With the end of February comes the end of Mardi Gras and another month of this program. Despite the city wide celebrations and my friend Jonathan coming to visit, I was able to get one shift of Habitat for Humanity in. It was a very cold experience and I did my best to push through it. I was surprised at how cold New Orleans can get and I went inside after lunch to try and escape the cold. I did a lot of painting this time and while I found it a little tedious at first, when I remembered that there were people out in New Orleans that didn't have homes and had to suffer the cold all the time. This gave me a little encouragement to focus on the work and quit complaining. While I only did get 8 hours of volunteering in, there was plenty of other excitement. During one of the parades, I witnessed a shooting where two people passed away. It was a harsh reminder of gang violence and how crime and murder still occur even during near city wide celebrations and merry making. A few of the other students witnessed it as well and I tried my best to comfort them as they were having a harder time with seeing something so traumatic. I hope that they are okay and that they will talk to someone if they are dwelling on it as I take mental health extremely seriously and would not be able to forgive myself if they were struggling and I wasn't trying to help them.
Time volunteering 8 hrs 30 mins
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