So why would any Cincinnatian spend precious vacation days working – and not just working, but performing back-breaking labor in the heat of summer? This July, 120 local young professionals will spend a week in New Orleans building houses with Habitat for Humanity as part of a service trip with the nonprofit volunteer organization Give Back Cincinnati.
To give insight on the allure of a “volunteer vacation,” four participants agreed to share their thoughts and reasons for going. Jesse Johnson, 27, is an IT Analyst at Accenture and a first-year participant. John Perkins, 30, is a Senior Project Manager at Messer and a big NOLA advocate after his first trip last year. Valerie Grant, 29, is a Marketing Specialist at Procter and Gamble and also went last year. Jennifer Day, 28, is a Clinical Research Associate at Kendle International and is one of the trip leaders this year.
The one unanimous reason to go on the Give Back Cincinnati NOLA trip, according to everyone who had gone, was the friendships formed. It may seem strange to think that going on a trip with busloads of strangers is a selling point, but like performing in a theatre production, the teamwork and close quarters seem to help form fast bonds among the participants. “Going in, I didn't know anyone,” says Perkins. “Leaving, I had 85 new friends.”
Grant agrees that the people are the best part of the trip. “It's like an extended family, the people I shared this experience with.”
Another popular reason to go: it's fun. Sweating aside, the members spend the evenings going out and exploring the local night life. Perkins had such a great time last summer, he couldn't wait a full year to go back. “I had so much fun last year that I went back for Mardi Gras,” he says. “So nine of my ten vacation days will have been spent in New Orleans this year.”
Grant says, “The work addition to the trip makes it the best vacation you'll ever have because you are on the site for six hours a day, sometimes more ... and you're doing manual labor ... it takes your mind off of everything else because you can't think about your work emails or budgets while you're hammering and sawing and carrying 100 pounds of wood ... you leave everything behind.”
“It makes you feel like you've earned your time to go out and party too,” says Day.
Another indirect reward – social props. Grant says, “When I came back, people knew me as the person who went and took their vacation to go and work with Habitat. They think it's so amazing, but for me it was a really great vacation, a really great experience.”
Friends, fun and fame – it sounds attractive, but you still can't escape the labor aspect. No matter how it's spun, the trip still involves a week's worth of hard, physical work. What's it like? This answer was also unanimous: hot and sweaty.
Perkins says, “The easiest way I can explain how hot it was is that you work all day, you drink gallons of water, and then you get to the end of the day and you stop and think, and realize that you didn't go to the bathroom all day.”
“I think everybody lost ten pounds on the trip,” says Day. “How could you not? You're out there just sweating. The worst part is if you get stuck on Quality Control duty, like me where I was crawling underneath the house trying to tap nails up from the bottom because people were missing the joists ... and if you're wearing sunscreen the dirt will stick to your sunscreen and you'll come back with a sand tan.”
Grant says, “It's hard, but it's not grueling. The work should never intimidate someone to not go or feel like they're not going to be able to do it.”
Given all the pros and cons, we asked Johnson, who will be going for the first time, what he's most looking forward to on the trip. “Getting as many beads as I can,” he said. He added, more seriously, “I'm looking at having a good time, but I'm also looking forward to seeing New Orleans post-Katrina. I'm interested in seeing the rebuilding.”
Perkins says that taking part in that rebuilding process is important to him. “I think Katrina will always be a defining moment in US history ... what they experienced, where they went after Katrina, what hardships they had, how they're rebuilding ... it's nice to hear first-hand instead of just over TV. Another thing that made the work so rewarding is that on the last day we raised the front wall on seven houses, raised them all at the same time in unison with TV cameras rolling.”
Day says, “It was like a Habitat historical event. Never before had they raised that many at the same time.”
The process is not without its rough spots, however. Perkins says, “Being in commercial construction, I would occasionally get frustrated by the rework that had to be done ... but then when I got back from the trip (someone) who was writing a daily blog had an awesome quote. She said it's not so much about building houses, it's about letting people feel the experience of building someone a home.
Day adds, “And from meeting our home owner, I think that was really illustrated because he was so grateful and so nice ... just wanted to get to know us and really interact with us. We're there for one week. He's there every week with his family putting work into building this house and who are we to just waltz in there, hammer a couple nails and say yeah, we built your house? But we really developed a relationship with them ... we made a connection with those people and I think more (importantly) than the building, is for them to know that there are people out there that cared enough to come down from Ohio to build their house.”
Give Back Cincinnati is hosting a fund-raiser for their July service trip to New Orleans on Wednesday, May 21. Called “Give Back to the Birthplace of Jazz,” this event will feature a full night of New Orleans-style music, including Erwin Stuckey on stride piano, The Queen City Zapatistas and Lagniappe, a Cajun/Zydeco band. The benefit will also include Cajun appetizers, a silent auction and free valet parking. 7 p.m. The 20th Century, 3021 Madison Rd. $20.
Liz Wu is a freelance musician and journalist whose passions include the arts, culture and service to others. She is the author of Rosa Farm (Random House, 1996), has a CincyChic art and culture blog, contributes to CityBeat, Taste Magazine and other publications and is also co-founder/manager of Zeit Productions, a promotions company specially geared toward small businesses and artists/performers.
Lead Photograph by Scott Beseler
Jennifer Day, John Perkins, Jesse Johnson, and Valerie Grant
New Orleans photographs provided by Valerie Grant
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