Kew-Forest students lend helping hand in New Orleans

While most high school students probably spent their Christmas break from school sleeping late and relaxing, a group of six Kew-Forest High School students traveled to New Orleans to help in the continual effort to rebuild the city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
The students, traveled to New Orleans with a group of 50 volunteers from schools in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Northern California in a group organized by The Curriculum Initiative (TCI), a Jewish educational resource serving public schools.
During their visit, they spent time in the upper ninth ward at a Habitat for Humanity site known as Musician's Village, where they spent time shoveling dirt, clearing garbage and doing other construction-related work.
&#8220The idea was to build affordable housing for low-income/working class musicians to try to keep them in the village,” said Adam Gaynor, Deputy Director of TCI.
Many of the Kew-Forest students who went on the trip had gone on a similar trip with TCI in March of 2006, seven months after Hurricane Katrina hit, and they saw some changes since their first trip.
&#8220This year it improved because there wasn't that much debris or garbage in the streets, and we could actually walk in the streets because the last time they were just all covered up,” said Kew-Forest junior Erika Marin. &#8220Also, I saw a lot more people coming back to the city.”
Fellow junior, Jacob Dilson, did not think the changes were as noticeable, but he felt that going down to the site would give something back to the community.
&#8220I generally saw it as an opportunity to leave the bubble I was in, and see the darker side of what could happen, and generally lend a helping hand,” he said.
Gaynor said that the group is already planning another trip down to the region for March of 2008, but he said that in the meantime he hopes the students who went on the trip share their experiences with others.