Monday, February 11, 2008

NBA All-Star 2008 - Day 1

The first day here in New Orleans was incredible! With the Community Care Caravan, we traveled to three schools. "Big Bob" Lanier and I hosted each of the the Read to Achieve events. We traveled with NBA families (which included All-Star Chris Paul's parents) and NBA and WNBA All-Stars who are a part of the festivities and community service for the week.

The highlight of the day was a ribbon cutting for a brand new learning center, complete with state of the art computers, at the Martin Luther King School, in the lower 9th ward. the 9th ward was the most devastated durning Hurricane Katrina. The school reopened last fall against all odds. The neighborhood is completely devastated! Many of the homes are a total wreck, as if the storm was just a couple of months ago. We passed abandoned homes on the way to the MLK school which still had painted numbers on the homes to indicate the number of people and pets found after the storm. Seeing that reality was tough for me. Quite humbly, in the midst of the sad reality of a torn city, I am so proud to be here and be able to help this American landmark in some small way as they continue to strive to rebuild. Their spirit and persistence are inspirational!

We are doing so many exciting events here in New Orleans this week. We have clinics for kids, we are donating hame through Habitat for Humanity, and are having a total day of service Friday with over 2500 NBA participants! With such a busy schedule, I am happy to have my Health Pak along to give me energy!











1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Jennifer,
We salute you and are very proud of your efforts to help the young people in New Orleans. With the spirit of the people there and the help of committed volunteers like you the area will see miracles in the days, weeks and months ahead.
God bless your good work.

Bill Freeze & Family