Just Do It

"It was unbelievable to see it in person," says Wicks, who organized a crew of 36 White Dog workers and customers to work in the low-income New Orleans borough. "It was as if some deadly bomb had gone off. Total stillness and silence, no motion. The devastation was beyond belief."

The volunteers got to work right away, constructing a community garden and working to purify contaminated soil. White Dog kitchen staffers prepared meals for relief workers; Wicks herself even demolished walls with a sledgehammer.

This Monday, the University City restaurant will hold "Remembering Katrina: One Year Later," a retrospective featuring a photo exhibit, a three-course NOLA-themed meal and a speaker from Common Ground Collective, the grassroots organization that helped coordinate the group's service trip.

"There's still a lot of need down there," says Wicks, who hopes to organize another service trip in the near future. "It's a monumental task."