Grassroots Movements

This Thanksgiving break I got to experience grassroot movements hands-on. I went to New Orleans for break to help do Hurricane clean-up and we worked with two grassroot organizations. The groups we worked with were SAFER (Student Advocacy for Equitable Recovery) and PNOLA (Pheonix of New Orleans). Both groups provide free labor to people who otherwise would not be able to rebuild their homes. We actually met Jim, the starter of SAFER. We talked with him for awhile and while he seems very invested in the projects he told us some of the drawsbacks of starting his own organization. The biggest drawback is funds, or lack of funds. Since the Hurricane most organizations relied on donations in order to help families rebuild their homes and settle back into life in New Orleans. This was mostly because FEMA's funding had been cut and not much money was coming from the government. Also, many people did not have flood insurance or their insurance only reimbersed them for not even a quarter of the expenses. Because of these money issues many charities and grassroots organizations came to the rescue. However, since it has been three years many of the donations have stopped. SAFER mostly relie on unpaid volunteers which helps with rebuilding however with no funds it is hard to say what will happen to the people of New Orleans who still have yet to rebuild. Jim's team are having fundraisers trying to get money to keep rebuilding. For now they are still working on houses and are very dedicated and have made a big change in New Orleans. But it is hard to say what will happen.