Email: Sarah Leer

Friends,

October was quite a month around this neck of the woods (or should I say bayou). My time in New Orleans is spent working on advocacy for Project Homecoming, the rebuilding effort of the Presbytery of South Louisiana. The month of October was crazy! The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP), a national Presbyterian committee made up of leaders from around the country, was coming to New Orleans to find out what was “really going on down here.” It was up to my office to form a comprehensive panel made up of various city officials and community leaders to share the realities of our city in recovery. The planning took a good bit of time, and when ACSWP finally arrived, the panel discussion went off without a hitch (well, a few hitches happened, but we handled them well). They were pleased with the information presented, but the most exciting moment was watching key leaders of our community learn about each other’s organizations and then exchange business cards. It was phenomenal to watch a non-profit environmental organization committed to maintaining Louisiana’s coastline exchange name and numbers with the representative from the city council.

My next big project happened immediately after the ACSWP meeting. Project Homecoming had the opportunity to have a non-profit booth at the Voodoo Music Festival, which drew 150,000 people in one weekend. We raised money and awareness for our organization and signed up many, many volunteers. It was a wonderful way to get our name out into the community and to communicate to local people that we are truly committed to rebuilding this city.

After those two massive projects, I was ready to take it easy for a while. Of course, New Orleans and Project Homecoming had other ideas—the most exciting part of my year was yet to come.

When I attended the discernment event last April, I remarked to my new YAV friends that if I ended up in New Orleans, I wanted to do something artistic during my time here. I am a theatre kid at heart and my vision was to gather people’s storm and post-storm stories, write a show, and travel with that show to raise money and get volunteers to come down here to build! As my first two months crept by, this irksome longing to do something artistic continued to gnaw at my subconscious. Then one day my supervisor, Jean Marie, came to see me at my desk. “Sarah,” she said, “There is a pastor in Baton Rouge who has written a play right after the storm and now he wants to tour around the country with it to raise money and awareness for our efforts down here. Would you like to be a part of it?” Needless to say, my jaw hit the floor and I almost jumped out of my chair with excitement (those of you who know me can imagine such a sight). I remarked to Jean Marie that she had just unknowingly articulated my dream back to me and Jean Marie said with a small laugh, “Well, Sarah, down here we are in the business of making dreams come true.” I had not told Jean Marie of my vision, but God knew what I was plotting and dreaming, and it is happening. Thanks be to God, who I believe is a theatre kid at heart as well. (Don’t believe me? Check out the Bible—it’s dramatic!)

The more I think about it, the more I think Jean Marie is right. Our business is rebuilding. But if coming home is your dream in New Orleans, we will do our best to help make that dream a reality. We are here to steadily build houses, do the work, and be rays of hope in a community that faces many challenges.

Our theatrical touring production is a step in a new, artistic direction for our office. I am so excited to bring it to a performance space near you. Be on the lookout!