Anything but normal
Youth travel to Gulf Coast to help with Katrina efforts
By Elli Morris CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Editor's note: Last month, Chesterfield Observer photographer Elli Morris traveled to the Gulf Coast to assist with the ongoing clean up efforts following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. While there, she talked with several volunteers from Chesterfield County who were also helping out. The following is an account of their efforts.

Many county residents have traveled to the Gulf Coast since Hurricane Katrina to help with clean up efforts including a youth group from Bon Air United Methodist Church (top) and Melissa Rooks (right).

Perhaps you've seen images of Mardi Gras on television showing how New Orleans is bouncing back from Hurricane Katrina. Or, perhaps you've read articles about the reopening of casinos in Mississippi. The impression is that life is back to normal along the Gulf Coast.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Help is still needed and will be for years to come. If you need any incentive to get involved, look no further than the youth of Chesterfield County. They have been heading down to the region ever since hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit in 2005.

One week after Katrina, Cody Bartis, then a Trinity High School student, traveled to Tylertown, Miss. with the Richmond Animal League and Best Friends Animal Society. During the week he was at St Francis Animal Sanctuary, 600 rescued animals arrived. He bathed the grime off them, treated them for injuries, and helped set up donated kennels. Bartis returned in the fall, volunteering for an entire month.

Leslie Percell, one of the youngest members in a group from Bon Air United Methodist Church, went to Gulfport, Miss. when she was a rising sophomore.

"I had a lot of fun," Percell said of her weeklong experience.

The group worked on two houses, putting up insulation and sheetrock, and repairing the ceilings. "It was creepy in a way," Percell said of the empty houses and deserted streets where they worked.

Gulf Coast residents are still digging out almost 20 months after Hurricane Katrina hit, causing massive flooding and wind damage. Many Chesterfield residents have traveled to the region to help with clean up efforts.

Today, it is still unnerving to drive along the coastal roads where so many abandoned houses still exist and so many businesses remain windblown and forsaken. As one resident of Long Beach, Miss. put it, "We have green grass, and the trees are starting to bud for spring...we just don't have any buildings."

Eighteen months after the storm made landfall, the Gulf Coast region is still under a state of rehabilitation. The sound of hammers prevails for miles and miles. Small signs stuck in the grass at every intersection reveal the state of progress: "Termite Service - Call Now," "Mold? Soda Blast It," "Missing Contractor and Money? Will Locate, call Private Investigator."

In many ways, people are just beginning to rebuild. Up until now, they have been removing debris and waiting for the underground infrastructure to be repaired so they can start rebuilding their homes and businesses.

"I believe New Orleans will be almost completely rebuilt on the efforts of volunteers," says Amber Franklin, a Chesterfield resident who currently attends Virginia Tech.

Franklin traveled to New Orleans to volunteer in March and November last year, and again in January. "I think it would be pretty hard to see all that was going on down there and not have the desire to go down and help."

She has not only gone down on her own, but has also led two Alternative Spring Break trips through the YMCA at Virginia Tech.

For Ryan Corbelli, a junior at James River High School, the experience of helping out last summer in Mississippi altered his thoughts on permanence. As Corbelli and other volunteers cleaned up the region, they found houses full of personal belongings: a kid's bike left out on the back porch, a bag of trash still in the trash can, clothes in the dryer waiting to be folded. Most evacuees packed up for two or three days, never knowing they might never return.

"You have to rethink each part of the house and what it means to you," Corbelli said.

Melissa Rooks, a James River High School senior who wrote her college essay on her experience volunteering in the region, said, "If you ever get the opportunity, you should go."

She said she was a bit sore and found out that "insulation is the itchiest thing ever," but like all the other volunteers, she would definitely go again.

Volunteering options are almost limitless. For example, volunteers can help build houses through Habitat for Humanity, and young adults ages 18-24 can sign up with Americorps for an extended stay. So far, 500,000 Americans have volunteered their time and efforts throughout the Gulf Coast region. Chesterfield County has been well represented, but help is still needed. The recovery effort will be ongoing for years. For possible volunteer opportunities, visit www.1-800-volunteer.org.