As many of you know (from my own blabbing), New Orleans has a special little pouch in my heart. A few weeks after Hurricane Katrina, a group of 21 other people and myself headed down to Slidell, Louisiana and worked for several days gutting homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

These are days that changed my life, at risk of sounding dramatic. We walked one woman in to her home for the first time and my friend kindly went through thirty years of photo albums with this woman and threw out her wedding photos and years of children’s photos and memories. We tore down the home she grew up her babies in, and in three days, it was nothing but a shell of 2×4’s. Her life was gone, but she had faith that her home – and her life – would be rebuilt.

I now have the opportunity – with six other friends – to return to Slidell for four more days of work. We will get to rebuild. When seven months ago we were gutting mold-, dirt-, and water-filled homes, now we will step back in to the lives of some of the same people we helped tear down… and help them build back.

This is where your help, and a chance for you to participate, comes in. Mackey’s Public House has agreed to host a fundraiser for this trip. Details are below, and I hope to see you there. And, a bunch of your favorite Metrobloggers will be there too – so it’s some combo goodness!

Date: Tuesday, May 2, 2006
Time: Happy Hour 6 pm to 9 pm
Where: Mackey’s (L St., between 18th and 19th, NW)
What’s the deal?: Our team will be at the door. Donate to the cause and we’ll hook you up with a sweet bracelet that will get you happy hour specials ($2.25 and $2.75 bottles, and $2.75 rail drinks as long as it has a carbonated mixer.)
Who: Slidell or Bust (yeah, we’re nerds, we named our team) will be there, plus anyone and everyone. Invite your co-workers, you’re friends. You know you don’t need another excuse for a happy hour, no less one with specials, and going to a worthy cause.

If you can’t make it and are still interested in participating, we can figure something out: snchamberlin@yahoo.com. I’ll let Tom comment on the sweet deal he’s going to hook us up with for Metroblogging merch to help raise even more money for the venture. Hope to see many of you there!