ACTION on the 12th!

In March Chi Alpha explored God's ecology, and our place in caring for His world. This April it's time to put our knowledge to action! Join in for a festival of FAITH in ACTION!

Cleaning up the 'OLE MISSISSIPPI RIVER BANK...

Meet at the ENTRANCE OF AUDUBON PARK on St. Charles Ave at 8:45am sharp to walk to "The Fly" together. Wear sturdy shoes and sunscreen. Bring work gloves if you have them. Snacks and drinks provided.

Build a Playground with Us

We're partnering with the MLK Jr. Week for Peace day of service: Outreach New Orleans, which is co-sponsored by Loyola, Xavier, Tulane, and Dillard this Saturday, the 19th.

We'll be building a KaBoom playground at Esperanza School. That's some serious fun and games.

Meeting time is 8am at Tulane's Newcomb Quad (need a ride?). We're supposed to be back by 3pm.
Lunch and drinking water provided.
plus a free t-shirt

TO SIGN UP:
***The Kaboom build we have selected is currently full. We are working on opening a few more spots. If you have not yet registered, please email us at xa@nolaxa.com or call us at 504.655.9273

Go to www.mlkoutreachnola.tulane.edu
select the Kaboom Playground Build #2 - Esperanza School
type "Chi Alpha" in the Where did you hear about Outreach New Orleans box

Also, please email us xa@nolaxa.com to let us know you'll be joining us.

Actively Believing

For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10

Some good work is in the works this Saturday-the 20th, as Chi Alpha is teaming up from CACTUS at Tulane to have a Paint Rally at Live Oak Elementary from 9-3:30. Lunch will be provided.

If you would like to help us paint and fix and clean-up at this school, please email action@nolaxa.com before Thursday at 9am, or you can call 504.655.9273 and leave voicemail. Meet-up details and so forth will go out to those signed up later on Thursday.

In other news along these lines, Wednesday is the Global Day of Action Against Poverty.

wikipedia article on Global Call to Action Against Poverty
information from the One Campaign on the Jubillee Act

What will you do to help make poverty history?
For many this is a hot political issue. I post it here, because I believe the Jewish and Christian Scriptures clearly teach debt forgiveness: see the law of jubilee, and the Lord's Prayer. I hope visitors of this website will consider their positions on wealth, poverty, and debt in light of God's Word again, or maybe for the first time.

It's been an exciting few days for Chi Alpha New Orleans, and that's going to continue.

Following up on Monday's Gathering, we will combine Tulane and Loyola group prayer next Monday (other campuses welcome). We will pray at 9pm at Loyola in the Seminar room of Carrollton Hall. Monday the 15th of October.

Then, next Saturday we get into ACTION! We will be teaming up with CACTUS to do a Paint Rally at a local school: cleaning up, painting, fixing up... 9am - 3 or 3:30 pm on Satuday the 20th of October. To sign up email action@nolaxa.com or call 504.655.9273

Finally, campus ministries from Tulane and Loyola are teaming up to sponsor forty8 - 48 hours of prayer starting with a bang Friday the 2nd of November at 7pm and continuing through 7pm on Sunday the 4th. The BCM on Freret St. will be open for 1 hour prayer slots during that time. Sign-up for slots, and other details will be online at www.forty8.org (currently under construction)

Recent Pictures

It's been a great first few weeks, and here's the photo evidence:

Canoe Trip - Saturday 8 September










Action Project - Saturday 15 September

this Community is putting Faith into Action

It has been a great start to the year, and only promises to get better this weekend, as we get out and get dirty rebuilding New Orleans.

Already this year, we have been able to collect over $100 in donations and school supplies for Louisiana children with incarcerated parents. And last night, we collected $93 at the Gathering for Invisible Children's Education Program to empower war-affected children of northern Ugandan to achieve economic freedom in the harshest of circumstances.

Now, it's time to get the gloves on this Saturday - the 10th.

We will be working with a rebuilding group based out of a local church: St. Luke Assembly of God. The group is called Hands2Go.

***CHANGE****
Instead of gutting, we will be helping at St. Mary's Academy. They have classrooms that need putting together: desks and that good stuff.

If you would like to join us, please call 504.655.9273 or email action@nolaxa.com to sign up.

Lunch will be provided, as well as water to drink.

We will meet up at 8:30 am at PJs on Freret (at Tulane), and start cleaning up around 2:30 pm to be home between 3 or 3:30.

If you need help getting to PJs, or whatnot, call or email.

Haiti Team Takes Off!

Keep your prayer shoes on, because the Haiti team (Matt & Jen DeGier, Laura Post, and Bill Horne) leaves tomorrow at 10am!

We will be serving at orphanages and schools in Port-au-Prince, as well as helping a couple of missionaries, and some of the indigenous church leadership.

Displace Me

Join us as we make a statement in New Orleans

When Hurricane Katrina hit this country, we saw for the first time what a displaced American looks like. Now we’re asking you to voluntarily become displaced, leaving the comforts of your homes, to imagine for 24 hours what it’s like for the millions of people in Northern Uganda who have been displaced for more than ten years.


What is a displaced camp?

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has abducted thousands of children, subjected them to torture or sexual violence and forced them to fight in a violent guerilla army for 21 years—making it the longest running war in Africa. In hopes of providing protection from this rebel militia, the Ugandan government forcibly evicted its Northern citizens from their homes—giving them 48 hours to relocate into camps. Today, more than 1.5 million Northern Ugandans remain far from secure, suffering nearly 1,000 deaths per week due to inhumane living conditions in the camps.

Alcoholism, sexual abuse, HIV/AIDS, inadequate sanitation and lack of education have caused immeasurable damage to two generations and the near-total destruction of Acholi culture. Water is scarce and people are reliant on food to be delivered by foreign aid. If the food isn’t delivered, the people starve. This April, the already meager rations delivered by the World Food Program to the camps will be cut in half due to lack of funding—with school feeding programs and support for HIV/aids victims soon to follow. This will indisputably increase the number of deaths among those already suffering from severe malnutrition—mostly among women, children and the elderly. That is why the timing of this event, and your participation are so crucial.

“Displace Me” is the nationwide event giving Americans the chance to respond.

By traveling to one of our 15 camps and gathering together, the strength of our size will make a visible statement to our government and media that the citizens of the U.S. demand action in ending the war in Northern Uganda, in order to send the Acholi people suffering in the camps and the abducted children back home. The point is to travel; the point is to become displaced yourself.

Saturday, April 28, 2007 say “Displace Me” and leave your homes to bring them home.

Commit To A City

Sign Up to be displaced in one of 15 cities throughout the US. -or-
If you have signed up but not yet committed to a city, click here to do it now.

copy from www.invisiblechildren.com/displaceMe

Important Details

Tulane University- 6823 St. Charles Avenue New Orleans, LA 70118 (University Center Quad)
Parking- off site, details coming soon.
Everyone who comes to “Displace Me” will be asked to bring the following:

1. Enough cardboard to build something the size of a small tent.
2. A sleeping bag.
3. A 1.5-liter bottle of water (with airtight seal-to be collected upon entry).
4. A box of saltine crackers (yes, they need to be saltines, with sealed packaging- to be collected upon entry).
5. A current photo of yourself wearing a white t-shirt with a red X

ACTION! -make a difference on Saturday the 24th

Chi Alpha New Orleans is partnering with Chi Alpha LSU and New Orleans Hillel to help build a Habitat House in New Orleans East on SATURDAY FEBRUARY 24th, 2007.

No experience is necessary. Wear comfortable clothing and closed-toed shoes (there will probably be nails, etc.).

Lunch will be provided by New Orleans Hillel.

Chi Alpha New Orleans will be meeting up at PJ's at Freret at 7:00am sharp. (others' plans are unknown to me just yet)

If you would like to drive from UNO or elsewhere, please let Matt Thomas know, and he should be able to get you directions.

We should arrive on location at 7:30am, work till 2:30pm, and be back on Tulane's campus around 3pm.

Invite your friends!

We are in need of drivers right now, so let me know if you can drive as well.

SIGN-UP: EMAIL ME AT mthomas@tulane.edu OR EMAIL YOUR RESPECTIVE LEADER. WE NEED TO KNOW BY FRIDAY FEBRUARY 16TH TO FINALIZE PLANS.