When the Saints Go Marching In...
After my somewhat disastrous introduction to rebuilding, it was to my relief when I finally started in the office- away from paint, sharp objects, and weird looking equipment. Of course, that ended after three days of sitting in front of the computer and getting acquainted with my projects. I was once again relegated to the field (though to be fair, so was everyone else) for two big events happening on the same day: the completion of Rebuilding Together’s 100th home renovation and the entire Saints team (yes, all 90 football players) volunteering for half a day in rebuilding homes (essentially doing what I did for the first two days).
My job was to shadow one of the VISTA members (from the Americorps) and run around doing whatever was asked of us including: waking up at 5:30 AM (completely unnatural to wake up when the sun isn’t even up), get coffee for the 100th house event, go to Walgreens (multiple times), find lunch for 50 people, and be completely dead by 9:00 AM. Honestly, I have never been more exhausted before noon until I realized what it took to coordinate not one, but two huge PR events.
Despite all the running around and chaos, I did get to see the entire Saints team, which honestly, was really cool in that “I don’t even like sports, but ‘Hey! you’re on TV and (some) people think you’re worth paying money to see!” I got to hand out water to players, and gawk- along with several other onlookers- at these huge (like really, really big) guys work outside in 90° heat + humidity. I even got to see the “famous players” aka Reggie Bush and Drew Brees. My goal was to get a baseball cap from one of the players, except when I finally had the courage to hunt one down, they were already distributed to residents of the neighborhood and little kids. I did, however, get Drew Brees to sign my shirt, which in all honesty, looks like someone scribbled on my shirt, but at least it’s something fellow interns are jealous of. Now my biggest issue is trying to wash that shirt without washing away that signature. I’ve been told I’m suppose to keep the shirt as is, but come on, I was sweating in that shirt all day and it’s filthy and gross.
In spite of all the hoopla surrounding the Saints efforts, it also become very apparent to me that yes, the Saints doing community service is great, but the sheer amount of unseen (by the press and their audience) preparation, from preparing waivers to getting paint and brushes ready on site, that went into them helping is just mind-boggling. To be fair, everyone was impressed that the players actually did work instead of putting on a show for the press unlike some sports players…
Unfortunately most of my time was spent with on the Saints site such that I missed most of the 100th house event, though I heard it was really great especially when my suitemate was there as part of her internship.
Sidenote: I did manage to snag myself a temporary tattoo of Rebuilding Together’s logo during the brief amount of time I was there and had it inked onto my arm. It’s a great way for complete strangers to talk to you, I’ve realized, especially when people ask if it’s permanent or not...which in that case, why would anybody ever tattoo a logo on their arm?
So even though I was done by 2:00PM and about to collapse, it was all in all an awesome day. Would I give up the comforts of the office to do it again? What do you think?