02-18-2008, 10:20 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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MVP! MVP! MVP!
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Apple Valley, California
Age: 22
Posts: 14,687
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A Real Difference-Maker: David West
Quote:
NEW ORLEANS -- Driving past homeless families huddled under tents to protect them from the rain, past boarded-up schools and homes that have long since been abandoned and past broken down trailers with graffiti scrawled on them, New Orleans' not-so-distant past still clearly lives on in its present predicament.
Sitting in the back of a bus of NBA all-stars on their way to help refurbish a local school, David West puts his head down after gazing out of his window at "Tent City," a pocket of more than 200 homeless New Orleans residents that live in tents under the I-10 overpass on the corner of Canal Street and Claiborne Avenue West has spent countless hours in the area, but it's a sight he can never get used to.
"This is something we see on a regular basis," says West, as the once-boisterous bus becomes silent as the players look at the surreal images outside the rain-soaked window. "We may have gone 15 minutes away from the hotel, but there are situations like that all over the city. There are people still living in tents under freeways."
There is a hint of anger and embarrassment mixed in with the frustration in West's voice as the bus drives past "Tent City" and abandoned homes that have left hundreds of families in New Orleans homeless since Hurricane Katrina struck the area nearly three years ago.
"I can't believe something like that can exist in this country," says West. "As powerful as this nation is and as much resources and influence as we have, you can't believe that you have something like that right in the heart of one of the most popular cities for everyone to see. I talked to Chris [Paul] this morning because I drove through 'Tent City' last night, and it was the first time I had seen it in a week since we were on the road. I was with my wife, and it got to us; and I said we have to do something. We need to fix this. I just can't let this go on. It's something that leaves an uneasy feeling with me. I don't know what, but we need to figure out what we can do to help."
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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ans/index.html
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“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion, spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never tasted victory or defeat.”
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A Real Difference-Maker: David West
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