Reflections on RHINO

By: Stephanie Levan

Jungjae Lee & Miseon Choi add siding to one of the
Habitat Houses McCormick volunteers worked on in
New Orleans with RHINO.
Photo Credit: Jamie Wasowski.

From January 22-28, a group of 10 McCormick students and staff traveled to New Orleans for a mission trip partnered with RHINO, a ministry of St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church.  RHINO, or Rebuilding Hope in New Orleans, is a ministry that started in 2005 as a direct response to Hurricane Katrina.  Partnered with Habitat for Humanity, RHINO makes missions accessible for out-of-state volunteers.  The volunteers that work with RHINO are housed in the Brent House Hotel, which is located near both the French Quarter and the worksites.

Upholding both McCormick and RHINO identities on our mission trip, we worked alongside other groups of people who were also volunteering with Habitat for Humanity.  Our group of 10 people worked on two different houses measuring, cutting and applying siding, building a front porch, applying trim and deadwood, and many other additions that would assist the house-building process for the next group of people.

On rainy days or days when work on the houses is just not possible for RHINO volunteers, there are other opportunities for mission work through St. Charles Ave Presbyterian.  On one rainy day we assisted the Literacy Program by coloring pages to be laminated for students who would be tutored for reading and writing skills.  By having options for volunteers of a variety of ages and ability levels, RHINO is a ministry that is truly Rebuilding Hope in New Orleans. 

Be on the lookout for more mission trip stories written by other members of the mission team in the weeks to come!

Mission trip members cleaning up rumble and debris from a demolished shed.
Photo Credit: Jamie Wasowski.