A young volunteer chips away at the work to be done.

This summer, I traveled to New Orleans, La., to talk to kid volunteers doing their part to help rebuild parts of the city five years after Hurricane Katrina.

When the huge storm hit the Gulf Coast in August 2005, it claimed the lives of more than 1,300 people in five states. The hurricane also caused nearly $100 billion in property damage.

New Orleans was one of the worst-hit areas. Today, some neighborhoods in the city still look as if the hurricane just struck. Many of the homes are damaged and deserted.

One organization trying to turn those neighborhoods around is the Beacon of Hope Resource Center. The community service group restores homes in New Orleans affected by Hurricane Katrina. During my recent visit, I met with several Beacon of Hope volunteers as they worked to renovate a home in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans. Here’s what they had to say.

Young volunteers from Beacon of Hope remove drywall from a home.

Weekly Reader: Who volunteers with Beacon of Hope?
Ashley Christensen (volunteer supervisor): We take as many volunteers as we can. We don’t really have any age limits. It is mostly 11- to 24-year-olds that come down. I would say a good majority of this city is being rebuilt by young adults, which is absolutely fabulous.

The volunteers in this story are working on this home.

Weekly Reader: Who owns this house?
Christensen: The homeowner is from New Orleans. She’s a single mother with two children. She bought this property after the storm. There was 8–12 feet of water here. She demolished the house … and then rebuilt from the foundation up. After a few years, her son started developing really bad asthma. They found out the contractors had cut a lot of corners and used [unhealthy materials] to rebuild the house. She couldn’t afford to have her house repaired, [so] Beacon of Hope is sending in [volunteers].

Weekly Reader: What kind of work are you doing on this house?
Emma R. (eighth grader): We’ve just been helping to clean up the house and take out the drywall to help the family that lives here. There’s still a lot of work to be done, and it means a lot that I could come and help out.

The renovations are a work in progress.

Weekly Reader: What makes you want to help the people of New Orleans?
Allie M. (eighth grader): After five years, people are still trying to get their houses fixed. It’s not really that hard to help people like this, so I wanted to do something.

A house in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans displays an X showing the date the house was checked after Hurricane Katrina (9/21) and the number of people inside (zero). Another mark from the SPCA shows that no pets were found in the house.

Think About It:

Is there something or someone in your community that needs a helping hand? What could you do to help out?

For more information about Beacon of Hope and its work in New Orleans, visit them online.

All photos by Brooke Ross for Weekly Reader. ©2010 Weekly Reader Corporation.