Following the March Board Meeting and Peer Review Committee meeting in New Orleans, board members, peer review committee members, and other ALGA supporters stayed over on their own dime to spend a day volunteering at Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans' Ninth Ward. 

The ALGA group was assigned to Musician's Village, a Habitat project conceived by New Orleans musicians Harry Connick, Jr. and Branford Marsalis to build homes in the Ninth Ward with partner families and musicians.

Eagerly awaiting an assignment (Some of the Musicians’ Village houses are in the background in this photo)

Apparently deciding that auditors wouldn't make very good skilled laborers, Habitat gave the ALGA group a very manual assignment several blocks away from the main Musician's Village site...unloading an entire house from a trailer. 

Getting instructions from our Habitat team leader

Unloading the trailers assembly-line style

Unloading insulation

As it turns out, Texas RoadHouse has a Homes-in-a-box program where Texas Roadhouse employees and volunteers raise money then frame and outfit a house which is ultimately shipped to New Orleans.  Once they arrive in New Orleans, the homes are unloaded by volunteers and then reassembled by Habitat crews.  Our assignment was to unload every piece of a three bedroom house from two very large trailers.

Unloading framed walls from one of the trailers

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   Though I may joke about our unskilled labor assignment, all in all, this work day was a great experience.  I really appreciated having a chance to play a part, however small, in the effort to rebuild New Orleans and the opportunity to contribute to safe, affordable housing in the Ninth Ward. 

The ALGA Crew: (Left to Right) Bill Greene, Mike Taylor, Lou Lassiter, LaVonne Griffin-Valade, a future Habitat homeowner earning hours towards her own home, Tom Griffin-Valade, Mike Widener, Mike Edmonds, Corrie Stokes, Jim Williamson, Ross Tate, Jerry Shaubel, Amanda Noble, Laine Noble, Fay Kurkjy, Jeff Litchfield, Beth Breier, George McGowen, Alan Ash, David Givans, and Donna Maloy

And, as an added benefit, I felt honored to get to spend a day focused on something other than auditing with our esteemed board members and other ALGA supporters.  And, one a final note...I think it's a real credit to ALGA and to our board that this organization would specifically pick having a meeting in New Orleans (and thus supporting the New Orleans economy) and, once the meeting was scheduled there, come up with the idea of staying over for another day, and paying related costs out-of-pocket, to volunteer for a day of hard labor with the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity.  

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