Rebuilding continues in New Orleans

 Students from Eastern have been lending a helping hand to New Orleans for the past four years. 

 This year, the group consisted of seniors Krystal Cairns, Laura Lockyer, Julie Peiffer, junior Amy Fischer, sophomore Kristi Kraft, alumnae Rebekah Miller and librarian Jonathan Beasley, who served as advisor of the trip. 

The team served in New Orleans from Jan. 1-9, working on three main projects. They worked on houses, assisted the Berean Bible Church's street ministry and helped to organize the records within the church. 

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday the group painted fences and railings, washed tile flooring, put down grout sealer and tore out molded cabinets and drawers. 

On Tuesday and Thursday the group went into the city to do street ministry with the pastors from Berean Bible Church. 

Among these tasks, the Eastern group spent its days handing out food, talking about the love of Christ and just spending time with the homeless.

There are an estimated 19,000 homeless people in New Orleans currently. Over the past three years the groups have cultivated relationships with more than 30 homeless people. 

Cairns explained that some of the people in their group had not experienced working with the homeless before and were a little apprehensive, but they loved every second of it. 

"After our first day, we all were excited to head back in on Thursday and see what was in store for us," Cairns said. 

Fischer said that her favorite days were the ones when she talked to the homeless in the streets.