[StBernard] Local businessman volunteers to help clean up in Louisiana

[Westley Annis]

Local businessman volunteers to help clean up in Louisiana 
Michelle Karas, mkaras at pottsmerc.com
04/06/2006

POTTSTOWN -- Gregg Weitzen-korn recently took a vacation that, rather than
flip-flops and sunscreen, required steel-toe boots, a hard hat and
protective clothing. 


Weitzenkorn, co-owner of Weitzenkorn's men's clothing store, volunteered
with Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit Christian housing organization, to
help with cleanup from flooding caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in
Chalmette, La., a New Orleans suburb in St. Bernard's Parish. Weitzenkorn
volunteered through Habitat's Operation Home Delivery, an effort to rebuild
the Gulf Coast region devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 

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The March 19-25 trip was inspired by a challenge from his son Nathan's
boarding school in New England, according to Weitzenkorn. The school asks
parents of seniors to take on a project of their own. So he chose to spend
some time in Louisiana volunteering. 

"It was bigger than I thought it was, the destruction," Weitzenkorn said,
recalling his trip during a recent interview at his store. "It can make you
feel insignificant, working on such a small part of the devastation. But I
felt better doing something rather than talking about it."

Following his flight to New Orleans, Weitzenkorn rented a car and began the
drive down Route 10 to Chalmette to meet his Habitat crew. Hungry after his
flight, he thought he'd stop for some fast food along the way. He pulled up
to a McDonald's. It was closed. Down the road he spotted a Burger King --
also vacant. A gas station was also boarded up. Then he saw a hospital,
figuring at least that would be open. He was wrong.

"Six months after the storms, there's nothing in the towns. No lights, no
McDonald's, no Wal-Mart, no schools. No street signs, even," he said.

At a camp of 900 volunteers, Weitzenkorn slept in an Army tent with his
group -- eight volunteers from a church in Michigan and three other
independent volunteers like himself. Their mission was to check homes for
safety and strip them down to the studs. 


AmeriCorps volunteers managed the camp and the volunteer groups, 60 percent
of which were college students on spring break, Weitzenkorn said.

In the neighborhoods where Habitat was cleaning, homeowners were living in
FEMA trailers. 

The doors of destroyed houses were spraypainted with a red X and numbers
that signified what rescue team had been through and how many bodies were
found, if any, Weitzenkorn said.

"To see rubble out in the streets was a good thing," he said. "It's a sign
of rebirth."

Inside the handful of houses that he worked on, Weitzenkorn said he found
carpets caked with mud, furniture overturned, ceiling tiles stuck to the
floor and insulation scattered everywhere.

"It was really a good experience for me to work like that. I'm in retail; I
don't have a physical job. So by (the third day) I was sore," Weitzenkorn
said. "But Habitat took care of us. We had three meals a day and water. I
felt very supported by Habitat and the FEMA camp."

The pantries were the worst because of the "terrible, overwhelming smells,"
he said, explaining that if refrigerators were found in homes, group members
were instructed not to open them because of the caustic odors. "The only
thing we left in these homes was the toilet."

The volunteers were instructed to make piles of what they found in the
homes: household goods, electronics, hazardous materials and valuables such
as plates and crystal. By far, the smallest piles were the valuables, which
was humbling, Weitzenkorn said.

A bright spot in the trip was when a 96-year-old grandmother returned to her
disheveled home and asked Weitzenkorn's crew to find her rosary -- the only
belonging she wanted to keep. Weitzenkorn said the crew doubted they could
find it in the wreckage, but when they walked in, the sun was shining
through a window, illuminating the rosary.

Another homeowner visited while Weitzenkorn's crew was clearing out rubble,
bringing Gatorade, fruit and other snacks for them as a show of her
gratitude. 

"People who lost everything were still positive and still had a sense of
humor," Weitzenkorn said. "That's what amazed me."

By the end of the week, Habitat groups cleaned 448 houses in the area, he
said. The organization's goal is to clear 5,000 homes by June. Even so, the
future looks bleak for the people of that area, according to Weitzenkorn.

"Unlike most hurricanes, this was a situation where every house was
affected," he said. "There's nothing for people to come back to. There are
no businesses, no jobs."

Numerous houses had holes cut into the roofs -- evidence of how people
escaped the rising floodwaters.

"Until you go down there and see it and walk through the houses, you don't
realize the devastation," Weitzenkorn said. "It looks like it will be a
five-year (cleanup) program. There's just nothing left."

The week was an eye-opening experience for Weitzenkorn, who is now back to
work as usual.

"I'm not trying to be political, but they need more help than what they're
getting down there," he added. "There are some great people volunteering,
but I mostly saw volunteers." 



CThe Mercury 2006 

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