Am considering a trip to NO spring of '08--has anyone volunteered for the Katrina efforts? Which organization? How long did you "work"? How about Gulf Coast? Will combine this with 3-4 days of "touristy" stuff--dining, sight-seeing, etc. Recommendations?

ICSC.org is participating in a "rebuild Katrina" project on October 14. I can post more about it after I return....

We have been down to Mississippi to help rebuild in the long beach, gulfport and Pass Christian area the past two years. The first time we went was in February only 6 months after the storm and things were not good at all. It was still hard to find a place to stay so many of the hotels still were damaged and not opened. We ended up in a B&B that was about a 1/2 hour from where we were working. This past February we stayed in a condo that was totally rebuild. It was in gulfport. The area we were in is starting to show a lot of homes coming back. We definately saw an improvement from the year before but there still is so much to be done. We worked through a church in Long Beach Mississippi. We worked on a house where an older couple who had retired a year before the storm lived. The house had 5 feet of water and they were not allowed back into the area for almost a month because there was so much garbage on their street. They lived near the port of gulfport which was major warehouse for chicken. They had tons of chicken on their street and it took weeks to get it cleaned up. When they finally were able to get into their house the mold was so bad they had to totally gut the house. Of course insurance wasn't helping much and they were relying on family for help but their entire family also lived in the area and had their own mess to deal with. Finally after a year and a half they accepted help from the church. We did sheet rocking and tiled. We really accomplished a lot for them in the 10 days we were there. It is overwhelming to see so many volunteer organizations helping. We are planning to go back this February again. The church we work with still has families living in trailers.
All I can say is the need is still great and you will feel very rewarded for what you have done to help.
We also took time to sightsee on the way. We visited Natchez and Vicksburg. From the gulf we took a day trip to New Orleans the first year just to see how the city was surviving. This year we went to mardi Gras. If I can help you with any questions let me know

mmouse--this is exactly what I'm looking for. Any links you can provide would be most helpful. We aren't exactly the most handy of folks, but willing and able. This will be my Spring Break--but looking for something rewarding. Thanks!

Habitat for Humanity also looks for volunteers. http://www.habitat.org.

I did check HfH--they want a week long commitment and I may not be able to give that many days. Thanks.

Try these:
Acorn
Hands on New Orleans
cleanno.org (Katrina Krewe)
City Park
craig's list new orleans

The church we worked with also works with habitat and on their own. I know their church made the commitment to finish a habitat house when we were there and I was under the impression you could go for as many days as you could give that there was no set time. I will contact the person we worked with and check it out. I wasn't a handy person myself but it's amazing what you can do with a little guidance. The church we worked with is Saint Thomas in Long Beach Mississippi.It won't be until early next week that I can back to you with an answer. The person I need to contact is away.

There's also Kaboom - help rebuild playgrounds. Dates scheduled only through end of year so far, but keep checking back.

http://www.kaboom.org/WhatWeDo/Opera...2/Default.aspx

TrvlMaven
Ive done 2 stints of Katrina volunteer work
Worked on the Gulf Coast out of Camp Victor in Jan 2006 in Ocean Springs, MS
Worked in New Orleans East out of Camp Restore in Feb 2007 http://www.camprestore.org/

Both are Lutheran churches that had flooded and been rehabbed into volunteer centers. The leaders there organized volunteers onto work teams to do siding, yard cleanup, plumbing, matching our skills to the tasks.

It was great work. We worked for a week and used our evenings and one day off to explore and do touristy things.

mmouse52
I lead summer worktrips for high school students. One of the "kids" from my first trip in 2000 moved to St Thomas in Long Beach so our parish took up a collection and sent money to St Thomas, explaining the connection.
Small world.

thanks to everyone for the replies. Mmmouse will wait for more info from you. Uptowngirl--thanks for your info. Will keep checking all sources!

TrvlMaven - thanks for being so generous as to offer your time to help rebuilt New Orleans. NO and the whole gulf coast needs all the help it can get and your willingness is most appreciated!!

Grcxxc--thanks--it will be Spring Break for me and rather than go to Mexico, decided to do something different and giving. Trying to recruit other teachers to do the same.