As long term volunteers, we have had the honor to work with many wonderful organizations. Listed below are those organizations that are doing good work and need volunteers and monetary support to continue to do good work.

Over the last year, Relief Spark has created a network of grassroots non-profits that we support by way of providing marketing and public relations too as well as volunteers.

Volunteers stay with us in our Uptown housing and can choose a different program each day of the week. Those organizations with (*) next to them are a part of our "Support Grassroots Project" and we invite you to volunteer with us......and them!

ANIMAL RESCUE AND CARE
*ARNO - Animal Rescue New Orleans
In early September of 2005 ARNO deployed several hundred volunteers to rescue animals from the floodwaters that Katrina left behind. The stories we have heard from those volunteers makes us donate supplies on a regular basis. Relief Spark highly recommends this wonderful organization for the dog or cat lover in you!

ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE
Environmentally safe is probably not the right description for this organization, however environmental is. *Green Light New Orleans is a fabulously-green organization that does one thing and one thing well: they switch out light bulbs for homeowners from regular to energy efficient CFL saving a homeowner hundreds of dollars a year in energy costs. The organization needs volunteers with transportation to drive to homes and do the switch-a-roo. Groups are needed, locals always.

LAWN CARE
Do you enjoy the smell of freshly cut grass? If so, check out one of the following organizations that takes care of people's yards so they don't get fined for not taking care of their yards. Wait. Stop. Rewind. Did you say "fined"? Yes, we did. Homeowners in St. Bernard Parish are being fined $100.00 a day for not taking care of their yards in a council effort to keep St. Bernard Parish from being over-run with weeds. The following organization is doing what they can to prevent such fees: St. Bernard Project. In the Lower 9 contact * Common Ground and elsewhere in New Orleans you are already at the right web site: sign up to volunteer today!

HOUSE GUTTING
In 2006, house gutting became the "hot" volunteer project. Everyone wanted to swing a sledgehammer and everyone was curious to see what happens to rotting food in a refrigerator. House Gutting was Relief Spark's most popular program and still, yet today we have requests from volunteers across the country. While Relief Spark no longer house guts, we do work with non-profits that do. If you are an experienced house-gutter and wish to swing away down to the frame, please sign up to volunteer today (and keep in mind that while we work with non-profits that offer this program, there is no guarantee that is what you will be doing).

REBUILDING
A more positive subject: rebuilding a flooded home. Just about all the house gutting organizations have moved onto rebuilding and we have either sent volunteers to those organizations and received feedback or we have been there ourselves. Rebuilding can take as long as 6-8 months, so when coming into town for a week or two to help out, know that you may be painting, dry walling, laying tile or installing trim. You may not finish the project, but your time is of great appreciation in getting the house done. The following organizations are doing great work and we recommend each of them to potential volunteers:, *Common Ground, Habitat for Humanity, Rebuilding Together, ACORN, St. Bernard Project, Lean on Me, Project H.O.P.E. (St. Bernard Parish), Phoenix of New Orleans (aka PNOLA) and even Relief Spark.

NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE
A lot of organizations are actually set up in the neighborhoods that flooded badly to provide neighborhood services such as a relief kitchen, laundry services, community center, computer lab, meeting space for returning businesses and groups. Each of the following organizations have been on the ground since early September and of course, have each provided comfort, security and social gathering to the residents re turing to rebuild:

-*Common Ground - Lower 9th Ward (off of Claiborne, New Orleans, LA) - relief kitchen - breakfast, lunch and dinner, laundry room (9th ward), computer lab, tool lending, other services include: house gutting, rebuilding, lawn care/debris clean-up and gardening.
-*St. Bernard Community Center - St. Bernard Parish - relief kitchen serving dinner every Tuesday evening at 7pm followed by a movie on the big screen, computer lab and meeting space for businesses and organizations. Donation center next door currently being remodeled.

TUTORING
The school system here in New Orleans was a mess before the storm and it seems (thankfully) that the storm raised to the surface all the problems that the system was having and Relief Spark intends to do something about it! Thanks to a former America volunteer that volunteered with Relief Spark, we now have after-school programs set up with another organization. We also have the opportunity to send teachers and students into the Recovery School District schools which desperately need music and art teachers. Above and beyond these programs, we also work with children one-on-one in the privacy of their home or as a class with local churches. Relief Spark is seeking long-term volunteers to assist with this enriching program that will open your eyes and heart to the education system that children here in New Orleans face every day. To get involved, click here.