By Sarah Lykens
 
I am proud to tell anyone that I am a student at Oglethorpe University, that small quirky liberal arts school in Atlanta. I am proud because of what everyone from Oglethorpe did during our week in New Orleans. We had over 30 volunteers from our school alone. That’s more volunteers than some other universities (VERY large ones) had at Hands On New Orleans last week. I was so impressed to see all of us volunteers working hard to help others, and never complaining about how tired and dirty we were by the end of every day. I got to know my fellow Oglethorpeans better and made some new friends.

The trip was an eye opening experience to say the least. It is impossible to really understand the extent of damage that Katrina caused until you see it for yourself, talk face to face with the citizens and actually get in there a lend a helping hand. Like we were told throughout the week, even though we sometimes felt that our work was trivial, we were giving the people hope. There is so much to be done, and many citizens of New Orleans simply don’t have the resources to do any of it. Anything anyone does to improve their situation or to show that they care is welcomed. There were a lot more volunteers contributing to the relief effort than I imagined there would be, but of course they can always use more!

I’m sure I speak for most everyone who went on the trip when I say that I miss New Orleans already. I wish I could have stayed longer and worked more. But there definitely is not a shortage of volunteer work to do in Atlanta, or the rest of the world for that matter. So let’s go help out!