07/17/2016
After much consideration (which often took the form of just lying around and getting comfortable with the concept) I’ve decided to shut Helping Hands Construction down. The decision was in part influenced by the difficulties I’ve had dealing with bureaucracy in just trying to tie up loose ends while going dormant. Because we have always taken seriously the responsibility of managing public funds in the form of grants we have made a point of following the rules. You are not always rewarded in this world for doing that. It makes you want to join the Tea Party (if only for a nanosecond)!
The intention of this post is not to go on about the difficulties of running a small business in New Orleans. I am very proud that we were able to take what was essentially a homework assignment introduced at a morning Operation Helping Hands meeting 5 years ago and turn it into a reality with a real impact on the local community. Our accomplishments went beyond my expectations. I want to thank our small band of core contributors most especially David Harms, who donated his time to help get this venture off the ground and for his continued leadership, to our longest tenured members, Emily Stieber and Grayson Cunningham for their loyalty and perseverance and to David Frenzel and Hannah Sagin, our last two members, who carried the load the last year. To you all I want to extend my heartfelt thanks. You not only possess a great work ethic but you have the hearts to match it. Thanks are due also to the year of service given us by Grace Vogel and Travis Wain. Believe me when I say that the rest of us got as much out of mentoring you guys as I hope you did. It is always a pleasure seeing you around town and I’m happy you have made New Orleans your home. And, finally, thanks to Aaron Dickerson (and his unbounded energy) for the nine months he was employed, to Danny Treat who was with us for four months and to Andrew Ryan for his help with the retraining program. In the end it was all of you who made HHC what it was. It was a pleasure working along side you. I will miss your energy and spirit. To the others (Alana, Allie, Tony, Brian, David Lanser, Eric, Fraser, Jason, Meri, Rye, Terry, Donovan and Demond) that made smaller contributions to our goals, thank you also. I hope I didn’t leave anyone out.
Since this is all about people in the end I am posting some old photos I dug up. Unfortunately, there are not many of our non-profit clients because of privacy issues and the fact that we worked indirectly for them through other larger non-profit rebuilding organizations (primarily RTNO), which had the actual funding for our projects. The other organizations included Catholic Charities, Lower9, Habitat for Humanity, St. Bernard Project, Youth Rebuilding of NO and Project Homecoming. Thanks for trusting us and enabling us to help the many homeowners whose houses we worked on. To our for-profit clients I want to also say thanks for your support and patience. Without your jobs we would never have been able to sustain our non-profit work, which ultimately we lost money on. We should have some money left to donate a nice sum to another non-profit after all our business expenses are finally settled and we will be donating some tools and supplies to them as well. As for myself, I intend on still volunteering with some of these organizations in the future but the major thing on my immediate schedule is the second of my knee replacement surgeries in the fall. After that, who knows? In the meantime I’m maintaining a low profile. I wish you all well. May we remain lifelong friends and may our paths cross in the future!
Russ Greco July 16, 2016
