Crusade for Katrina

NEW ORLEANS -- Sophomore Erik Pedersen pulls up a corner of the spongy floor covering, which makes a low slurping sound as he disrupts the muddy bond it has made with the linoleum floor. Behind him, men push wheelbarrows full of waterlogged football equipment, grimy textbooks, trombones and clarinets, once tools of this now deserted school. The sulfuric stench of the water remaining in the room curls above the floor and into the nostrils of the workers, taking them aback at first but eventually numbing their senses. \nBut this is not a construction site, and these are not paid laborers. This is a group of IU students, members of Campus Crusade for Christ, who have traveled to New Orleans to help people who are slowly recovering from the shock of Hurricane Katrina. \nGnats swarm above rusted cans of fruit cocktail mix and cereal bags in the kitchen. Not more than two months ago, this building served the community of the Desire Housing Project as both a school and church. The silence and glow of the lone bulb lighting this stuffy room are strong echoes of the blocks surrounding this neighborhood; the entire area seems like a ghost town.\n"This place never slept," said Ben McLeish, assistant director of Desire Street Ministries. \nHe said his organization was having a profound impact on the community before the hurricane, a place known to many as the murder capitol of New Orleans. He said the flooding has given the neighborhood a chance for a fresh start and that the ministry will continue to reach out to the community by sharing the love of Jesus Christ.\nWhile some students worked at the school, others helped at City Park, where a distribution center has been formed. Under a circus-like canvas tent are rows of cardboard boxes with canned goods, medical supplies, bottles of bleach and miniature volumes of the New Testament. The volunteers buzzing through the tent and preparing meals next door all have one thing in common: They are here to put their faith into action.\nSenior Kate McGrayel said she believes she and her fellow students are making an impact on the lives of New Orleans residents. \n"If Jesus would just have come and talked about love and not shown it, then no one would have listened to him," she said.\nIt's now late afternoon and the Ford pickup truck flies down the expressway. The driver, Shawn Hartwell, is in his mid-30s. He's a rotund man with a goatee, large sunglasses and a backward baseball cap, the kind of guy you would expect to see at an AC/DC concert. But right now he's on his way to the Fisher Housing Project in Gretna, a low-income area of New Orleans. With one hand on the wheel and another holding a bag of Fritos, he talks about his reason for coming down to the city.\n"This has changed my life man, this whole Jesus thing," Hartwell said. "This place needs so much help."\nThe truck rolls into a grass field in front of the housing development and children yell excitedly as they make a beeline for the IU students. Some of the children aren't wearing shoes, others aren't wearing pants, but they all have big smiles on their faces as the students begin unloading food from the pickup and hoisting kids up for piggyback races. Most of these children were evacuated to Texas where they remained for about two weeks. They have now returned home to a city still in disrepair.\n"The whole country should be down here helping," said freshman Kim Tschida, "because that's the only way it's going to get done."\nBehind Tschida, lines of construction workers file by the food tent to receive free meals. Lightbulbs dangle from extension chords and cast an orange glow on the men sitting inside the tent. They are eating beans and rice, catching up on the day's events with their buddies. Though the tent and its surrounding facilities might not be much to look at, they are an unexplainable comfort in this dark, hurting city.