John Edwards in NOLA with 600 student volunteers; also on hardball

[AmericanDream]

Edwards helping with clean up:



To view full size picture: http://blog.oneamericacommittee.com/story/2006/3/16/123547/329

Edwards welcoming students yesterday:



To view full size picture: http://blog.oneamericacommittee.com/story/2006/3/16/94659/4048


A student volunteer from NOLA writes:

As John Edwards spoke at dusk Wednesday to a group of about 600 students gathered
in an outdoor hotel courtyard in downtown New Orleans, even the setting sun could
not dim his obvious pride at the hope and determination on our faces. With a bounce
in his step, Edwards thanked us for volunteering to spend Spring break clearing rotting
debris from homes when we could have chosen instead to party all night and sleep all day
in Cancun. He said our generation's sacrifice should set an example for all Americans.

Indeed, just one year ago the notion that thousands of college students would trade
swim trunks and bikinis for construction helmets, gloves, goggles and sanitation suits would
have been unthinkable. Then came Katrina. For students like me who will graduate college
this Spring, the start of senior year in high school and college has been marked by 9/11
and the hurricane -- the greatest man-made and natural disasters in recent American experience.

Out of our feelings of helplessness and despair emerged a new youth consensus -- the belief
that our generation can rebuild the world by our example of empathy and compassion. Edwards
helped foment this energy during his university speaking tour this Fall. While I learned about
this week's initiative through a friend's email, many students learned of the program
from Edwards's personal appeals.

Our trip is just one of many making a difference. New Orleans is so overwhelmed with thousands
of student volunteers from hundreds of campuses this week that most of our group is sleeping
on the floor of a basketball arena 90 minutes away in Baton Rouge. We leave our accommodations
at 6:00am each morning for the bus ride to our work site, where some of our tasks include
throwing away long-spoiled food, scooping away sewage, fending off rats that have settled
in with the flood waters, and helping strangers pick up the pieces of shattered lives.
We plan to completely empty debris from 100 homes over the next two days.

I had my own personal inconvenience when the airline lost my sleeping bag, but helpful
employees at a local hotel loaned me blankets and a pillow - a small reflection of the
kindness and compassion blooming in the aftermath of tragedy. Those who think student
motivation to heal and improve America is absent in my generation should take a trip
to Louisiana. In his remarks before our training session,
Senator Edwards told us "we are the leaders we have been waiting for." The thousands
of students gathered in New Orleans this week couldn't agree more.

source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11860058/


Read more, including live blogging at edwards website: http://blog.oneamericacommittee.com/

And, watch him tonight with tweets... wonder what made tweety give any attention to this endeavor.

Edwards has actually been to New Orleans several times since the devastation; talking with and helping the evacuees and now helping with the rebuilding efforts.