Yup. I went down with group of about 40 high school students and ten other teachers to help out about a year later and the Lower Ninth Ward were we got assigned to help was a ghost town.

We spent our entire spring break emptying and gutting houses that had been closed up and untouched since the flooding. It was back breaking and heart breaking labour and the kids were absolutely amazing about it. So much so that the next year, the same kids (even some that had graduated) as well as few more, asked that we return to continue the work we had done. Each trip involved a two day drive from the Toronto area and was funded exclusively by those of us who volunteered. We did raise money through fund raising events but by consensus we donated all money raised to a local school in the St. Bernard Parish.

Let me tell you, those two trips have been the highlight of a twenty year teaching career. The maturity, hard work, growth, and compassion I saw on my kids during those two weeks spent in NO was awe inspiring.