With the holiday season in full swing, many organizations are working to aid victims of the hurricane and other families in need.

The Office of Volunteer Programs is helping to coordinate a student-led public service trip, sponsored by The First Baptist Church of New Orleans, to aid residents of the city. During the first two weeks of Jan. 5-12, students will help demolish damaged homes so they can be restored from the inside out.

Volunteering students will stay in a shelter located three miles away from the construction site for no cost. The First Baptist Church has taken extra precautions to make sure the shelter is located in a safe area so the students can carry out their work safely.

The First Baptist Church of New Orleans has been organizing many efforts to help victims of the hurricane.

David Klein, sophomore in LAS, said he and Adam Shu, junior in LAS, came up with the idea for the service trip together. He said the Office of Volunteer Programs was helpful in getting them started.

“Winter break is a good time to do a service trip,” Klein said. “We’ve been busy working out details this past week and still have a good amount of work to do. We expect everything to run smoothly, and information will be finalized by this weekend.”

Klein said they were originally planning a service trip to the Dominican Republic. However, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he felt that he had an obligation to help other American citizens first, he said. The other service trip will be postponed until next summer.

“It is very important to help the people affected by the devastating hurricane,” Klein said. “These people are in a complete state of hopelessness – they are completely disconnected from their families.”

Many of these people have lost their homes, families and everything else, left asking themselves, “where do I go?” Klein said.

“Just because I live in Illinois and the people who were affected by the disaster lived in Louisiana, doesn’t mean that I am any more deserving to not be affected than them,” Klein said. “This is a great opportunity to connect with these people.”

Klein said it is very important for Americans to not only reach out to the community affected by the hurricane, but also to the people.

“I was pleased that the First Baptist Church also invited us to attend Sunday services with them,” Klein said. “This will further be a great opportunity to connect with the people.”