How I got involved in disaster recovery on the Gulf Coast...

For those of you who don't already know how I ended up down here, here is my story...My boyfriend, Sam, is currently volunteering for AmeriCorps NCCC. It's a 10-month program where he travels around southeast United States with 11 other individuals helping wherever there is need--a large percentage of the work has been disaster recovery in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. He was working at Hands On Gulf Coast (the organization where I am now working and living) for 6 weeks in September/October 2006 in Biloxi, Mississippi. I flew down to visit him for what was supposed to be 5 days. The night before I was supposed to fly home, I made the decision to skip my flight and stay an additional week. During the time I was here in October I was given the opportunity to work with the Red Cross, Humane Society, a local children's Discovery Center, and also to work directly on a family's home helping to lay flooring, put up siding, and other various construction tasks. Being able to come face to face with a family who was severely impacted by the storm made the experience something I was never going to forget.

I came home after having learned more than I ever knew about how the Gulf Coast was impacted by Hurricane Katrina and knew that I wanted to do more to help. It's so easy to forget about things that are going on in our country when we no longer see them on the news. While most news coverage focused on the devastation in New Orleans, I learned that other areas on the Gulf were hit just as hard, if not worse, than New Orleans. I also learned that rebuilding efforts are expected to take at least 10 years. So, I decided to plan a trip to take 25-30 volunteers from Wisconsin to Biloxi to stay and volunteer at Hands On Gulf Coast. While planning that trip, an opportunity came up through AmeriCorps (domestic version of the Peace Corps) to stay and work at Hands On Gulf Coast, and I decided to go for it.