This spring break, rather than making my way to the beach to work on my tan or going home to spend time with my family and friends for a week, I was blessed enough to have the opportunity to travel to Houston, Texas to assist with the ongoing process of restoring people's lives after Hurricane Harvey devastated them this past August. When telling people that I was traveling to Houston to help with hurricane relief in March, they all seemed a bit baffled. "That happened kind of a while ago, is there even still work to be done?" Believe it or not, yes. People are still recovering from the damage the hurricane caused, many of them homeless, tearing down, or in the process of rebuilding their homes.

The thing is, living in the midwest and never having experienced a hurricane myself, I can completely understand where those who were confused about the intensity of the situation were coming from. It can be easy to sympathize with the situation while it is being televised and reported on in the media, but once the initial hype dies down, it's not something that is typically at the forefront of people's minds who were not directly effected by it. It is difficult to empathize with a situation when you have no experience with is whatsoever, and hard to wrap your head around the true caliber of the damage that has been done.

That being said, the first time the bus pulled down the street of the house my team would be working on for the week, I was left speechless. The usually rowdy atmosphere of the vehicle stopped abruptly, leaving everyone at a loss for works as we took in the destructed and desolate conditions of this neighborhood. As I gazed out the window at the pieces of houses strewn throughout the neighborhood, the weight of all the damage caused by Harvey started to hit me. This storm uprooted so many people's lives when its waves hit in August, and somehow even though the water was gone it was still managing to do so.

My team worked for four days with a woman named Maria, helping to start the process of getting her life and her house back in working order. She worked alongside us as we tore down the walls of her home that were no longer stable due to the storm, sorting through debris and preparing her house to be rebuilt. Although it was heart-wrenching to tear her home apart as she watched us do so, it was all worth it after seeing how much hope she had, and how grateful she was for all of the help we were giving her.

Although the wealthier population of Houston has recovered from the wrath of Hurricane Harvey's waves, there are still so many people like Maria who are struggling to find the funds and the assistance to rebuild. There are still houses that have not been touched since September, and still lives that are being effected by this storm. These people desperately need help, and whether you can book a plane ticket to go help with construction, donate to those in need or simply say a prayer for those in need, any small thing helps.

Houston, you have my heart. Thank you for opening my eyes, and changing my life.