Katrina draws students to Gulf Volunteers help returning residents rebuild homes, lives

Author: Julia McKinnon

Over spring break, a number of energetic Middlebury volunteer groups headed to New Orleans to see the damage incurred by Hurricane Katrina and join the thousands of college students who chose to spend their vacations rebuilding towns in the Gulf Coast.

Many curious and concerned students from Middlebury set off for New Orleans and Biloxi, Mississippi to see the problem firsthand. Said Caitlin Littlefield '07.5, "It wasn't until I was actually standing in someone's house, decked out in a body suit and respirator and goggles, tearing their lives apart and tossing things on the front lawn to be picked up as garbage that all the destruction became real."

The students returned with unsettling recollections of their first days there. The initial exposure to the disaster areas produced powerful and poignant reactions. "Upon first driving through the devastated areas, I was most shocked at how deserted they were," said Abigail Mitchell '06. "It was like visiting a ghost town. The only movement to catch my eye was the scampering of an underfed cat."

Rachel Durfee '06 explained how her trip to Biloxi helped her to grasp the scope of the devastation. "After an entire day of seeing complete destruction everywhere you look, I started to understand just how much had been damaged and how much there was to rebuild," she said. "The sight that really shocked me was driving by a cemetery which had been entirely wrecked. Tombstones were smashed and up heaved everywhere. It was like the dead had woken up and disturbed everything."

Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29, 2005. The storm was a Category 4 with winds moving at up to 145 miles per hour. Many of the residents have been accustomed to hurricanes their entire lives and so did not evacuate their homes when the storm headed towards the city. The storm passed over the eastern part of the city, sparing the downtown and hit eastern neighborhoods of New Orleans as well as towns along the Louisiana-Mississippi state line.

More critical than the storm itself, however, were the dual breaches in the massive 17th Street and London Avenue canals. This damage caused rapid and severe flooding that caught residents off guard just when they thought that the worst of the storm had passed. New Orleans residents had no warning about the levees giving way. As Mitchell described, "When cleaning out one of the houses, it felt as if the residents had just disappeared mid-life - the dirty dishes sat waiting in the sink - an outfit laid out neatly on the bed."

Much of the nation was not fully aware of what had happened. Once the gravity of the levee breaches became publicized, people on a global scale quickly noted the lack of an effective government response to the emergency situation.

Because of the dissatisfaction with Federal aid in the wake of the disaster, a number of grassroots organizations emerged that have rallied volunteers to help with the rebuilding process. More than 30 Middlebury students went down in groups of friends and found volunteer work through organizations like Common Ground. The work accomplished there is generally demolition work. "The demolition work was kind of tough," said Littlefield. "I kept getting all angry at our materialistic tendencies - there was so much stuff just to be dumped in a landfill."

Emily Egginton '06, who has spent more than a month in New Orleans this year also expressed shock upon entering the destroyed houses. "Seeing the interior of a flood damaged house is something I will never forget," she said. "The first thing that hit me was the intense smell of muck and mold and the realization that it could have been my home."

Andrew Haile '07 went down on a religiously-affiliated trip with nine other Middlebury students to aid in the 'Campus Crusade for Christ'. His group also participated in the removal of all the possessions, sheetrock and insulation in damaged houses - the demolition work is commonly referred to as "gutting". Of gutting, Haile says it is "hard, tough work, but rewarding." His group completed three houses in a week. "It was really an awesome experience to be down there physically spreading light and hope to people - I feel like I have an entirely new handle on what it means to be the 'hands and feet of Christ'."

More students traveled to Biloxi where they worked with HandsOn, another volunteer organization. This trip brought students from Dartmouth, Middlebury, Williams and the University of Illinois together into one service expedition.

The Mississippi-Midd crew found the experience highly rewarding. Aside from a sense of social duty, they felt proud of the concrete nature of their accomplishments.

"Rarely does schoolwork provide the rewards of tangible progress each day - it was awesome to head home each night knowing that we had gutted a house, finished a roof, or cleared out all of the mold on the walls," said Elena Kennedy '06. "Even though individual volunteers can only work on a minimal scale, we saw small groups accomplish big things everyday, and that made us feel effective."

The Katrina volunteers said they preferred their service trip by far to a relaxing week in the tropics. "I think that one of the strongest ties between the people volunteering during this spring break was the sense that the Gulf Coast was really the best place that we could all be," said Kennedy. "We approached the trip with the sense that it would be hard work but rewarding; we had no idea that the entire community of volunteers present in Biloxi could make our experience so much fun. I recommend that anyone with a spare week and money for a plane ticket head down there."