Life Changing Experience

In my first conversation with Jeremy, he spoke about what ignited him to help rebuild NOLA’s Lower Ninth Ward and turn it into a sustainable community. In this second segment, Jeremy talks about how the trip there changed his life and what lessons he has taken back home to Kansas City to make changes there before a disaster hits. He also fills me in about the ongoing work his group is doing doing help the Lower Ninth Ward achieve its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2020, no small feat!

So, please join me for another short conversation with Jeremy. You'll be glad you did.

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I met Jeremy Knoll through the Village at the Lower Ninth Ward group on Facebook. I asked people in that group if they would share their stories about going to New Orleans to help rebuild, and Jeremy offered to share his. Jeremy is a staff architect at PGAV Architects in Kansas City, MO. In addition to being a staff architect, he has become the Director of Sustainability by teaching LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) classes, starting the PGAV in-house Vision team (www.pgavvision.com), and being a local and national leader with the US Green Building Council.

Please spend the next five minutes with Jeremy as he talks about what ignited him to help rebuild NOLA's Lower Ninth Ward and turn it into a sustainable community.

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I was in New Orleans from March 8 - 15, 2008. I was one of many thousands of volunteers in the city helping with the effort to rebuild the Lower 9th Ward. I had wanted to do something active ever since Hurricane Katrina and finally had the opportunity. It was an amazing trip and truly an experience that has changed my life. I cannot stop thinking about what needs to be done, the shocking amount of destruction I saw there, and the wonderful people I met.

One of the people that had the biggest impact was Mack McClendon, a resident of the Lower 9th Ward. He is the visionary and life force behind the Village at the Lower 9th Ward. The Village was an abandoned building that looks like an airplane hangar. Mack, with the help of Dar Kulisek, the site manager, and thousands of volunteers, is rebuilding it to become a community center. The work began in November of 2007 and there's slow but steady progress every week. When Mack greeted our group the first morning we came to the work site, he told us the story of his transformation from an angry and depressed man who lost everything in Katrina to the person he is today - a community organizer who feels like every day is Christmas. It was quite a story, one I knew I had to record for others to hear.

Here are pictures of Mack and Dar, and our group listening to Mack's story the first morning we were there.

I asked Mack if he would sit down with me toward the end of the week for an interview and of course he said yes. This is the podcast of that interview, done on March 13, 2008, sitting in Mack's "office" outside the Village.

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