The following is an article of how sophomore Kentucky soccer players Sarah Gaunt and Callie Lanphier spent their Spring Break (March 11-19) this semester. Sarah Gaunt is a sophomore from Cincinnati, Ohio majoring in business marketing. Below is her account of their time in Louisiana.
My experience in New Orleans was nothing like I could have imagined. Going into the Spring Break trip I didn?t really know what to expect. I had heard about Hurricane Katrina and seen some of the devastation on TV, but you cannot picture it until you have seen it yourself. Along with thousands of other college students from across the country, I went with the Wesley Foundation here at UK.
After driving all day Saturday, we rolled up on what would be our home for three nights. The place we stayed was called Light City, and let?s just say that it did not have the comforts of home. There were close to 3,000 cots lined up side by side in an old abandoned warehouse. Outside there were two tents set up that had showers in them. They weren?t your typical showers, but hoses coming from the top of pipes with extremely low pressure. The average wait for the showers was around two hours. There were port-a-pots lined up against a fence and little stations that pumped out water for you to wash your hands, brush your teeth, etc.
During our time in New Orleans, we went to the city and cleaned up after their St. Patrick?s Day parade. I had never been to New Orleans before so it was cool to be able to go into the city and help out. The next day, I gutted my first house that had been destroyed by the hurricane. It was an awesome experience. We pretty much knocked down the whole house to the bare walls.
After our time at Light City, we moved an hour further south to Blackemens Parish. This was a part of Louisiana that got hit much harder by the hurricane than New Orleans and had much more damage. For three days we stayed at one of the local Methodist churches in the parish. Our experience there was much different than Light City. We were the only group there. So, instead of sleeping with 3,000 of your closest friends, we were just with our group. One night the men and women of the church had a cookout for us. The next night we had a shrimp broil. They treated us awesome and made it a very pleasurable experience.
For our next task, we traveled 45 minutes further south to a place where every house was destroyed. In this area, we gutted two houses in three days. It was a large amount of work. Both of the families were there so we were able to hear their story and see how grateful they were that we were doing what would have taken them months to do. After five days of work, we traveled to Destin, Florida, and spent the last day on the beach. That day was very relaxing after a week of hard work.
I am blessed that I had the opportunity to go on this trip. The destruction I saw was like nothing I have ever seen before. It?s not even anything that you can explain to someone who has not seen it for themselves. Houses completely off their foundations, cars on top of each other and in the houses, and roofs completely caved in were just some of the destructiveness that I witnessed. This trip definitely made me appreciate the little things in life that normally we take for granted, such as sleeping in a bed and taking a shower. The people from this area of the country will be without a home for years because not enough people are coming to help and there is just so much work to be done. I am grateful that I was able to have a positive influence on people?s lives by simply giving a week of my life to them. This was a great, educational, rewarding, fun experience ? one of the best of my life ? and I would recommend it to anyone.
