Grassroots Group Plans Thanksgiving Relief Effort in New Orleans

In an effort to help the struggling residents of New Orleans’s Ninth Ward and to pressure authorities to reestablish services in that devastated area, a grassroots relief group is organizing hundreds of volunteers from across the country to converge on the Crescent City over Thanksgiving week. Organizers of the initiative, which is called the Roadtrip for Relief, say they hope the influx of people ready to help will offer hope to the Ninth Ward and other neglected communities in the region.

Kerul Dyer, road-trip coordinator with the New Orleans-based organization Common Ground Collective, said participants will work one block at a time to clean up debris and help residents return to their community. Common Ground also plans to set up a community center in the neighborhood, test soil and water and help people set up generators and other sources of power.

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Organizers say the project, which will take place from November 20-27, is still looking for more volunteers. Dyer said they especially need plumbers, electricians, attorneys and doctors.

What little I know about the Common Ground Collective gives me reason to hold them in as much esteem as the S.O.S. volunteers I met on my trip to the Gulf. In fact some of the volunteers I met in Mobile, AL had previously worked for or otherwise interacted with the Common Ground.

So if you are tired of the usual Thanksgiving routine this year the Common Ground is offering an alternative which - in my humble opinion - is definitely worth considering.

tags: relief  nola  thanksgiving  rita  katrina