On Sunday, April 22 through Wednesday, April 25, six Hill students, accompanied by Mr. Dan McMains ’98, Hill instructor of theology, ventured to New Orleans to build a house with Habitat for Humanity for a family affected by Hurricane Katrina. The trip was organized by Vanessa Goff ’07 (Pottstown, Pa.) and her mother, Victoria, who is the national coordinator of volunteer ministries for National Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA. Below is a first-hand account of the experience written by Vanessa, who traveled to New Orleans with her parents and met up with her classmates for the project.

At the beginning of this trip, I knew that I was going to be building a house for a family affected by Hurricane Katrina. I thought it was going to be as simple as leaving school for a couple days, helping build, and playing with power tools. When I got to Louisiana, I realized there was much, much more to the trip.

My trip began Sunday in New Orleans where my mom had to do something for work. We landed in New Orleans and drove around. First, we went to the French Quarter. Other than the chaos associated with Bourbon Street and Canal Street, the quarter seemed fine. It seemed more than fine. It was flourishing. The area was packed and they were erecting Palm Trees where the Hurricane had torn out previous ones. The area had very few signs of devastation remaining.

After leaving the French Quarter, we began to go into the Ninth Ward. We crossed the bridge and went to Tennessee Street, an area right near one of the breached levees. The Lower Ninth Ward is a residential area where the greater population was impoverished. The Hurricane had torn houses clear out of the ground. In some places, the only part of the house remaining was the cinderblocks that had once served as the foundation. Houses were upside down, on the side, and completely gutted; there was debris scattered everywhere. It was painful to see. On the remaining houses, there were codes on the walls, telling all who saw that someone had checked the house and had found a certain number of bodies of people and animals. Roofs and walls had fallen off and the remaining houses looked like they would fall at any point. The sad part was that these houses had remained in that condition for months.

It was clear that most of the neighborhood remained uninhabited, except for a few FEMA trailers. In front of one trailer, a sign said “Tourists Stop, Please Come See.” The family had a list of three relatives who had died in the hurricane, including a three-year-old boy. The sign begged for the country to write senators and congressional representative and demand help for the area. The devastation was surreal.

In the middle of the Ninth Ward, there was a monument to remember the fatalities. There were poles showing the stages of the water level. The highest one was around 12 feet. The Ninth Ward has no attraction like Bourbon Street to bring in revenue, and so the area is still devastated. After seeing the area, my outlook began to change for the Habitat Build.

We then drove to Baton Rouge where our build was taking place. We checked in and met some other volunteers. Early the next morning we met up with my classmates – Jake Gregory ’08 (Camp Hill, Pa.), Matt Johnson ’07 (Chester Springs, Pa.), Huntley McGowan ’08 (Malvern, Pa.), Olivia Cap ’08 (Newburysport, Mass.), and James Green ’08 (Bay Head, N.J.) – and the build commenced. Before we began building, we had the opportunity to meet the family, which consisted of a single mother and her four children, the youngest being four-years-old. The situation is horrible for anyone, but I could not even fathom what was going through that four-year-old boy’s mind.

Listening to the family’s story and remembering the scenes of New Orleans made everyone realize how great a thing we were doing for the family. The mother is in the process of completing her finals for college. They lived in New Orleans until the hurricane destroyed their house. They then lived in the hotel where the mother worked and now live in a FEMA trailer on a relative’s property. After the homeowner put the first nail in and the ceremony finished, we began to build. The first day we erected all of the walls for the house. It took everyone’s help to lift the walls, hold them, level them, and anchor them. It took a lot of time but we were able to do it. We had to work together and trust in complete strangers for our own safety. It was a new experience, but great to create the fellowship.

The second day we began installing the windows. After nailing the walls together, Huntley and Olivia helped a few others to install the windows and put up the siding primer. Matt helped some other students from New Hampshire form the patio. We all helped to put the primer up for the siding and lifted the roof tresses. Jake and James had a big part in the tresses. Jake used a Y-bar to lift the tresses while James and Matt helped with the attic decking. As we lifted the roof tresses, a group secured them with braces to the house. Another group leveled and measured, and a third group nailed the tresses to one another. After a few tresses were up, a group placed decking for the attic. Again, the entire attempt was a group effort where every person had a job that was completely necessary and needed to be done right. We had to communicate with each other for our safety and so that things happened correctly.

On the third day, we put in the last of the windows. We finished adding the tresses. Before the last piece of siding primer was added we all signed our names to the outside of the house. A few church groups added scripture verses to the interior walls to give the house an additional blessing. The homeowner returned from finals to help build and the neighbor of another habitat house came to build. They showed what a community should be, not only individuals living and working together, but individuals supporting and loving each other. We all talked some more to the owners and had to break for lunch. After the break, it was time for a tough goodbye for Olivia, Huntley, James, Jake, Matt, and Mr. McMains. Everyone extended their thanks and told how impressed they were with the hard work that they did.

Throughout the entire process, everyone was an equal. Age, gender, and skill made no difference to the attempt. As long as we worked hard and worked together, everything went smoothly.
After the experience, I realized that the build was not just leaving school and playing with power tools. We changed the lives of a family and a neighborhood. We created a fellowship and community with complete strangers to achieve a common goal. We were able to reach out, give to others, and do something great. As the saying goes, a house is made of bricks and stones while a home is made of love alone. While we may have helped to make a modest house with wood and tools, we helped to make a mansion out of love and support for this deserving family. The experience is one that everyone should have.