SpringBreakers Help Rebuild the Gulf Coast

College students from all over the country are giving up a week at the beach, and spending their spring breaks helping rebuild the Gulf Coast. MPB’s Phoebe Judge reports.

The construction site at Creekside Estates in Kiln looks nothing like the beach. A few days of constant rain has made the land surrounding the four new homes by being built here by volunteers with Habitat for Humanity into a sea of mud. But this is where Katie Taylor a sophomore at the University of Minnesota will spend her spring break,

“Pretty much everyone goes to Mexico City or Panama. I’ve done that before and now I think it’s time to give back because we have so much where we come from.”

Katie is one of more than a thousand college students who will spend their spring breaks volunteering on the Gulf Coast. Adrea Radooley a freshman from Wisconsin, says even though she had no real knowledge of the coast the decision to come was simple,

“I didn’t know that there was still so many houses damaged from Hurricane Katrina. After I found out about the opportunity, and deciding whether I should go to Florida and lay on the beach all day and get tan with my friends, I kind of feel like I would have felt guilty you know. Knowing that I could have come and down this.”

Dave Walker with Bay-Waveland Habitat for Humanity says the interest this year is greater than years before. That may be a result of the poor economy, and college students trying to find a cheaper way to spend their break. For Sid Salve, a sophomore from Massachusetts, it certainly was a factor,

“Definitely, we got the school to pay us. So we’re here for basically free and we’re helping people out, so it’s a win-win.”

Those spring break volunteers will continue showing up on the coast for their week long stints through the end of the month.