By Emily Hulen
Almost a year and a half after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, local college students and other Lexington residents are becoming more involved than ever in the reconstruction process.
Local churches are also getting involved in the Katrina reconstruction process.
It will be the fourth trip to Gulfport, Miss. for Bruce and Lynne Laraway, members of Trinity United Methodist. The Laraways plan to go with church members this month. United Methodist Church affiliates in Gulfport have hosted almost 5,000 volunteers who have helped to repair 550 homes in the area.
On their first trip immediately after the disaster, Mr. Laraway remembered the enormous piles of debris that would collect on the side of the roads every day. “It was a mess,” he said.
Mrs. Laraway described the guilt upon coming home. “I walked into this house and imagined that everything would be gone, like it was for them,” she said. “I felt guilty that I had this much.”
Washington and Lee University is sponsoring its first group of students to go and prep sites for Habitat for Humanity crews in New Orleans. The group of 12 students will leave on Feb. 17.
Margo McClinton, director of the Elrod Commons and campus activities, is the trip coordinator. The university will provide housing, food, and transportation.
McClinton said that she is pleased with student response. Fourteen students applied for the 12 spots available.
“I hope this will be a new tradition until New Orleans is rebuilt,” she said.
A second trip is targeted at students who are already going to be in New Orleans for Mardi Gras or because they are home for Washington Break. The students are encouraged to stay on for a few days after the celebration to help rebuild.
Sophomore Reiss Eagan, a New Orleans native, says that the idea is to “give back to the city by having fun.”
W&L alumni like Eagan’s father, Lee, are coordinating student housing for any days that students are willing to stay and help.
“Everybody is still trying to get their feet back on the ground,” the younger Eagan said. “It is really hard to start over like this, from nothing.”
Eagan’s father is an industrial supplies distributor who lost 80 percent of his inventory in the disaster. “When I went down there, I was helping him salvage anything possible,” the son said of helping his father. “The only thing that was left was his diploma from W&L.”
It is the little things that continue to keep New Orleans residents going, according to Eagan. He cites the good football season of the Saints as one of those little things.
“So many people needed something to go right for New Orleans, to boost their morale and confidence and hopes,” he said.
Aubrey Shinofield, service learning coordinator for W&L, said she wants to organize another service trip next year during either Washington or Spring break.
The Laraways encountered several harrowing tales of survival during their trip. One woman undergoing chemotherapy was carried to safety through the rising water by her neighbors, while another family saved their children by climbing to the top of a bookshelf in their house.
The couple acknowledged how much The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) had done to aid relief. UMCOR were one of the first groups to arrive on the scene, according to Mrs. Laraway, and are committed to being one of the last to leave.
Mr. Laraway said how difficult it was for victims to rebuild their homes.
“Even if you had the money, you couldn’t get a contractor or materials,” he said. “People would grab them up before [stores] could get them on the shelves.”
Mrs. Laraway said she was disappointed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Red Cross were not doing more to help, but both agreed that church groups are visible in the damaged areas of Mississippi. They recalled one church group from Atlanta that was feeding up to 4,000 people a day in Waveland, Miss.
There are still seven spots available on the next Trinity United Methodist trip. While the Laraways said this will be their last trip, they agree that there will likely be a need for help in the area for the next three to four years.
Katrina slide show
Produced by Emily Hulen,
photos provided by Bruce and Lynne Laraway
Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.
Lead supervisor: Prof. Claudette Artwick
Reporting supervisors:
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd