Ashley King's Alternative Spring Break Reflection: Day 4

Ashley King’s Alternative Spring Break Reflection: Day 4

This trip consisted mostly of priming, painting, and cleaning up the remainder of the home. At the end of the day, it was comforting to see all of our hard work had been worthwhile as everything we had worked on had come together. Reaction-wise, I would say I’m glad Ms. Newman had gotten and is still getting the help she needed, needs, and most of all, deserves. Hearing her story was what motivated me as well as my peers to want to continue. Receiving assistance five years later, says a lot about the effort like this put in throughout the years and how time consuming that same effort can actually be. She didn’t expect to see our faces after so long, let alone any face and so being there as part of her assistance for sure not only lifted her and her family’s spirits, but mine additionally.

Believe it or not, politics play a huge role in situations like these as there must be some sort of system put in tact to regulate certain restrictive laws in regard to budgeting relief programs and the revenue associated with them. A prime example if this would be the political fallout in regard to Hurricane Katrina and the Road Home program formulated as a result. Recovery money had been received by hurricane victims over time and ever so slowly, but it was still not enough to rebuild the homes as there were other damage related payment to be made by the victims. As stated by a news reporter, “There was too much red tape for them to be able to utilize it like they should”.

Because of what what seen during Hurricane Katrina and experience drawn from it, many systematic changes have been implemented in regard to relief and equality within that. Fairer application processes and equal distribution of money had been put into practice. The process was simpler, especially for those who had undergone the disaster.

Because of the amount of needs that need to be fulfilled, it is definitely best to plan out assistance before giving it. That way, money would not be wasted, overused, or anything else along those lines. the less funding the government has, the less they are able to use it. There have been many improvements, however there has also been a ton of experience, so though it takes time and effort, both have been implemented so more should be done in my opinion. This is especially because limiting or cutting back federal programs results in more or prolonged human suffering.

There’s an ongoing split in opinion due to an ongoing argument involving the decision to limit or eradicate federal aid and programs dedicated to natural disasters like this. Those in opposition to these programs as a whole believe it should be funded or as funded. Supporters are obviously for it, however, they believe expectations and hopes had been increased only to have households be let down in the end. At the end of the day, there are ups and downs to recovery and relief programs, but given the endless amount of effort constantly put forth by them, it can be concluded they aim to serve as nothing but benefactors towards households in need. The amount of gratitude shown by Ms. Newman was extremely genuine and, along with this project as a whole, enlightened me a bit and changed my view on issues like aftermath recovery of natural disasters and what is being done on the outside in terms of assistance.