Ten brothers of Sigma Chi Theta spent the last week of the Christmas Break in New Orleans, aiding in the rebuilding process. It may be more than three years since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, but much work remains to be done in New Orleans and its various suburbs. The group worked in Chalmette, part of St. Bernard Parish to the east of the city, on the house of Josh Punch, a firefighter in the parish. Josh was a first responder after the storm, saving bodies from rooftops and dragging floating corpses out of the water. Now, he is in danger of losing his FEMA trailer. His house was unfairly scheduled for demolition about a year ago, but now, unless he demonstrates adequate progress on the reconstruction of his house, he will be without one.
 This is where Sigma Chi came into the picture. Working through Operation Southern Comfort, an organization based in Central New York, the ten brothers entered the shell of a house and began making it look like a home again. Despite a skill set that was more closely attuned to lifting and breaking things, over six days, they hung insulation and drywall, installed the hot water heater, installed the heating ducts, began work on the bathroom plumbing, and others on site began work on the landscaping. It was a significant amount of progress for one week, especially for a bunch of guys largely unfamiliar with construction work.
 Still, it is more than three years since the storm, and significant progress has only just been made on this house. Many more, in both the city and the suburbs, remain untouched, shells of their former selves. On one day, the front page of the New Orleans Times-Picayune featured an apartment complex that had sat largely untouched by the storm, politics obstructing any efforts to tear down or rebuild. The house next door to Josh Punch’s was clearly abandoned, and featured a fully functioning door leading from outside to outside, but still had a citation for weed growth, which carried with a fine, something the former occupant will almost never certainly find out about, but which will catch up to them at some point. The only truly thriving businesses in the area appear to be the oil refineries, which look and smell suspiciously like hell. The Lower Ninth Ward still looks as if it is part of a war zone. About eight of fellow Sig Brad Pitt’s new environmentally friendly homes have been built through his organization, Make it Right, but there is very little else in the way of progress to report. Some areas of the city have made a comeback, but, for the most part, progress is still measured largely by destruction rather than construction.
 But there is hope yet for the communities in the Gulf Coast, and these men of Sigma Chi experienced that first hand. They stayed at a home owned by Becky and Gatien Livaudais, who own an electrical and contracting business in Chalmette. They had purchased the house while their’s was under reconstruction, and now that they have moved back into their own home, they let volunteer groups stay in their second home for free until they can find a buyer. The food for the brothers was, on most days, cooked by local residents who simply wanted to give back to the volunteers in some way. One cook, Maria Hernandez offered, and most brothers agreed they would probably take her up on this, to teach any of their future wives how to cook if they brought them to Chalmette. On Sunday, some of the brothers went to eat at Charlie’s Restaurant. Upon discovering that the group was in New Orleans to rebuild, he brought them free food. The generosity of strangers, the coming together of the remaining community, brings hope to New Orleans. It may take many years, but the efforts of people like Becky and Gatien Livaudais, Maria Hernandez, Charlie, and the brothers of Sigma Chi will help restore New Orleans.

The 10 members that spent their break in New Orleans.  Here pictured in front of Mr. Punch's house with Shelly, an advisor with Operation Southern Comfort.