Hurricane Relief in New Orleans

In late June of 2006 over 40 Billings students, alumni, and faculty traveled to New Orleans to work in the hurricane ravaged Ninth Ward. Here are some pictures and stories from their trip.

When the crew donned their t-shirts in the Seattle airport as they waited to head out, a couple of New Orleans residents approached them. When they found out what Billings was up to they expressed a great deal of appreciation, saying that there is still a lot of work to do and help is greatly needed.

The pile of trash to the right was removed by a Billings crew from a house that was slated to have some work done on it. The owner had obtained a grant to pay for the work, but the house had to be completely cleaned out before it could begin. The cleaning had taken so long that she was in danger of losing the grant. The students finished the job in time for the work to begin. Here they are in front of the house.

Sunflowers are not just a much needed spot of bright color in the Ninth Ward, they are also helping with the clean up. The flood waters were far from clean and deposited a number of contaminants in the soil. Sunflowers leach mercury from the soil. Our students planted them in this community space to start the rejuvenation of the soil and give residents and volunteers a welcoming place to take a break.

In some houses everything had been removed down to the studs. To prevent mold from growing the studs had to be cleaned and treated with an anti-microbial. Here are some students in protective tyvek suits and respirators preparing the wood for treatment. You can't quite tell how hot it is, though.