Nithin Pusapati
In particular, spending last Friday afternoon at the CAN office was interesting since Erica and I got to observe and help out with the weekly needle exchange. Every week the CAN office of NO/AIDS does a needle exchange where heroin users throw away their dirty needles in exchange of the same amount of clean ones. While we were helping volunteers at the CAN office, I was amazed at how many people, from all walks of life, were utilizing the service. We were told that within the span of two hours, over a 100 people came to exchange needles. In many ways, the CAN office is combating HIV issues by preventing the transmission of blood borne pathogens by encouraging safer practices among needle users. After Dining Out For Life is over, I hope we can shadow physicians and/or nurses at the main clinic.
Time really does fly. How do I only have three weeks left in New Orleans? From my morning commutes to NO/AIDS to walking on Frenchmen street, I can finally see how incredible and diverse New Orleans is—I feel as if I’ve become a part of this incredible city in the last five weeks.
At work, Erica and I were able to create a comprehensive social media plan for NO/AIDS that our supervisors can use years to come. Besides that, we’re still working on promoting Dining Out For Life—which is in 4 days!!!—any way we can by putting up flyers in Tulane Towers, calling restaurants, “instagramming”, and helping Michael out with promotional events. When we aren’t doing Dining Out For Life work, we spend a lot of time working with Raiser’s Edge, a fundraising software that serves as a donor database. With Raiser’s Edge, we’ve worked on fixing a lot of the organizational issues that NO/AIDS is having with the program. When we aren’t in the office, Erica and I have had the chance to explore NO/AIDS’s other departments. So far, we’ve spent time shadowing behavioral health therapists and psychiatrists, at the Food for Friends kitchen, the Movement, and the Community Awareness Network (CAN) Office on Frenchmen street.
At work, Erica and I were able to create a comprehensive social media plan for NO/AIDS that our supervisors can use years to come. Besides that, we’re still working on promoting Dining Out For Life—which is in 4 days!!!—any way we can by putting up flyers in Tulane Towers, calling restaurants, “instagramming”, and helping Michael out with promotional events. When we aren’t doing Dining Out For Life work, we spend a lot of time working with Raiser’s Edge, a fundraising software that serves as a donor database. With Raiser’s Edge, we’ve worked on fixing a lot of the organizational issues that NO/AIDS is having with the program. When we aren’t in the office, Erica and I have had the chance to explore NO/AIDS’s other departments. So far, we’ve spent time shadowing behavioral health therapists and psychiatrists, at the Food for Friends kitchen, the Movement, and the Community Awareness Network (CAN) Office on Frenchmen street.
On the 4th of July, Muhammad and I went to City Park to canoe and explore the lake in it. We paddled around for over an hour and marveled at all the animals and geese that were swimming around. It was a nice thing to do on a hot day, although, you probably should bring some sunscreen. Just sayin. It was a nice change of pace. We took our time and really enjoyed what City Park had to offer, and even walked around and looked at the modern art exhibit that they had for the general public. Bring friends and a picnic and spend the day in the park relaxing, eating, or even playing (they have a mini-golf course in the park!).
New Orleans is a food mecca and I’ve been fortunate to be able to sample restaurants around the city. Because I only have three weeks left, I’m hoping to try as much as I can. From Vietnamese fusion to traditional Cajun cuisine, I’ve already fallen in love with the quality and diversity of this city’s dining. So to get the most out of my time here, I’m making it a point to try something new everyday! I expect to have an entire album of food pictures before the summer is over!