After hearing about the tragic stories coming out of New Orleans, due to the double dose of hurricanes, a Grand Valley resident thought it was important to help families rebuild.

So, on April 15 Jennifer Schum left for the Bayou area of New Orleans and stayed for seven days for her first experience with Habitat for Humanity.

The charity contributed to the purchase of a plot of land (in the Bayou area), where about 86 of their homes will be built.

Ms. Schum was part of a group of 10, mostly from southwestern Ontario, who had to raise money to fly to New Orleans so they could help with the reconstruction.

Once there, volunteers were divided into groups of three based on their expertise and experience.

She was part of a roofing team that shingled, installed eavestroughs, insulation and vinyl siding for several of the homes currently under construction (over 25).

Other teams helped the families receiving the homes paint and others installed doors and windows.

"It's very labour-intensive, but there were a lot of volunteers down in Louisiana that really helped to make it easier for us," Ms. Schum said. "I would say the biggest obstacles were emotional ones as opposed to physical because we were building in an area that is between 70 and 80 miles mostly west of New Orleans. That area was actually more heavily affected by the wind from Hurricane Rita, although people did have flooding from Hurricane Katrina."

"The harder part was to hear people's stories," she said.

The teams worked closely with the partner families (those receiving a house) and visited the New Orleans Ward 9 and some other areas that were hit harder.

"That was really devastating. There are entire neighbourhoods where people haven't moved back in, doors are still wide open, there are open holes in the roofs where people either hatched their way out or people hatched their way in to rescue people."

"When I was in the French Quarter [the tourist area of New Orleans] I went to the fire hall to speak with some of the firefighters. The captain was telling me they're still finding bodies.

I believe the number he gave me was 15 in the month of April."

She continued, "You go into the French Quarter and it looks like nothing ever happened, it's amazing. A ten-minute drive outside of the French Quarter and it's pure devastation."

Ms. Schum explained that the main goal of the trip was to settle people in an area that was close to their previous home, but more protected from future storms.

"There's still a lot of people that are displaced, a lot of people that are homeless," she said. "There's still a lot of devastation. But, the spirits are just so good and so strong. It's amazing how positive these people were

and how appreciative they were of any help they were getting."

On the first night of the trip the partner families were explaining their stories and experiences and stated how much they appreciated the help they were receiving because they didn't think strangers would care about their plight.

"What really touched me was just how sincerely they appreciated every bit of help they got."

"The greater message we're all taking back from this - what I feel like I accomplished more than just helping people building homes - is I feel like it was a very spiritual experience, not in the religious sense, but I feel like they really believe in humanity more. ...

"I went down there thinking okay I'm going to go down and help these people build a physical structure. I felt like we built relationships and compassion."

She added, "It definitely transcended a physical build. More than anything

think it inspired them and it felt like they're more likely to have compassion

for others and to want to help others. It was a really good bonding experience."

Ms. Schum said the project is expected to take a year with a goal of 100 homes.

Since it's an ongoing build, more volunteers are needed and if you would like to help you can contact Habit for Humanity Canada at www.habitat.ca