On August 29^th, 2005, “America’s Favorite City” of New Orleans, Louisiana was devastated by the infamous Hurricane Katrina. More than 80 percent of the city was underwater when Katrina hit, which resulted in leaving families with massive destruction. Today, it is estimated that over 6,000 New Orleans native families are still without homes. To combat the obliteration caused by Katrina, the St. Bernard Project was created in hopes to return families back to their homes. The organization has rebuilt over 615 homes in the last ten years and promises to continue this progress.

The St. Bernard Project uses the hardworking hands of volunteers to rebuild homes for these families that have lost everything. For many of the volunteers, it is their first time working on a construction site, but they are eager to learn in order to bring a family back to their home. New Jersey women from the Morristown area were given the opportunity to lend their hands to the St. Bernard Project. Sister Maryanne Tracey of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, Convent Station accompanied two College of Saint Elizabeth students, Catherine Bialkowski and myself to New Orleans in early January.

From January 4^th-January 9^th, we were housed in the House of Charity on Cambronne Street, New Orleans. At the house, there were other women from around the country who were connected with the Sisters of Charity. The entire group worked together on a house for homeowner Pamela Marshall who had met with the group to explain her story from Katrina. Extremely motivated by the homeowner, the ladies worked three seven hour shifts throughout the week.

Marshall’s house was still in the beginning stages and much labor had to be accomplished. Hard work such as putting up drywall and mudding the seams had to be completed in order to move on to the next construction phase. By the end of the week, the dry wall was finished and most of the mudding had been done.

Although the work was difficult, it provided us an eye-opening experience that we would never forget. With the strength of God in our hearts, we dedicated their own time for building a stranger’s home. Marshall was overwhelmed at the number of volunteers who took time out of their everyday lives to help bring light to the end of her tunnel. We can all agree that the trip to New Orleans was a life-changing experience that would remain in our hearts and memories forever.