Elmira graduate offers help in South.Byline: Jim Feehan The Register-Guard From an empty lot in New Orleans' Garden District, Jessica Balfour spread a little holiday cheer Thursday, one boxed dinner after another. Balfour, 18, a recent graduate of Elmira High School
Thursday's dinner consisted of turkey and gravy, sweet potatoes sweet potato, trailing perennial plant (Ipomoea batatas) of the family Convolvulaceae (morning glory family), native to the New World tropics. Cultivated from ancient times by the Aztecs for its edible tubers, it was introduced into Europe in the 16th cent. , cranberries, stuffing, biscuits and brownies. The boxes were served to about 300 needy residents. In the past few weeks, as many as 800 prepared meals were distributed a day. Balfour attributes the decline in demand on Thursday to flood-ravaged residents opting to spend Thanksgiving with relatives. A year ago, Balfour was sitting down to a traditional Thanksgiving meal with family in Elmira. For the past two weeks she's been driving through debris-strewn streets flooded by Hurricane Katrina  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. ,
distributing food to needy folks.
"It's incredible to see smiles on people's faces when you give them food," Balfour said in a telephone interview Thursday. About 80 percent of the city flooded when New Orleans' levees broke after Katrina. Tired of imposing on relatives, or living in hotels or on cruise ships This is a list of cruise ships, both those in service and those that have since ceased to operate. Both cruise ships and cruiseferries are included in this list. (Ocean liners are not included on this list, see List of ocean liners. , families are returning to discover that their mold-infested homes have been destroyed or gutted, Balfour said. "It's horrible, the enormity e·nor·mi·ty n. pl. e·nor·mi·ties 1. The quality of passing all moral bounds; excessive wickedness or outrageousness. 2. A monstrous offense or evil; an outrage. 3. of the devastation. The disaster is still alive and going," she said. On Saturday, Balfour will return to her AmeriCorps home base of Washington, D.C. AmeriCorps provides literacy help, environmental cleanup The process of removing solid, liquid, and hazardous wastes, except for unexploded ordnance, resulting from the joint operation of US forces to a condition that approaches the one existing prior to operation as determined by the environmental baseline survey, if one was conducted. and other assistance. Balfour will conclude her 10-month stint in July and plans to attend college after that. "I'm grateful I had this experience," she said. |
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