February 04, 2011

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Beyond the Convention Center: Dermatologists Give Back

It was a cold afternoon, so cold even the locals called it unusual, but that didn't stop almost 100 dermatologists and attendees of the American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting from coming together in the Lower 9th Ward Village to help build what will become an urban garden.

It has been nearly 6 years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Ninth Ward, but you can still see remanents of the destruction in the form of abandoned houses. (You can also see modern-looking homes mixed in, or as the locals like to call them: Brad Pitt homes.) The area is still being rebuilt. It has one hospital, a single elementary school, and no grocery stores in biking distance.

Organizations such as the Village are trying to help bring fresh produce back to the area. Payton Juneau, who is a project supervisor for HandsOn New Orleans, said that during the summer the garden will have workshops to teach children how to grow their own produce. By then, the benches and murals that Thursday's volunteers help to build and paint will be in use.

The moving story about how the Lower 9th Ward Village came to be - the "huge airplane-hanger-looking building," as its founder, Ward "Mack" McClendon, called it - is available on iTunes. 

-Naseem Miller

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