked along with students from Chalmette school who are from the area. On Tuesday there were also a small group of students (coincidentally on their senior trip) from northern California. Also on site both days were three men from the local correctional facility. These three men worked ahead of the students clearing brush and debris to make it easier for the plantings.

Tuesday afternoon we took a break from work to visit the local zoo. For dinner, one of Scott Harding’s contacts here in New Orleans (Wayne Burgess, who also helped supervise the planting and drive the tractor) cooked an authentic jambalaya dinner for the group.

After dinner Sgt. Marshall Pierre told of his experience. Sgt. Pierre was head of security at one of the local hospitals and took home movies of his experiences. The hospital survived the wind and the rain, but all 800 at the hospital became stranded when the city became flooded after levees broke. Hospital doctors and nurses cared for their patients for five days without power or running water for five days.