A New Orleans Habitat for Humanity volunteer hugs a new homeowner.
beautiful house, and then the one next door is fall- ing down. Every fifth house is occupied. It’s hard to find families to be pioneers here.” Manuselis is a bit more forgiving. “It’s a lot bet-
ter,” she says. “There are little things that indicated improvement. When I first moved back, it would take nine minutes to get from my house to Musi- cians’ Village, because there was no traffic. It was a ghost town. Last week it took 25 minutes. So there are tangible snippets of progress. Volunteers will come in and say something like, ‘Did you see that the street timer was up again?’ Every time I have friends in town I take them around the city. The last time was during Mardi Gras. It was striking for me because I took them on a tour of houses we built in the 9th Ward. And I didn’t stop talking. ‘There’s one, there’s one, there’s one.’”
Stilp married a fellow Loyola University Chicago
alum, Michael Hayes, in 2007. She has made the difficult decision to leave New Orleans to pursue an MBA at Marquette. She’ll be in a special pro- gram that focuses on nonprofit work, which her experiences in New Orleans have motivated her to pursue. Manuselis has changed her mind about pursuing a PhD in favor of her newfound career. “There’s too much to do,” she says. “I thought I was only good at reading books and analyzing things. I thought the realm of ideas was where I belonged. But it turns out I’m good at tangible things, at acting, and rebuilding the site of someone’s Christ- mases, Mother’s Days, birthdays. People’s families’ futures are uplifted by home ownership. This is good work.” And so the two longtime friends face a break that will be challenging for both. “I’m
bummed Gina’s leaving,” says Manuselis. “We’ve been together for 10 years.” The work they’ve done together in New Orleans will help many families rebuild a life, and both will continue to help families and communities that need it. “The first year I was here, perfect strangers would say to me, ‘You won’t leave. You love it here,’” says Manuselis. “And I’d say, ‘You don’t know me.’ But they were right. I had an urgent need to rebuild this treasure, or at least participate in that in some small way.” Stilp’s and Manuselis’s commitment to the city’s reconstruction has enriched both their own lives and the lives of residents. Their decade- long partnership is one for which many people are surely grateful, and which promises to flourish despite the changes ahead.
SUMMER 2010
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