Saturday the Desire Street Ministry partnered with Kids First Pediatrics (located on Louisa Street, one of their six locations throughout the city) to host a neighborhood outreach and awareness Easter Fest.  Some of the other partners present included Families Helping Families, Carelink, Lighten Up Louisiana Youth, IV Servies, the Children's Hospital, LaCHIP, and Claiborne Discount Pharmacy; all of which working to help neighboring communities grow in both health and knowledge.

The NOFD turned out to show give the children an apparatus and water hose demonstration.

In addition, CDC 58:12, the 501(c)(3) operating inside of Desire Street Ministry is hosting their anual Summer Enrichment Program from June 21 - July 30.  For more information call Kirk Stevens at 504.304.9356.

Here are the pictures from the day:

Sunday, the Desire Street Ministries in conjunction with CDC 58:12, Inc. and NORD's Sampson Playground hosted an awards ceremony for the children of the Desire neighborhood, which featured guest speaker and Delgado professor Tronn Moller, who also administered the oath to the Board Members.

It was a full evening, but at it's heart, it offered parents the opportunity to see their child accepting his award on stage and in front of everyone.  A great deploy of positive encouragement!

And Deshaad, always willing to oblige, posed for a picture.  Go figure.

This weekend Michelle and I went to the Desire area neighborhood to visit the kids from the ministry and have them show us around their neighborhood.  A neighborhood that has been rebuilt (and slightly relocated) since the Storm.

But as we crossed over Louisa Street, we saw the roads leading to many of their old homes.  Michael, one of the boys, was hesitant to even walk through what has become now just another Katrina ghost town.  While others, stopping here and there to single out one door in the midst of a thousand, reminisced about a time that is now almost half their lives ago.

As usual, the kids were in playful moods, more than obliged to pose for a picture...or ten.

Here was the day:

Here are some of the latest images in my ongoing project of documenting the Desire Street Ministry.

Michelle, a good friend of mine, works at the Desire Street Ministry.  In the evenings after school, the neighborhood kids come by for an organized program filled with positive reinforcement and love, all framed to show them God's love.

This past Monday I began a project of documenting the ins and outs of the DSM.  One of the things that stands out most to me is the way the kids instantly flock to me, pose, and run up to see their picture on the LCD on my camera.  It causes quite an effervescent feeling to be a part of something so important.

Here are some pictures from Monday!